Singapore’s Block 71 set to expand: govt minister at dialogue with incubators

Ever since Block 71, an old industrial building in Singapore, was relaunched in 2011 as an epicenter for the country’s startup community, it has become a hive of activity.

Its rental fees, cheap relative to other locations in Singapore, has attracted companies like JFDI.Asia, DropMyEmail, and Jungle Ventures. But it is also bursting at the seams.

In a room at Plugin@Blk71, an incubation space located at the hub, Minister-of-State Teo Ser Luck engaged in a dialogue session on August 27 with startup incubators on how the government can help the ecosystem.

On the topic of Block 71, he said that he has told JTC, a government-owned industrial estate developer, to demarcate the neighbouring Block 79 for startups as well. The building was formerly occupied by consumer electronics firm JVC.

Meanwhile, Block 71 will continue to serve as a home to startups.

“I want an identity for the startup landscape. This whole area will be purely for startups, no change. We’ll develop it in such a way that entrepreneurs can call this place home,” he said.

Minister Teo hinted that this could just be the beginning. He mulled the possibility that Singapore’s community centers, which are government buildings earmarked for community activities and admin services, could become incubators as well.

There are more than a hundred of these buildings in Singapore, spread out around the heartlands. They are not fully utilized at the moment.

“We could have startup incubators in the CCs. Cheap, cheap space, zero rental. We can get two, three rooms and convert them into incubators. Hopefully, this will create a ripple effect, then society can become more ready to embrace entrepreneurship, embrace failure,” he said.

Minister Teo has already successfully pushed for part of the centers to be converted into business enquiry stations. Small and Medium Enterprises are an integral part of the heartlands, he said.

SME renewal a national priority… sort of

This is the third dialogue session he has held with the ecosystem. The first was held with entrepreneurs, and the second with venture capitalists and angel investors.

The feedback will be collated and considered by the Entrepreneurship Review Committee, made up of prominent entrepreneurs and investors. The Committee is charged with making suggestions on how to finetune the government’s policies towards entrepreneurship.

The session provided a penetrating look at the government’s thinking towards startups. In summary, it’s a matter of economic survival.

In an era of technological change, some SMEs will inevitably drop out of the race as they may be unable to adapt. As such, the government needs new blood to replace the older firms and continue providing jobs for Singaporeans.