biosingapore whitepaper - the next lap biosciences in singapore 2025

The Next Lap: Biosciences in Singapore 2025

An EIU Healthcare white paper for BioSingapore

October 2015

Contents

Foreword Acknowledgements ExecuDve summary Looking back: Recap of bioscience sector development, 2000–2015 Regional cluster comparison: Singapore, Israel, Taiwan, South Korea New growth centres: Expand access to emerging markets Focus areas for investment: Maximize relevance and return Accelerated commercialisaDon: Range of routes to market Next-‐generaDon talent: Commercial and convergence skills Conclusion: The next ten years About BioSingapore & Clearstate

The Next Lap: Biosciences in Singapore 2025 2

3 4 5 6 6 8 9 10 13 14

Foreword

Simranjit Singh Execu1ve Council, BioSingapore General Manager, Medical Devices Asia, Quin1les

2015 marks a milestone year for Singapore as the naDon commemorates its 50th year of independence. It is also a landmark year for BioSingapore, an associaDon for the Biosciences industry in Singapore, as we celebrate our 10th anniversary. In 2000, the Singapore government launched its 15-‐year roadmap to develop and promote the biosciences industry. This roadmap is now coming to its tail end and therefore it is imperaDve for us to review and evaluate the achievements & challenges encountered in the development of the Biosciences industry in Singapore. It also provides an opportunity for us to come together as an industry to help shape policy to further drive success in the biosciences industry for the next ten years.

This white paper has elicited views from a broad group of industry parDcipants about the future of the Biosciences industry in Singapore. It provides themes that can help to guide the development of innovaDve ideas to propel the next lap of Biosciences growth in Singapore. We thank all parDcipants for their Dme and support for the white paper. We hope this whitepaper will act as a catalyst for greater engagement and dialogue and spur more companies & individuals to be part of the BioSingapore community.

We would like thank Clearstate (EIU Healthcare) for their hard work and effort in helping to conduct the interviews and pu^ng together this white paper.


Acknowledgements

We would like to thank all the industry parDcipants and influencers who parDcipated, whether on record or anonymously, for their valuable insights.

Interviewees

Abel Ang, Chief OperaDng Officer at Accuron Technologies

Abhijit Ghosh, Partner, PharmaceuDcal Leader & Tax Market Counsel Member at PricewaterhouseCoopers Singapore

Benjamin Seet, ExecuDve Director of the Biomedical Research Council at the Agency for Science, Technology and Research

Brian Henry, ExecuDve Director and Site Lead, Early Discovery Pharmacology and Exploratory Sciences at MSD TranslaDonal Medicine Research Centre Singapore

Carl Firth, CEO of ASLAN PharmaceuDcals

Chua Ean Chin, Country Manager, Singapore at Roche DiagnosDcs Singapore

Colin Tan, Chief OperaDng Officer at Endomaster

David Dally, CEO at MerLion PharmaceuDcals

Elena Rizova, Vice President External InnovaDon Asia Pacific at Johnson & Johnson Singapore

Gideon Ho, ‎Co-‐Founder & CEO at Histoindex

Jonathan Kua, Group Director, Industry Development Group at the Agency for Science, Technology and Research

‎Jozica Habijanic, Head of Strategic Development at Roche DiagnosDcs Asia-‐Pacific

Julien de Salaberry, Chief InnovaDon Officer at The Propell Group

Kevin Lai, ExecuDve Director Biomedical Sciences and Consumer Businesses at Singapore Economic Development Board

KrisDna Rutkute, ScienDfic Programme Manager for SPRINT-‐TB at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, NaDonal University of Singapore

Lance Lijle, Managing Director at Roche DiagnosDcs Asia-‐Pacific

Leslie Chaney, Senior Director of Asia-‐Pacific Commercial OperaDons at Marken

Maha Guruswamy, Senior Director JAPAC Service at Sciex

Margam Chandrasekaran, CEO & Chief ScienDst at Bio-‐Scaffold InternaDonal

Michel Birnbaum, Entrepreneur in Residence at NTUiDve, Nanyang Technological University

