EU-Singapore Matchmaking Event 2023

Description

The European Commission (EC) organised the EU – Singapore Matchmaking Event as part of Singapore Week of Innovation & Technology (SWITCH) and Agri-Food Tech Expo Asia 2023, both were held on 31 October – 2 November 2023.

The EU – Singapore Matchmaking Event itself took place on-site in Singapore on 30 October – 1 November 2023.

The European Commission and Enterprise Singapore (EnterpriseSG) jointly organised the event - with the support of the EU Delegation to Singapore and the Singapore Ministry of Trade and Industry and facilitated by the European Cluster Collaboration Platform (ECCP) and the Enterprise Europe Network (EEN).

The EU – Singapore Matchmaking Event brought together cluster organisations, SMEs, Start-Ups and European Industry Associations from the European Union (EU), non-EU COSME countries, and Singapore. It provided participants an excellent chance to promote Cluster to Cluster (C2C), Cluster to Business (C2B), and Business to Business (B2B) collaborations. The overall objective of the event was to promote the exchange of information and provide networking opportunities for European cluster organisations and their members with counterparts from Singapore, particularly in the fields Agrifood, Health Care and Biomedical Tech, Digital Tech, Smart Cities and Urban Solutions, Advanced Manufacturing, Green Tech.

📰Read the Event Summary

📰Read the joint EU Delegation to Singapore and Enterprise Singapore press release

📸The Official Photo Album is available here

📕Download the Agenda and the Participants' booklet.

Highlight video:

Welcoming address from Jakub Boratynski, DG GROW:

Read for more information⬇️

Agenda and Activities

Preparatory Webinar – an opportunity to receive information on undertaking business in South Africa and guidance on how to participate successfully in the planned event. Date: 28 September 2023, 9:30 – 11:00 CET.
Technical Webinar – a session helping future participants of the matchmaking event to make the most of their profiling in the B2Match tool and explain the procedures to optimise the booking of meetings. Date: 17 October, 10:00-11:00 CET
Matchmaking meetings between Cluster Organisations, SMEs, Start-ups and European Industry Associations from EU (and non-EU COSME) countries and South Africa. 30 October 2023
Site visits
Debriefing session to collect feedback and testimonials from cluster participants.
Participation at Singapore Week of Innovation and Technology (SWITCH) and Agri-Food Tech Expo Asia (AFTEA)
Post-event survey

Objectives

The objectives for the participants included:

Strengthening EU-Singapore cluster cooperation for the benefit of their members, including a seminar, a cluster matchmaking event, and site visits.
Identifying potential areas of common interest for cooperation and synergies, in terms of the sectoral, value chain, and market focus of their SMEs and other companies.
Improving, through clusters, the EU-Singapore industry and academia-industry collaboration in research, development, and innovation. For its members, the clusters identified possible areas of RDI collaboration (academia, research organisations, industries...).

Videos

EU-Singapore Matchmaking Event 2023: Watch the highlights video🎬

Preparatory webinar

A preparatory Webinar for The EU – Singapore Matchmaking Event was held on 28 September 2023. The Agenda for the Webinar is available here.

Below are all the presentations used in the frame of the Webinar:

Market access information session – collaboration opportunities and guidelines on how to do business with Singaporean counterparts,
Regional approach. Presentation of the Input paper

Lennart Galdiga, Team Leader ‘Data & Policy‘, Prognos, ECCP team member - download presentation
Ian Lee, Country Head (Europe), Singapore Business Federation - download presentation
Justyna Lasik, Head of Economic and Trade Section, EU Delegation to Singapore - download presentation
Nele Cornelis, Executive Director, EU Chamber of Commerce in Singapore - download presentation

Presentation of the South East Asia IP SME Helpdesk

Nora Bihari, Project Manager - download presentation

Presentation of SWITCH expo, practical information, general overview, and insights for business networking on the floor

Woei Yuan SENG, Deputy Director, SWITCH - download presentation

Presentation of Agri-Food Tech Expo, practical information, general overview and insights

Wendy Chng Petit, Event Director, Agri-Food Tech Expo Asia (AFTEA) - download presentation

Technical webinar

Format

The EU – Singapore Matchmaking Event took place on-site in Singapore. Participants were able to schedule their own meetings through the B2Match Platform. As mentioned in the Call for Expression of Interest, elected European cluster organisations received financial support for travel from the European Commission.

Participants

This invitation was addressed to cluster and business network organisations interested in collaborating with Singapore counterparts in the focused sectors.

The event supported the funded participation of up to 20 representatives (from the selected clusters and business networks). More participants were accepted upon confirmation and at their own cost.

SMEs, Start-ups and European Industry Association could participate at their own costs as part of the delegation and benefit from all planned activities if they fulfil the eligibility criteria.

Call for Expression of Interest

Calls for Expression of Interest targeting cluster organisations, SMEs, Start-Ups and European Industry Associations from the EU and non-EU COSME countries who wish to participate are now closed.

You can read more about Singapore's economic structure, its cluster ecosystems, and initiatives that foster growth and innovation in the Input Paper.