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Innovation Centre
Inspired by the successful Deshpande Center at MIT |
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Press ReleasesFebruary 2, 2010 The New Innovation Centre Bridges the Innovation Gap and Connects Boston Venture Capitalists and the International Business Community with the Community in Singapore Singapore - The Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART) has established a new Innovation Centre to boost Singapore's entrepreneurial and innovation landscape. Modelled after the successful Desphande Center for Technological Innovation at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), SMART Innovation Centre aims to bring the "MIT Way" to Singapore. The Centre will identify and nurture a broad range of emerging technologies and create a fertile environment to promote student and faculty entrepreneurship. The Centre handed out S$1.3 million in grants to student entrepreneurs and faculty research teams today. The Innovation Gap Academic research usually solves problems they define in the laboratory and not problems defined by market needs. Investors are reluctant to take on the investment risk without any short-term payback promise. This may result in research failing as a driver for economic development. In Singapore, there has been a push towards innovation and an economy that is knowledge-based. The country is on track to achieving its target of 3% GDP in R&D spending by 2010. Plugging the innovation gap creates possibilities for generating entrepreneurship and has great economic impact such as maintaining competitiveness, promoting economic growth and creating jobs. The 'MIT Way' in Singapore According to a 2009 study conducted by Kauffman Foundation, if companies founded by MIT graduates and faculty formed an independent nation, the revenues produced by the companies would make the nation the 17th largest economy in the world. The 25,800 currently active companies founded by MIT alumni employs over 3.3 million people and generate annual world sales of US$2 trillion, producing the equivalent of the 11th largest economy in the world1. MIT is a good example to illustrate the impact and contribution that research can bring to the economy. With unique links to MIT, SMART Innovation Centre aims to bring MIT's spirit to Singapore. "The Desphande Center has discovered a model that works. Their hands-on approach serves as a catalyst for innovation and entrepreneurship. Similarly, this approach will form the foundation of our programmes. We will assist researchers to de-risk technology and define go-to-market strategies," said Howard Califano, Director of SMART Innovation Centre. "We provide access to a network of international business leaders and a global venture capital community to assure robust funding opportunities for potential companies spun out of the Innovation Centre. We have adopted and modified the Desphande Centre model to work in the existing Singapore ecosystem," he continued. Key differentiating Factors of SMART Innovation Centre SMART Innovation Centre administers two grant programs. The Innovation Grant (up to S$250,000) is designed to help faculty and their research team to explore new avenues of market driven research and participate in programmes that will help accelerate innovations toward commercialization. The Explorer Grant (up to S$50,000) is a student focused grant programme that assists students or student groups, with their faculty mentor, explore further development and commercialisation of innovative work originated by the student(s). In addition to grant funding, SMART Innovation Centre provides:
About SMART Innovation Centre The Innovation Centre operates under the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART) and is funded by the National Research Foundation (NRF). Its programs and grants are available to all Universities and research centers in Singapore (including NUS, NTU, SMU, SMART Center, SIM, Polytechnics, etc). Through its INNOVATION GRANTS (up to S$250,000) and EXPLORER GRANTS (up to $50,000 for students), the SMART Innovation Centre enables faculty and students to pursue exciting new avenues of market-driven research and participate in programs that will help accelerate their innovations toward commercialisation. In addition to grant funds, the Centre connects faculty innovators, investors, entrepreneurs and the Singapore and international business community. Through its Catalyst Program, the Centre provides business advice, market input and IP strategy to define a go-to-market strategy for each funded project. The Centre, in a cross-campus collaboration, forms qualified pre-selected teams of researchers and business students (called "i-Teams") to assist each project in plotting its business direction. About SMART SMART is a major new research enterprise established by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in partnership with the National Research Foundation of Singapore (NRF) in 2007. It is the first entity in the Campus for Research Excellence and Technological Enterprise (CREATE) being developed by NRF. Serving as an intellectual hub, cutting-edge research projects in areas of interest to both Singapore and MIT are undertaken at the SMART and interdisciplinary, experimental, computational and translational research are conducted. Four interdisciplinary research groups (IRG) have been established to date: they are BioSystems and Micromechanics (BioSym), Centre for Environmental Sensing and Modelling (CENSAM), Future Mobility (FM) and Infectious Disease (ID). The SMART Innovation Centre, similar to MIT's Desphande Centre, has also been established to identify and nurture ideas for emerging technologies and accelerate their migration from laboratories to the marketplace. More information about the SMART Centre can be found at http://web.mit.edu/smart/index.html. Media Contact: Tan Soo Chun Corporate Communications Tel: +65 6516 1465 Fax: +65 6778 5654 soochuntan@smart.mit.edu |
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