Nawal Roy, at Founder & CEO at Holmusk

Neo Kah Yean, Senior Director Vaccines Asia-‐Pacific at Janssen Singapore

Nicholas Paton, Programme Lead for SPRINT-‐TB at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, NaDonal University of Singapore

Patrik Frei, Founder and CEO of Venture ValuaDon

Renaud Jonquieres, Vice President ASPAC Industry at bioMerieux Singapore

Ron Snir, Commercial Ajaché at the Israel Trade & Economic Office, Embassy of Israel in Singapore

Rosaline Chow Koo, Founder & CEO at ConneXionsAsia (CXA)

Sharon Chiang, ‎Senior Technology Consultant at IPI Singapore

Siew Hwa Ong, Director & Chief ScienDst at Acumen Research Laboratories

Simranjit Singh, General Manager, Medical Devices & DiagnosDcs Asia and Senior Director, Strategic Planning Asia at QuinDles


Executive summary

ingapore is entering its fourth phase of bioscience sector development. Over the first three phases in the past fioeen years, Singapore has built world-‐class infrastructure for bioscience R&D and manufacturing, and ajracted and developed skilled talent for basic as well as translaDonal research.

The bioscience sector now accounts for S$1.5B in total R&D expenditure and S$30B in manufacturing output, and has ajracted R&D partnerships from major mulDnaDonal companies in pharmaceuDcal and medical device segments. In terms of translaDng to commercial success, early inspiraDons include: the first novel drug from a Singapore company to achieve FDA approval (MerLion Pharma's anDbioDc -‐ finafloxacin), a pipeline relevant to local disease burden including gastric cancer, cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, and a slew of start-‐ups in biopharma, medical device, diagnosDcs and health technology segments (Aslan, Endomaster, Veredus DiagnosDcs, ConneXionsAsia, Healint, and many others).

Though Singapore has succeeded in building a reputaDon as a regional biomed cluster, challenges remain. With limited resources and rising costs, there is a need to focus R&D on areas where Singapore has a disDncDve edge. CommercialisaDon remains at an early stage, with gaps in venture capital and complex skill-‐set required to bring healthcare products and services to market. Finally, there are opportuniDes leo untapped in emerging Asian markets, which are expanding their populaDons' access to healthcare with the result of soaring demand and expenditure on medical devices, diagnosDcs, therapeuDcs and technologies.

In this white paper, we review the development to date and in comparison with a few other bioscience clusters: Israel, Taiwan and South Korea. We then highlight R&D, commercialisaDon and talent development opportuniDes that can help Singapore sustain and entrench its posiDon over the next 10 years as the Biopolis of Asia.


S

Looking back Recap of bioscience sector development in Singapore 2000–15 In June 2000, the Singapore government launched its iniDaDve to develop Singapore into an internaDonal biomedical sciences hub: the ‘biopolis’ of Asia, one of the most research-‐intensive, innovaDve and entrepreneurial economies. The bioscience cluster comprises healthcare services, pharmaceuDcals and biotechnology, medical devices, health technologies, and food & nutriDon.

Much of the current Singapore bioscience cluster did not exist fioeen years ago, and has taken shape as the result of a top-‐down effort to rapidly develop excellence in research and development, manufacturing and healthcare delivery. Three government agencies – the Biomedical Research Council (BMRC) of A*STAR, the Biomedical Sciences Group (BMSG) of the Economic Development Board, and the NaDonal Medical Research Council (NMRC) of the Ministry of Health – have led sector development thus far. CommercialisaDon support in terms of grants, incenDves and incubators for SMEs also comes from the Standards, ProducDvity and InnovaDon Board (SPRING Singapore).

Singapore’s bioscience sector has developed over three phases during the past fioeen years: world-‐class infrastructure purpose-‐built for R&D and bio-‐manufacturing since phase 1, translaDonal and clinical capabiliDes assembled in phases 2 and 3, and commercialisaDon gaining tracDon in phase 3.


