For Singapore to reinvent itself, it needs to take lessons from Sweden

Image credit: Michell Zappa.

Spotify, Skype, Minecraft, Candy Crush. Chances are, you’d recognize all of them. What might surprise you though is that they all come from Sweden. Yes, that Scandinavian country famous for its meatballs.

For a small population of 9.6 million to produce this many influential tech products, you’d expect Singapore to want to emulate it. But I’m not sure if that’s been the case.

Singapore’s governing philosophy opposes Sweden’s. Swedes pay humongous taxes in exchange for a wide social safety net. Singapore believes citizens should fend for themselves, although it does have a limited welfare system.

Yet I believe Singapore has much to learn from Sweden. I think our Prime Minister, who recently made a pilgrimage to Silicon Valley, should put Stockholm next on his itinerary. If Silicon Valley is the mecca of tech, then Stockholm is Medina.

Don’t ape Silicon Valley too much

Singapore’s free market principles and Silicon Valley’s libertarian ethos do seem like bedfellows. Yet, the city-state can’t just copy the Valley blueprint like a Groupon clone.

After all, Silicon Valley has a massive population to draw from, serving as both a source of talent and customer base. A prodigy in Texas can move to Silicon Valley without going through immigration.

Singapore lacks all of the above, and it sits on the far side of the world, surrounded by countries unlike its own.

It needs to optimize a tiny talent base of 5.4 million and convert a nation of obedient workers into creative thinkers. Silicon Valley, on the other hand, can thrive without a forward-thinking national policy. It counts on its ability to attract entrepreneurial oddballs from the rest of the country and the world.

The Singapore government knows the difference. After all, its policies to nurture a tech industry are inspired by Israel’s.

And yet there’s a missing piece. Indeed, Singapore has improved on measures to attract venture capital and support startups. It’s cautiously making small tweaks to its much-admired but rote-learning-heavy education system.

However, I’m not sure if minute changes are enough to nurture a cadre of constructive rebels, which are already in short supply, given that the government has put tight restrictions on immigration.

A mindset shift is sorely needed, particularly with tiger moms and dads who are still putting a tight leash on their kids.

Sweden could offer a solution. It didn’t just birth a thriving startup scene from nothing. It has a long tradition of being creative, entrepreneurial, and ambitious.

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