Pick winning sectors and join up the dots to create an innovation strategy. “The world is too large for any one company to do everything. Instead, select a sector and choose to be world-leading.”

This was the view of Mr Paul Stein, Chief Scientific Officer of Rolls Royce, who was delivering the keynote address at TechVenture 2012. The event was presented by the National Research Foundation (NRF) Singapore and supported by the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA), Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and Media Development Authority (MDA). Held on 17-18 October at Marina Bay Sands, TechVenture provided a networking and information sharing platform for investors and innovators.

In his presentation, Mr Stein discussed the basic policies needed to stimulate innovation at the level of the nation state, and the implications and lessons that this held for smaller organisations. “When we look at what we can do to stimulate innovation in a country, we need to consider it as a package of measures. Each element in itself is not enough,” he said.

One important measure would be to invest in building up the skills and capabilities necessary to support innovation. This included the creation of a skilled workforce, the development of entrepreneurial and domain knowledge, and investing in university research.

Mr Stein noted that Singapore had already been doing the right things to establish a lead in this area. In an earlier speech at TechVenture, Deputy Prime Minister Mr Teo Chee Hean, who is also Coordinating Minister for National Security, Minister for Home Affairs and Chairman of NRF, noted that Singapore has built up a strong R&D ecosystem with more than two decades of sustained investments in R&D. Besides the National University of Singapore and the Nanyang Technological University, the new Singapore University of Technology and Design is also set to become a world-class, research-intensive university.

Mr Teo also highlighted Singapore’s strong commitment to the protection of intellectual property (IP), which enhances the environment for business and innovation.

This was picked up by Mr Stein, who commended Singapore for its robust governance in protecting IP. “It is important to create an environment where IP can be protected, particularly if a country wants to attract foreign investment,” he said. “Advanced IP creates high barriers to entry. Companies like ours don’t want to invest in IP in countries if we feel it is going to leak.”

Another point Mr Stein made was that countries should never underestimate the value of government procurement in stimulating innovation. “When governments seek to buy something, think whether what you are buying is exportable,” he said. And if there is a big procurement, the governments should parcel it up in a way that small companies can contribute in individual parts, instead of having it all go to one big company.

Mr Stein also advocated the creation of one-stop shops where inventors can go to for good ideas. “Good innovators can be a bit like lost lambs otherwise,” he said.

Underlying these suggestions was the observation that innovation does not happen naturally out of interactions amongst people, but requires a conscious effort. You need an innovation strategy to actively stimulate good ideas and act upon them,” he said.

“Likewise, innovation at the national level does not happen by accident. It happens by careful policy, and here in Singapore, you have a great coming together of national policy and preparedness to choose winning sectors and connect the dots.”

Lessons from a Singaporean entrepreneur

Mr Tan Min Liang

One company that has been very clear about its sector of play from the get-go is Razer USA. “Our single core focus is on gaming and nothing else,” said its Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Mr Tan Min Liang.

The company, which was established in 2005, deals with gaming user interfaces, gaming systems and gaming software applications. For example, its gaming user interfaces include gaming mice, gaming keyboards and gaming headsets. In the gaming systems space, it recently launched Razer Blade, which Mr Tan described as “a true gaming laptop”. “We do anything between the gamer and the game. We just don’t do the game.”

Presenting a startup’s perspective at TechVenture, Mr Tan also shared some of the lessons he had learnt as a Singaporean entrepreneur. The first of these was that “we’re from a tiny island… but we’ve got to think really big”.

He recalled how, as a startup with 10 to 15 people in the early days, he had been worried about cash flow and making payroll for his team. But his mentor was telling him that “if you do this right, this could be worth a couple of hundred million dollars”.

“You need someone who can occasionally give you a kick in the butt and say hey, you have to be thinking a lot bigger. It’s especially important if you are coming from a tiny island.”

Another lesson he shared was the importance of demanding “only the best”, which can be difficult sometimes for Singaporeans who have “a bit of a non-confrontational DNA”. He illustrated this with the example of queue-jumpers, who tend to get off the hook because people are reluctant to confront them. But “demanding the best” is important even if it means having to be confrontational, if startups are to make it to the top of their game.

He also echoed the sentiments of many other entrepreneurs at TechVenture when he spoke about wanting to live his passion and how this continues to drive his work at Razer. Trained as a lawyer, Mr Tan practiced for a couple of years before deciding to start up his own company. “I loved being a lawyer, but I loved being a gamer even more,” he said. “If you have a great job, that’s nice. But ask yourself – is there something else that you love doing more.”