S$30B Manufacturing output in 2012, up from S$6B in 2000

Bioscience cluster highlights

50 R&D centres (2014)

29 Spin-offs (2010–2014)

Sources: Biomedical Sciences Industry in Singapore, EDB (2014) A*STAR NaDonal Survey of R&D in Singapore 2013 (2014), A*STAR

Gross R&D expenditure S

$1.5B (2013)

Researchers 5,280 (2013)

Manufacturing workforce

16,000

192 Patents awarded A*STAR institutes (2010–2014)

7 in 10 Pharma firms manufacture in SG

50 Manufacturing plants in 2014

BERD 33%

PUBERD 67%

University 38%

Public 38%

Private 24%

Medtech 63%

Pharma 63%

Research institutes and consortia established

How does Singapore compare? With bioscience clusters in Israel, Taiwan, South Korea


Israel Singapore Taiwan South Korea

R&D intensity: GERD/GDP 2011

Researchers in R&D / mil people 2011

Bioscience patent applications (2012) 451 104 N/A 1,168

Scientific American 2015 Worldview biotech rank # 18 # 5 # 25 # 23

3.97% 2.23% 2.30% 4.36%

6602 6494 7480 5928

Compared with regional clusters, Singapore enjoys an enviable posiDon as a hub for commerce, finance, logisDcs and distribuDon, besides a reputaDon for world-‐class infrastructure as well as skilled and diverse talent. Rising costs of living and doing business, as well as a small local market and an entrepreneurial deficit, are the major challenges for the bioscience sector in Singapore.

ComparaDvely, there is more commercialisaDon success observed in Israel, Taiwan and South Korea. These clusters draw on the commercial and entrepreneurial mind-‐sets of their workforce, as well as abundant private capital, local (industry-‐academia) as well as inter-‐country collaboraDon, and focus on emerging global trends in biosciences.

Taiwan Biosciences a priority sector since 1980s, long-term goal is 3% of global biotech market Public research to preclinical stage and proof-of-concept, then licensed to local firms Strategic location for market access: near China, SEA, northeast Asia IPOs at NASDAQ-style bourse attract venture capital

South Korea Large pharma market & clinical trial hub: 800+ companies, 100+ drugs to market Regional bio-clusters with R&D institutes and venture funding from diversified chaebol MNC R&D collaborations and licensing deals Government goal: top 7 pharma powerhouse by 2020

Israel Highly educated, driven and entrepreneurial people: 70-80 new life science firms annually High R&D spend: top in GERD & BERD (250 MNC R&D) as % GDP Abundant venture capital and access to US & EU markets Strong IT sector and framework to capitalise on big data

Sources: A*STAR, Israel Advanced Technology Industries, ScienDfic American, World Intellectual Property OrganisaDon

New growth centres Expand access to emerging markets

TradiDonally, developed countries such as the United States have been the focus for healthcare companies worldwide, with high spending per person and as a percentage of GDP. However these are increasingly challenging markets to serve, with governments clamping down on soaring healthcare costs.

Meanwhile, emerging markets have been steadily boosDng their expenditure on healthcare. Universal health coverage schemes in various countries, ageing, urbanisaDon and affluence, and increasing disease burden (parDcularly for non-‐communicable diseases) are boosDng awareness and access to healthcare. Given Singapore's proximity to ASEAN countries and emerging giants such as China and India, these markets present a vital long-‐term opportunity.


“There is a huge emerging market in China and India for frugal innovation in healthcare technology. But the barrier to capitalizing on this demand is that I don't see enough collaboration in Singapore with these two large markets. Many MNCs have R&D centres in Singapore as well as India and China, but there is very limited cooperation with these. This is a missed opportunity because of the speed of getting things done here, the quality of manpower and the technology facilitation that can be done in places like Biopolis is huge advantage for Singapore, which could be used to collaborate with those two emerging but very large economies.”

Maha Guruswamy Senior Director JAPAC at Sciex

However, these markets have different needs and challenges: for instance, limited healthcare infrastructure, personnel and equipment. As governments seek to expand access with limited budgets and infrastructure, and paDents' out-‐of-‐pocket costs remain high, value products and services have posted strong growth. There is strong demand in these markets for compeDDve pricing, ease of use and good-‐enough (not the best) quality and specificaDons.

How can Singapore's bioscience sector address regional problems, given its very different size, affluence and infrastructure? Skilled talent ajracted from around the region, as well as collaboraDon with R&D centres in emerging markets, can help idenDfy unmet needs and opportuniDes. Singapore's superior infrastructure and skilled talent can help develop soluDons quickly, and again draw on regional talent and knowledge to coordinate producDon, distribuDon and access to regional markets.

