Singapore’s culture of innovation key to attracting real estate investment
JLL’s latest Innovation Geographies Research showed that Singapore was ranked third most innovative city in world, behind San Francisco and Tokyo. The city-state is ranked first globally for high-tech foreign direct investment (FDI) as well as second for the number of high-tech FDI projects.
With cities across the world making rapid progress in developing future-looking economies, JLL believes Singapore can stay ahead of competition by continuously nurturing its culture of innovation and entrepreneurship.
This would ensure continued acquisition of global talent as well as continued real estate investment.
In fact, the “top nine global cities for innovation and talent concentration pulled in a third of all global real estate investment in the last 10 years”, said Chris Fossick, JLL chief executive officer for Singapore and South-east Asia.
“In Asia-Pacific, just seven cities accounted for over half of real estate investment volumes in the last decade.”
JLL’s latest Innovation Geographies Research showed that Singapore was ranked third most innovative city in world, behind San Francisco and Tokyo.
And the city-state’s world-class infrastructure, efficient government and business-friendly culture were “big supportive factors”.
Based on 2015 to 2018 figures, Singapore ranked first globally for the dollar volume of high-tech foreign direct investment (FDI) as well as second for the number of high-tech FDI projects.
It also fared well in attracting venture capital (VC) funding for its startups, with investment rising at a compound annual growth rate of 84 percent during the 2008-2018 period. For the last three years, the number of startups attracting VC funding in Singapore stood at 555, way higher than the global average of 187.
“These strengths put Singapore firmly in the ‘Innovation-centric’ cluster of cities, alongside Toronto, Chicago, Amsterdam and Frankfurt,” noted Fossick.
“As well as Innovation, the city-state is also above the global average in our Talent Concentration Index, which measures the quality of domestic higher-education institutions, the demographic profile and employment in the innovation economy.”
With three world-class universities producing quality research in STEM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths), 45 percent of the city-state’s workforce holds an undergraduate degree, compared to a global average of 34 percent.
“As Singapore goes all out to woo investors, it is in a strong position to maintain its competitiveness as a global knowledge hub and ensure its continued attraction for multinational companies and businesses,” said Fossick.
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Fiona Ho, Digital Content Manager at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact her about this or other stories, email fiona@propertyguru.com.sg
