A helping hand for start-ups

Dubai: The number of start-ups in Singapore has doubled and they have a big role to play in the government’s ambitious plan to convert the country into a “smart nation”, said a top Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore official.

The number of active start-ups has grown by more than 80 per cent from 23,000 in 2004 to 42,000 in 2013. Those start-ups employed 306,000 workers or nine per cent of the workforce in Singapore last year.

The number of high-tech start-ups has also nearly doubled from 4,600 in 2003 to 8,500 last year.

“We are encouraging start-ups and entrepreneurs in the field of technology. IDA takes stakes in accelerators around the world in order to help the start-ups develop their business plans and financial models and develop their technology,” Jacqueline Poh, managing director of IDA, told Gulf News.