Virtually all the growth in Asia-Pacific healthcare expenditure will come from emerging markets

0

500

1,000

1,500

2,000

2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

Thailand

Taiwan

South Korea

Singapore

Philippines

Pakistan

New Zealand

Malaysia

Japan

Indonesia

India

Hong Kong

China

Australia

USD billion

Focus areas for investment Maximise relevance and return

To maximise relevance and return on investment, elements of the bioscience sector should clearly arDculate and follow strategic focus areas. Given local and regional needs and capabiliDes developed thus far, there are three approaches for prioriDsaDon:

Align with local disease burden: Converge A*Star, university and hospital research on strategic health challenges: the biggest contributors to the burden of disease in Singapore. These are relevant for other developed markets and also increasingly emerging regional markets with ageing populaDons and growing affluence.

Precision medicine for Asian phenotypes: Leverage on locaDon to focus on specific diseases with Asian disDncDveness, whether presentaDon, pathology, genomic make up, response to treatment, or the propensity to adverse drug reacDons. Singapore's small size and integrated health system make it a good test hub for new health technologies and innovaDons in the conDnuum of care. For instance, a centralised populaDon genomic database and regulatory framework for data privacy and security, in addiDon to electronic health records, can facilitate cost-‐effecDve research and analyDcs for personalised therapies for the local populaDon, with extrapolaDon potenDal to other markets.

Create value through complex producDon: How can Singapore stay compeDDve as a manufacturing locaDon, despite rising costs here as well as growing sophisDcaDon of regional alternaDves like China? By selecDng complex manufacturing projects that need skilled talent and cu^ng-‐edge technology, such as biologics. Singapore should conDnue to invest in next-‐generaDon plaxorms to help bioscience companies make dramaDc improvements to producDvity and costs. Government collaboraDon and risk-‐sharing will help ajract such investment, besides availability of talent to facilitate expansion to regional markets.


Disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) quantify premature mortality (years of life lost, YLLs) & disability (years lived with disability, YLDs)

Source: Ministry of Health, Singapore burden of disease study 2010

7.7%

14.0%

14.2%

19.9%

18.9%

Respiratory infections

Neurological

Diabetes

Heart disease

Cancer

Burden of disease: Singapore % of Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALYs)

“Singapore is in a unique situation because the population is small but concentrated and there is good integration between the health system and government bodies. I believe it's easier for Singapore to put in place a [genomic] database and start to explore what the information means for patients here and then extrapolate to other countries. I don't see Singapore's size as a barrier but an opportunity: the size makes such a project easily manageable.”

Elena Rizova ‎Vice President External Innovation Asia

Pacific at Johnson & Johnson

“We have Amgen, who have launched their factory of the future in Singapore. This is a complete single-use facility, and it took 1/4 of the cost to build and 1/4 of the land space as opposed to a traditional biotech facility. I think there is a lot of opportunity for us to invest and advance the technology, and that's how we can differentiate and promote Singapore.”

Kevin Lai ‎Executive Director Biomedical Sciences and

Consumer Businesses, EDB

1

2

3

1

2

3

Accelerating commercialisation Range of routes to market


Looking back at the past fioeen years of bioscience development, Singapore’s strengths in basic and translaDonal research capabiliDes have yet to translate into substanDal commercial success.

Commercialisation outcomes Singapore Comparison with: Israel

# IPs licensed 238 (2010–2014) 259 (2012–2013)

# Spin-offs 29 (till 2013) 72 (2012–2013)

Data sources A*STAR Israel Advanced Technology Industries

“The commercialisation journey takes a while, but we are starting to see some outcomes happening in the Singapore’s biomedical space. For example, we have had half a dozen biomedical start-ups from A*STAR annually in recent years and several others from the universities as well. More importantly, Singapore-based companies and academia have developed a strong pipeline of drug candidates and several have successfully advanced into clinical testing both here and overseas.”

