Recently, a comment from our current Singapore Minister of Law, K Shanmugam hints at the possibility of enacting laws that might be similar to the two pieces of legislation currently being debated in the US: the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and a sister bill the Protect IP Act (PIPA).
There has been strong resistance against both bills not just from many technology entrepreneurs from the start-up space but also from multi-national companies such as Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Twitter and Facebook.
The aim of this post is to explain what SOPA and PIPA really means for us and why we are not supportive of such legislation for economic reasons if our Minister of Law decides to propose it as a bill in the very near future. It’s not just a Singapore problem but a Southeast Asia problem if it gets passed thru in Singapore. Read more
Professor Dr. Wong Poh Kam here provides an overview of role of Venture Capital and Angel Investors in teh-startups scene in Singapore. It has been republished here with permission. A more detailed version of this will be published in the Annual SVCA Directory 2011/12
High-technology entrepreneurship has been identified as an important driver of Singapore’s knowledge-based economy, and increased policy attention has been given to encouraging the formation and nurturing of high-tech start-ups, especially those with significant intellectual property (IP). To this end, in 2010 the National Research Foundation (NRF) engaged me, as director of the NUS Entrepreneurship Centre, to conduct a study of high-tech start-ups in Singapore. While the survey covers many aspects of the high tech start-up dynamics, including characteristics of the founders, their sources of technology and funding, growth strategies, performance and challenges, this blog highlights some salient findings on only one aspect of the survey: the performance of start-ups that have received funding from venture capitalists or angel investors versus those that did not. Read more
If you are doing business in China, and want to set up a holding company to manage your China operations, what is the best choice?
While Hong Kong is always cited as a viable place for this purpose, Singapore should also be seriously considered, argued Chris Devonshire-Ellis, principal and founder of Dezan Shira & Associates, in an article on China Briefing.
Setting up companies in offshore jurisdictions to manage another country’s operations is a common corporate practice. Read more
InMobi, a leading independent mobile ad network, has announced on August 3 the acquisition of Sprout, a platform that simplifies the creation of HTML5 mobile ads, for an undisclosed sum. The US-based Sprout has served clients such as Chevrolet, Disney, Paramount Pictures, Nokia, HTC, and Sega. Read more
Filed under Innovation & Technology, News Stop, Technology, WebTags: chevrolet, disney, htcs, InMobi, KPCB, M&A, merger and acquisitions, mergers and acquisitions, naveen tewari, Nokia, paramount pictures, sega, Sherpalo Ventures, Singapore, sprout
Mobile ad optimizer and mobile advertising company Smaato announced yesterday the launch of new SDKs that support rich media ads on mobile phones and tablets. The SDKs enable application developers to build more interactive banner and full-page ads in new formats. Read more
Filed under Innovation & Technology, Marketing & Branding, Mobile, News Stop, Technology, WebTags: ad network, BVDW, Mobile Marketing Association, Mobile Phone, SDK, Singapore, sitf, Smaato, tablet
In Singapore, 67 percent of people aged 15 and above use the Internet — 29 points higher than the average in Southeast Asia, at 38 percent, revealed initial findings from market research firm Nielsen’s inaugural Southeast Asia Digital Consumer Report.
Among youths aged 15 to 19 years old, Internet penetration is at 97 percent, while only 33 percent of Singaporeans aged 50 and above access the Internet.
“‘While Singaporeans still largely access the Internet via PCs, the growing popularity of connected devices such as the iPhone and iPad and increasing availability of cheaper mobile Internet price plans is paving the way for growth in mobile and tablet Internet usage in the future,” says Rebecca Tan, managing director of Nielsen’s Media division in Singapore.
Photo: SarahDepper
Rental costs for hi-tech industrial spaces in Singapore have grown at a faster pace in the second quarter of 2011 than in the first, says real estate services firm DTZ Research.
Quarter-on-quarter growth for rental costs was 4.5 percent, ending at S$3.45 per square foot (psf) from April to June. Growth in the previous quarter was 3.1 percent.
“As office rents have increased at a faster pace, some office tenants who qualify to occupy industrial space due to the nature of their business operations are choosing to move over to business parks and high-tech industrial buildings,” says Cheng Siow Ying, DTZ executive director, to Channel NewsAsia.
Singapore has been ranked the most innovative country in Asia and third in the world by the latest Global Innovation Index just released by French Business School INSEAD. This year’s results mark a vast improvement for Singapore, which came in 7th overall last year. Read more
They have it in Europe, so do we in Asia. This year, Terrapinn proudly presents Planet of the Apps Asia 2011. Planet of the Apps Asia brings together the world’s major consumer brands, media businesses, social networking sites, mobile operators and ISPs, device manufacturer, platform owners and developer community. Click here to view the speaker list and here to view the full schedule. Read more
Roman Catholics, here’s an iPhone app just for you. It’s Easter Sunday tomorrow and SG Catholics (via iTunes) can help you find a church around you or mass timings at your local parish. This would be especially useful for tourists who are not familiar with the locations of churches here.
You can also see a list of the buses and nearest MRT stations for each church, information and contact details of the priests in each parish, and even check-in (if you are within 300m).
SG Catholics was built by new firm, vizTree. Some screenshots follow. Read more
