Singapore is roughly twice the size of Oslo with no natural resources except for a highly competent population and an advantageous positioning at the crossroads between East and West. And yet it has attracted one of the greatest concentrations of Norwegian companies outside our own borders – 150 in all - creating a Norwegian colony of 1400 people.
03/04/2008 :: There are several reasons for this. Singapore is a world player in areas where Norway has developed a competitive edge, such as the offshore and maritime sectors.
In fact, Singapore is home to the world’s largest container port, the largest bunkers port, the largest offshore yard capacity while at the same time ranking among the world’s largest where refining capacity is concerned.
It has developed an infrastructure, a legal system, a tax system, a flexible work force system and a can-do-attitude geared to attracting foreign business. It is an Asian hub with contacts and contracts spanning from the Persian Gulf to China.
Presently, Norway is the world’s sixth largest direct foreign investor in Singapore, totalling US$ 5,3 billion (2005), mainly concentrated within the maritime and offshore sectors. This figure will increase further when Renewable Energy Corporation (REC) starts construction of the world largest integrated 1.5 GW solar energy production facility in Singapore which will manufacture wafers, panels and modules. More recently, another Norwegian solar energy producer, Norsun, has announced its intentions to set up production in Singapore.
At the same time Norwegian export of goods – mainly machines and equipment – has increased considerably, totalling US$ 1 billion in 2006. This is roughly equivalent to almost three times our exports to India or slightly higher than our exports to Russia. The figures are expected to increase further in 2007.
Singapore places considerable emphasis on innovation and R&D in order to maintain economic growth. Focus is placed on further developing existing sectors such as electronics, chemicals, marine engineering and biomedical technologies. At the same time, new fields are in the process of being established, such as water treatment, environmental technology, renewable energy and interactive media. Governmental R&D financing is due to almost triple from US$ 3,5 billion in the period 2001-05 to $9 billion in the present five-year period. Another billion US dollar earmarked research and innovation was just added.
Several of these sectors could offer interesting cooperation potential to Norwegian companies.
The Research Council of Norway has entered into an agreement on R&D with the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore. This has resulted in several joint projects. Furthermore, both the Norwegian School of Management (BI), the Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration (NHH) and the Norwegian University for Science and Technology (NTNU) have established exchange programs with corresponding universities in Singapore. This has inter alia resulted in groups of 50 Singaporean BBA-students annually spending a semester in Norway.
In addition, about 20 students from the Norwegian School of Entrepreneurship spend three months out of the year in Singapore in order to learn about “tehnopreneurship” at the National University of Singapore and to experience internship at locally situated start-up companies. This student exchange is facilitated by Innovation Norway and the Embassy in Singapore.
Over time, these programs will result in a considerable knowledge of the other country on the part of the participting students – a knowledge which may hopefully serve as the basis for even tighter bileratal releations in the future.