Jonathan Kua ‎Director, Industry Development Group, A*STAR

“Singapore has the scientific capabilities, clinical infrastructure and some exciting IP in A*Star, Duke-NUS and other institutions. The challenge is in translating clinical ideas into commercial success; we have few examples of such success. Singapore has attracted scientists but not a great deal of entrepreneurial and commercial experience in getting drugs to patients: big pharma and biotech experience with a blend of R&D, commercial and investor perspectives. This is what we are now trying to change.”

Carl Firth ‎CEO, Aslan Pharmaceuticals

To speed up commercialisaDon, it is vital for bioscience segments to pursue viable channels to market; entrepreneurship comprises just one of several opDons.

Licensing

Spin-offs Collaboration

Start-ups

From an institute perspective, industry

engagement may span collaborative research

funded by a private unit (e.g. MNC R&D)

at a public institute or university, to licensing

of IP in return for royalties

Spin-offs are created, financed and managed by universities; start-ups have external investors and management plus often in-licensed technology



Boost engagement with industry

Why collaborate? The R&D costs for medical devices and drugs are soaring, with >US$1.2B spent on average per drug approved, according to QuinDles, a leading contract research organisaDon. Given the relaDvely longer ‘valley of death’ for drug and medical device development, as compared to a health technology or services, clinical development now needs large reserves of private capital – or alternaDvely, extensive collaboraDon. For drug discovery in parDcular, a viable channel to market is through established big pharma, who are in turn shioing decisively towards open innovaDon models with growing reliance on R&D partners to reduce costs.

How to accelerate? The following success factors are vital for effecDve collaboraDon, to generate ideas and develop products with bejer commercial potenDal.

1

Strong industry

base Researchers

open to collaboration

Alignment of institutes and

industry

Attract and retain corporate innovation and venture funds, and early-stage

R&D centres

Boost industry and international exposure to familiarize researchers

with cutting-edge science and enable them to speak

industry language

Facilitate validation; streamline intelligence and legal processes to accelerate collaboration

and tech transfer to SMEs and large enterprises

“Research institutes in Singapore generate some exciting intellectual property, and investigators are open to collaborating with industry. Streamlining tech transfer and licensing processes will speed up partnerships, and prevent companies’ interest from moving on to other locations and topics.”

Brian Henry ‎Executive Director and Site Lead, Early

Discovery Pharmacology and Exploratory Sciences at MSD Translational Medicine

Research Centre

“There is an increasing need for sophisticated technology and expertise to test novel therapies and devices: for instance, humanised and immunocompetent animal models to test immunotherapies; genomic biomarkers to support clinical trials, and the like. Public-funded research supports many of the activities that help validate such technologies, and bring them to a stage that would be relevant to companies.”

Benjamin Seet, Executive Director of the Biomedical Research Council at the Agency for

Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR)

1



Ajract savvy private capital to grow start-‐ups and SMEs 2

“There is a real and immediate need in Singapore for an entrepreneur with a great health tech idea to be able to surround himself or herself with the right acceleration mechanisms and expertise in order to quickly succeed. Today, this 'acceleration' platform simply does not exist in Singapore, despite vehement agreement among key decision makers in Singapore that this should happen and this needs to be resolved sooner rather than later, otherwise Singapore will miss out contributing significantly to that ecosystem.”

Julien de Salaberry Chief Innovation Officer at The Propell Group

Short gestation time helps attract capital

Health tech & services

Device & diagnostics

Pharmaceuticals

Unlike clusters such as the United States or Israel, Singapore lacks ready access to an investor base with deep biotech knowledge and experience. Local investors as well as offices established by internaDonal venture capital are ooen generalists, and have other opDons with faster return or lower risk than biotech.

Singapore also lacks a NASDAQ-‐style bourse, with trade sales accounDng for the majority of transacDons. An exchange such as the GreTai SecuriDes Market (Taipei Exchange) in Taiwan could provide a financing opDon for domesDc bioscience companies and enable a vibrant IPO market to ajract private capital from a range of investors: retail, venture capital, private equity, family offices, as well as corporate investors.

