Strategy & Leadership

Informal innovation: Singapore

May 17, 2016

Global

May 17, 2016

Global
Charles Ross

Asia editorial director

Charles Ross is Principal of Policy and Insights in Asia-Pacific and leads the region's technology and society practice. Prior to this role, he was editorial director for The Economist Intelligence Unit overseeing all thought leadership research in Asia. Charles combines a deep understanding of how technology trends are reshaping business and society with excellent research and editorial skills, to create impactful and award-winning research programmes for clients. Charles is currently based in Australia and has led many projects analysing the implications for business of new technology trends such as blockchain, fintech, smart cities, cloud computing, sustainability and the internet of things, for Google, Stripe, SAP, Telstra, Microsoft, Prudential, Westpac and the Singapore government. He is a contributing industry expert to the UN Science Policy and Business Forum on the Environment and a frequent speaker at finance and technology events across the region. Charles holds a master of business administration, focusing on strategy and organisational change, from the University of Oxford and a certificate in public policy analysis from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

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Having topped the World Bank’s Doing Business rankings (of 189 countries) for ten years running, Singapore might also be expected to be one of the world’s leading start-up cities.

Judging by at least one international assessment, it is making progress in that direction. In 2015, for example, it rose to 10th position in the Global Startup Ecosystem Rankings, becoming the first Asia-Pacific city to break into this select group.

Rob Findlay, a senior vice-president at DBS Bank and co-founder of Next Bank, a financial industry community, thinks the city-state “has absolutely everything going for it” as a place to start a business. Only Hong Kong is a comparable location in Asia, in his view. A hands-on government approach toward start-ups is one contributing factor: “Singapore hits it out of the park compared to others when it comes to things like the large volumes the government is willing to invest in supporting entrepreneurs.”

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