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Singapore is perhaps the most proactive government in the world when it comes to developing the tech industry: it pumps tons of money into grants and initiatives to create its own version of Silicon Valley.
It helps that the government is unencumbered by electoral politics, which means it can be far-sighted – precisely what you need to build a start-up ecosystem. It also helps that the state can take its pick of really smart people thanks to scholarship programmes.
But the extent of government help causes another problem. So many initiatives exist out there that newcomers to the scene might get confused. It doesn’t help that many of these programmes have acronyms for names. To address that, here’s a list of government programmes for start-ups and small businesses, as well as a description of what they entail.
ACE Start-ups Grant
The Action Community for Entrepreneurship (ACE) is a formerly government-led organisation that promotes entrepreneurship in Singapore. While the keys to ACE were turned over to the private sector, the programme will still be government-funded for the foreseeable future. One of its main programmes is a start-up grant which gives up to S$50,000 ($35,400) to entrepreneurs, matched by their own funds.
This initiative by the Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) aims to help start-ups secure contracts with bigger companies that would typically shun them due to the perceived unreliability of their products. After all, failure rates for start-ups are high. Companies that have been certified by this scheme include Kai Square, V-Key, and Tagit.