120 / 685 total

Taiwan GTMS: Listed biotech companies, 2014

“I think it's very difficult for a company in Singapore to raise money after the initial government grant. In the US or Europe, there are VCs, corporate investors, business angels, family offices, patient organisations, philanthropy and grant funding – there is a whole range. In Singapore, I don't see an investor community, e.g. a business angel club or many corporate investors. As for bringing in investors from the outside, you need a local VC who can bring in American VCs. They need to have a lead investor who is a local, someone they can trust – it is too far away from the US or Europe to take a lead.”

Patrik Frei Founder and CEO of Venture Valuation

“Government grants such as LETAS are too generalised. Companies are eligible for government grants only if <5 years old, which is fine for a software company to go to market. But medical equipment technology development to final execution will take 8–10 years. Also some grants are on reimbursement basis, but young companies do not have resources to spend upfront.”

Dr Margam Chandrasekaran, CEO & Chief Scientist at Bio-Scaffold

International

Finally, there is room for effecDve sector-‐specific incubators and accelerators to provide shared faciliDes as well as guidance to help scale up bioscience businesses. Success stories will help spark more interest in commercialisaDon, both from entrepreneurs as well as venture capital.

Time to market & difficulty raising capital

2

Next-generation talent Commercial and convergence skills

Ajract senior talent with the mulD-‐funcDonal experience and perspecDves.

Bring in, encourage and support MNCs with internal cross-‐training, to expand and entrench their R&D funcDons in Singapore and also anchor their regional headquarters in Singapore. Besides drawing in internaDonal talent, this will also serve to develop local talent who are likely to be cross-‐trained as opportuniDes arise when they advance in their careers. The star talent brought in for the next phase should combine R&D and commercial perspecDves. Singapore already enjoys a reputaDon for the best quality of life in Asia; sustain and enhance stability, vibrancy and ease of living and working here to conDnue to ajract global talent and to retain the best and brightest locals.

Train workforce in core skills to support and capitalise on convergence trends.

IdenDfy areas with emerging convergence, and steer the terDary educaDon system to equip new entrants to the workforce with relevant skill sets. For example, the advent of big data and its growing applicaDon in biosciences presents an opportunity for a next wave of highly skilled jobs. Singapore

can capitalise on this opportunity by creaDng a criDcal mass of cross-‐trained

talent, such as scienDsts who understand staDsDcs and computer programming, and can apply those skills to biosciences R&D.

As medicine grows increasingly mulD-‐disciplinary, cross-‐trained medical

specialists will add to the pool of experts able to spot and exploit opportuniDes to

develop future therapies and technologies.


Human capital is a criDcal component to realise R&D, manufacturing and commercialisaDon strategies for the next phase. The bioscience sector being a heavily knowledge-‐based industry, the availability and relevance of talent is essenDal to success.

Considering talent needs for the next phase, there is a stark gap surfacing in spaces for cross-‐funcDonal talent, where tradiDonal skill sets converge. Bringing bioscience products and services to market requires a range of capabiliDes spanning research, development, regulatory and market access, sales and markeDng, financial and so on. MulD-‐funcDonal talent with relevant experience in R&D as well as sales and markeDng will be of criDcal importance in rapidly commercializing new products and services. This convergence of a deep technical background with strong commercial experience is a skill set that is not commonly available in Singapore. To engineer a depth of such talent, the bioscience sector should uDlise a two-‐pronged talent strategy.

1 2

“Singapore is still in the first cycle of entrepreneurship. There is plenty of excellent scientific expertise but a shallow experienced talent pool with the commercial and management skills to develop a product and bring it to market. There is a lack of people who can be CEOs, COOs, CFOs; what we have is scientists trying to start companies. They have had little exposure to business, especially the entrepreneurial side. These skills cannot be built overnight, so there is a need to attract the necessary talent.”

Michel Birnbaum, Entrepreneur in Residence at NTUitive, Nanyang Technological University

“Singapore should do more to grow its next generation of leaders. The government and industry can help to identify good people to groom for C-level positions. Then the industry should rotate the talent through meaningful assignments to build cross-functional skills: R&D, commercial, country assignments, sales experience and so forth. We must create opportunities to develop a pipeline of outstanding management talent.”

