The Singapore government has invested $12 million in research in the blockchain sector.
The official announcement was made today by Enterprise Singapore (ESG), the government agency that promotes business development in the country to support Singapore’s growth as a global trade and start-up hub.
It involves the launch of the Singapore Blockchain Innovation Programme (SBIP), in collaboration with the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) and the National Research Foundation Singapore (NRF), and supported by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).
The programme involves an investment of $12 million to further strengthen the country’s blockchain ecosystem and achieve wider adoption of applications in the real world.
This technology has been found to be interesting because it offers multiple benefits for businesses, such as decentralization and immutability of data, improving security and transparency.
The funding of the programme comes from the NRF, it will involve almost 75 companies, including multinationals, large enterprises and ICT companies, and over the next three years, it will focus on 17 blockchain-related projects dealing with trade, logistics and supply chain.
Why is the Singapore government investing in blockchain?
Singapore is a leading commercial and logistics hub, not only for South-East Asia, thus it is more than logical that it invests in technological innovation in this sector, so as to be at the forefront globally.
CEO of IMDA, Lew Chuen Hong, said:
“As the architect of Singapore’s digital future, we are constantly pushing the forefront of innovation in areas such as Blockchain. As the first major industry driven blockchain research programme, our intent is to proliferate blockchain adoption to a much broader set of industries, beyond just finance. This includes levelling up industry manpower and know-how. These efforts allow Singapore to build a strong blockchain ecosystem and establish our role as a Trust Hub”.
President of Enterprise Singapore, Peter Ong, added:
“COVID-19 emphasised the need for trusted and reliable business systems in the new digital world. Blockchain technology helps to embed trust in applications spanning logistics and supply chains, trade financing to digital identities and credentials. The acceleration of innovative business solutions under the Singapore Blockchain Innovation Programme will help our enterprises be more globally connected and competitive”.
Lastly, the CEO of NRF, Low Teck Seng, commented:
“The Singapore Blockchain Innovation Programme (SBIP) provides exciting growth opportunities for the blockchain innovation landscape and is a significant milestone in Singapore’s journey towards becoming a trusted, digital economy. Blockchain technology is increasingly playing an important role in technological innovation, industrial transformation, and digital finance. SBIP will help companies accelerate their technology adoption and be ready for the next phase of digital evolution”.
