IDA is constantly on the lookout for new ways to build Singapore-based tech companies and nurture new tech talent. It will invest up to S$10million to launch IDA Labs over the next two months to provide lab space where companies, government agencies and also individuals can come together to spark ideas, develop partnerships and otherwise collaborate.

The labs will provide a practical environment where the tech community can rub shoulders in a creative environment, and hopefully foster a culture of creating and building with technology, engendering new technologies and testing proof of concepts.

“We want to get people excited and used to the idea of tinkering and putting things together,” said Ms Lee Wan Sie, Deputy Director, IDA Labs, referring not just to the maker community but to students and any other interested parties. “They can learn to tear things apart and see how they work.”

IDALabs@HQ will be a 300-square-metre space within IDA’s headquarters in Mapletree Business City. In this facility, Singapore companies can work with IDA and government agencies on projects and products that have the potential to be used by government.

The lab will also be where such products can be “test driven” by potential users. Through the lab, public officers can access and experiment with new and exciting technologies which can be deployed in their work, strengthening the technology capabilities of IDA and spurring the adoption of innovative technology in government agencies.

A 400 square-metre lab will also be established at the new National Design Centre, which was officially opened on 12 March. The two-storey IDALabs@NDC will be set up in collaboration with DesignSingapore Council as a meeting point for technology, media and design professionals. With facilities such as 3D printers and laser cutters, they can work on sensors, games and data visualisation, build prototypes, as well as test-bed new ideas, products and services.

The NDC facility will also host programmes for companies and students, to let them toy with technology and hopefully get hooked. “We want to build skills and to make inventions accessible,” said Ms Lee.

IDA is working with institutions such as the School of Science and Technology, Simplified3D, Republic Polytechnic and Singapore Polytechnic to start right away, getting students into the labs during the March school holidays to try hot new technologies like the Python programming language, open-source electronics prototyping platform Arduino, and Raspberry Pi, a credit-card sized computer that plugs into a TV and a keyboard.

Two companies which are participating in IDA Labs are Hope Technik Pte Ltd, a mechanical engineering company that was started in 2006, and Pirate3D, a start-up that makes 3D printers.

On display at IDA Labs is Hope Technik’s made-in-Singapore VTOL (Vertical Takeoff and Landing) drone. Its air frame was produced using a 3D printer, while its flight computer system was developed in-house.

“In Singapore there is not much interest in this industry,” noted Mr Benjamin Ang, Senior Software Engineer with HopeTechnik. “We want to promote it by showing younger Singaporeans that this is cool.”

Pirate 3D’s products are already cool, but Mr Brendan Goh, Chief Operating Officer, says the company is participating in IDA Labs because they believe in the concept.

“We want to see the next generation of Singaporeans thinking globally and going for it. This IDA set-up is really forward thinking. You have the physical environment that will enable us to build communities and this helps with the creativity – because creativity begets creativity,” he enthuses.

“With our 3D printer, the people who use the Labs will be able to build prototypes to test for ergonomics, maybe to replace small parts. Or create structures that cannot be made by traditional methods.”

IDA Labs has at least one happy user even before its launch. Mr Bong Jun Hao, a student of financial informatics at Singapore Polytechnic interning at IDA, had a chance to fiddle with Raspberry Pi and Arduino in the lab. He “picked up” Python programming and built a device that was both a clock and a Twitter monitor. He is considering incorporating PSI indicators that monitor air quality.

“It is fun to be able to explore,” he said. “I don’t have an engineering background, so at first I didn’t know how to power up the LED (in Raspberry Pi). And when I started, I had zero knowledge of how to code in Python. But here I have the freedom to try things out and if I am stuck, I ‘google’ for help. It’s nice to be able to build something that I can put on my table.”

To grow high quality tech start-ups, IDA is looking beyond labs and incubators. It has introduced its Accelerator programme, managed by its venture capital arm, Infocomm Investments Pte Ltd (IIPL), to help promising start-ups to evolve into Innovation Driven Enterprises (IDEs).

While SMEs typically earn revenues early, grow slowly and then plateau, IDEs focus on market share rather than profits early in their life cycle. IDEs create solutions that customers want, and invest in technology to boost productivity and scalability. If all goes to plan, they take off and become global enterprises.

“As far as investors are concerned, we are very interested in these companies,” said Dr Alex Lin, Head of IIPL, which is exploring collaborations with corporations, universities and overseas professional accelerators. The Accelerator programme aims to build 500 Singapore-based high growth tech product start-ups in the next five years.

Its first move has been to form a strategic partnership with leading start-up accelerator, Joyful Frog Digital Incubator (JFDI). IIPL will anchor the partnership as both investor and “operator”, helping to kick-start JFDI’s first accelerator programme of the year, which runs from 20 March to 1 July.

“We see great value in the accelerator model in stimulating the growth of home-grown innovation-driven tech product start-ups, and elevating their chances of success amid global competition,” said Dr Lin. “This is more so with an experienced partner like JFDI running the programme, bringing along its established methodologies, techniques and a well-connected community.”

As the operator, IIPL will introduce innovative tech product start-ups to the programme, help in the selection process, work with JFDI to tweak the programme for start-ups at various stages of maturity, and add its own network of entrepreneurs, investors and innovators to JFDI’s current start-up community.

“The partnership also marks a significant expansion in IIPL’s role in boosting Singapore’s start-up ecosystem – beyond providing growth capital to taking a more hands-on role in helping promising tech product start-ups at the seed and early stages,” Dr Lin added.

Local digital health start-up, Klinify, which recently raised S$770,000 in seed funding, will testify to the effectiveness of JFDI’s programme. “Reading lean start-up theories is easy, but applying them is hard,” said Mr Surendran Krishanthan, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Klinify. “Through JFDI, we learn how to apply these theories from the very best mentors, allowing us to iterate our processes quickly and improve the quality of our learning in a very short period of time,” said Mr Surendran.

“Most importantly, the community JFDI has built, one where mentors, investors, entrepreneurs and even people who just pass by for coffee help new start-ups without expecting anything in return, just out of good will, is the most crucial value add,” he said.