Annette Singh

Industrial Cluster Development and Innovation in Singapore

Among developing economies, Singapore has achieved one of the most impressive economic growth records in the past four decades since her political independence in 1965, averaging 7 per cent GDP growth per annum over the 1960–2006 period. Despite an economic slowdown in 2001–2003 (with a strong recovery in 2004), Singapore’s per capita GDP of US

The role of universities in the national innovation systems of China and the East Asian NIEs: An exploratory analysis of publications and patenting data

29,474 in 2006 still stands as the second-highest in Asia, at 67 per cent of the US level (IMD 2006).

The Role of Foreign MNCs in the Technological Development of Singaporean Industries

The Triple Helix model highlights the ‘third mission’ of universities to engage in IP (intellectual property) creation and technology transfer activities further downstream. This paper uses publications data and US patent data to examine the role played by leading research-intensive universities in the national innovation systems of the emerging economy of China and the newly industrialised economies (NIE) of Singapore, Hong Kong, Korea and Taiwan. Our analysis highlights significant differences amongst these five East Asian economies, and also reveals contrasts to observed patterns in the USA and Europe. Our findings confirm that universities in the five economies have increased their contribution to their respective national innovation systems in terms of research output and R&D collaboration. The NIE universities experienced rapid patent growth rates over 1995–2005, followed by Chinese universities in the subsequent period of 2006–2010. However, the contribution of universities in all five East Asian economies to the total volume of IP creation in their economies generally remains low. Moreover, patent quality is low compared to patents from non-university sectors, suggesting weak technology commercialisation impacts.

Venture capital funding of Asian entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley: A longitudinal analysis

Foreign multinational corporations (MNCs) have played a major role in stimulating the technological development of the manufacturing industries in Southeast Asia in general and Singapore in particular. Contrary to concerns that MNCs are footloose, and ever ready to leave their host countries in search of lower cost locations rather than investing in technological upgrading, the experience of Singapore has shown that substantial technological development has been achieved thanks to MNCs. However, the host country’s factor endowments and economic development policies obviously influence the contributions of MNCs to technological development. In addition, different MNCs exhibit different strategic behaviour with respect to technology investments in their host countries; in particular, MNCs from the USA and Europe display technology-management approaches significantly different from Japanese MNCs.

Towards an "Entrepreneurial University" Model to Support Knowledge-Based Economic Development: The Case of the National University of Singapore

Immigrant Asian entrepreneurs have played a prominent role in the entrepreneurial dynamism of Silicon Valley over the last three decades. This paper traces the trend in new venture formation in Silicon Valley by ethnic Asian entrepreneurs over the years up to 2004, and examines the changing pattern of venture capital (VC) that funded them. We found an increasing share of ventures run by Asians among VC-backed ventures created in Silicon Valley over the years, and that these ventures are disproportionately concentrated in software, semiconductors, and communications. We also found that VC firms with significant Asian LPs had higher propensities of funding ventures led by Asian entrepreneurs.