Abel Ang, Chief Operating Officer at Accuron Technologies

1 2

Conclusion The next ten years

Over the past 15 years, Singapore has developed into a renowned bioscience cluster through top-‐down investment in world-‐class infrastructure and skilled talent for R&D and bio-‐manufacturing. In the next ten years, industry should take the lead to create lasDng commercial success.

A solid base of biosciences SMEs is key, and is a major gap to be filled. Health technology and services companies with quicker Dme to market have the edge in terms of ajracDng impaDent capital. Efficient investment should span a balanced porxolio of incremental and transformaDonal ideas across medical devices, diagnosDcs, pharma and biotech. AjracDng more corporate and venture funds and incubators will help find, fund and guide ideas with commercial potenDal. More public-‐private collaboraDon will increase commercial potenDal of R&D.

Build the right talent, and more capital will come. Commercial experience is the biggest gap to fill: an efficient yet effecDve staff to manage SMEs, with cross-‐funcDonal skills across R&D, engineering, quality control, regulatory, market access, finance and sales and markeDng. It is necessary to ajract such stars from across the globe, and also vital to steadily develop the local talent pool. Beyond building a top layer of management talent, training a mid layer in convergence skills can bring the next wave of skilled and well-‐paying jobs to Singapore.

Singapore's limited market size has always spurred local companies to expand internaDonally, usually to large developed markets such as the US or Europe. By focusing our R&D efforts to address the differing healthcare needs of emerging markets, a new breed of entrepreneurs can harness Singapore's infrastructure and talent to meet the demands in ASEAN, China & India. This will open up a wealth of new opportuniDes. Singapore can establish itself as a regional hub to develop technologies & innovaDons to access these new markets.

The next phase of development presents new challenges and opportuniDes for Singapore, as healthcare markets undergo transformaDonal shios on a global scale. As we look ahead to 2025, the bioscience sector should consider how best to create success stories that inspire more biosciences companies to establish & grow in Singapore.


About BioSingapore

Clearstate (www.clearstate.com), a business of the Economist Intelligence Unit, is a research consultancy specialising in the domains of healthcare and life sciences, advising on growth strategies in emerging economies.

Clearstate is the go-‐to research consulDng partner for clients seeking greenfield growth opportuniDes in fast-‐expanding emerging economies. By leveraging The Economist Intelligence Unit’s depth of country experDse, we offer visibility and credible forecasts on the direcDon of emerging economies’ opaque healthcare environments.

We have a strong reputaDon among our clients for our depth of industry knowledge, our collaboraDve approach and our innovaDve soluDons. We are recognised for consistently listening and working in partnership with our clients to deliver comprehensive and granular answers that go beyond the obvious.

About the authors

Wilson Tan is Director, Strategy & New SoluDons at Clearstate. He has more than 12 years of consulDng experience within healthcare in Asia-‐Pacific and emerging markets, across medical technology, pharmaceuDcal, life sciences and healthcare services sectors

Kavitha Hariharan is a Principal Consultant at Clearstate. She has over 9 years of experience in market intelligence and strategic advisory to mulDnaDonal, SME and government clients in medical devices, pharmaceuDcal and healthcare services sectors.

This white paper drew on research support provided by Hantao Liang, an Analyst at Clearstate.

While every effort has been taken to verify the accuracy of this informaDon, Clearstate (Pte) Ltd and the Economist Intelligence Unit Ltd. cannot accept any responsibility or liability for reliance by any person on this report or any of the

informaDon, opinions or conclusions set out in this report.

Copyright © 2015 Clearstate (Pte) Ltd. All rights reserved.

For enquiries, please email [email protected]

About Clearstate

BioSingapore is a premier and established life sciences associaDon operaDng in Singapore and the ASEAN region since 2004.

Our vision is to enable a successful and vibrant life sciences community in Singapore by connecDng industry to soluDons.

BioSingapore is a unique industry plaxorm for dialogue, interacDon, research, debate, advocacy and knowledge exchange. We run networking sessions, interacDve lectures, industry focus groups, dinners, execuDve and entrepreneur briefings and other events, alone or in collaboraDon with our network of partners.

Please see our website to join as a member -‐ www.biosingapore-‐sg.com

biosingapore whitepaper - the next lap biosciences in singapore 2025

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