It has emerged that small and other businesses in Singapore are satisfied with the support that they are receiving from government regulatory agencies.

According to the results of the eighth annual survey conducted by the Action Community for Entrepreneurship (ACE), a public-private sector collaboration headed by the Minister of State for Trade and Industry, Teo Ser Luck, over the 26 agencies surveyed for this year's poll, the average Pro-Enterprise Index rating (calculated based on the aggregated scores of an agency’s performance in the following areas: compliance cost; review of rules and regulations; transparency; customer responsiveness; and pro-enterprise orientation) was 74.8.

Commenting on the results, the Trade and Industry Minister and ACE chairman observed that:

"Our consistently strong PEI score reflects our agencies’ continued efforts and commitment to create a conducive environment for businesses. Being pro-enterprise is a long and continuing journey. A business’s success is dependent on the support of the agencies. As business expectations continue to grow, regulatory agencies must likewise continue to remain responsive and to understand and serve businesses’ needs better, including seriously looking into priority areas for improvement based on feedback from companies surveyed. This is all the more important in anticipation of a challenging business climate ahead. ”

The top 12 agencies, as ranked in the poll, were as follows: Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA); Central Provident Fund Board (CPFB); Energy Market Authority (EMA); Building and Construction Authority (BCA); Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA); Singapore Land Authority (SLA); Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS); Immigration & Checkpoints Authority of Singapore (ICA); Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS); Housing Development Board (HDB); Singapore Customs (SC); and IE Singapore (IES).

Welcoming improvements in the areas of online accessibility, and in responses to queries, those polled for the ACE survey stressed that there was still a need for improvement in certain areas, such as the handling of telephone queries by more experienced staff, a reduction in the length and complexity of application forms, increased cross-agency cooperation where necessary, and more timely updates regarding new rules and regulations, and the status of applications.

The authorities in Singapore have typically been highly receptive to the needs of businesses, particularly small businesses, in the territory, and in September of this year, announced that they would be boosting spending on assistance for small and medium enterprises wanting to innovate technologically, with SGD320 million set aside over the next five years for the Technology Innovation Programme (TIP), an increase on the SGD220 million committed since the programme's launch in 2006.

Commenting at the time on the TIP's progress to date, Deputy Chief Executive of development agency SPRING Singapore, Tan Kai Hoe explained that:

"As the SME development agency, SPRING encourages enterprises to leverage on technology and innovation to grow and differentiate themselves from the competition. Hence, we launched the Technology Innovation Programme in 2006 to help SMEs adopt technology innovation as a competitive strategy."

"At that time, we found that technology adoption was low among SMEs. This was because many did not know what technologies were available. Even if they knew what technologies they needed, they could not afford to acquire or develop their own. They did not have the resources or expertise."

"So we started by providing funding support to catalyse technology projects and seconded researchers to help the SMEs build up their in-house expertise. The results were encouraging."

Support provided under the TIP falls broadly into the following tranches:

• Catalysing technology projects via the provision of grants to SMEs to allow them to begin to employ new technology, or to build upon and improve their existing products and processes. A SGD5,000 voucher can be applied for, which is then redeemable for technology services and advice at any of SPRING’s 19 knowledge partners at the polytechnics and research institutes.
• Seeding technology start-ups, and assisting them in the development and commercialisation of their ideas, by providing early-stage funding for proof-of-concept and proof-of-value technology projects.
• Helping SMEs to develop their technology expertise by facilitating the secondment of local and overseas experts to SMEs to help them build up their in-house technology capabilities. According to SPRING, during the first five years of the programme,150 experts from A*STAR research institutes and the industry have been seconded to 120 SMEs.
• Developing the technology infrastructure in Singapore, via the establishment of five Centres of Innovation (COI) at research institutes and polytechnics. These COIs cover a wide spectrum of technology expertise in the food, marine and offshore, environment, water and precision engineering industries, and are designed to provide SMEs with access to technical equipment, facilities, and expertise, all in one location.