Entrepreneurial activity and innovation have become increasingly pervasive in Singapore in the past five years, the Economic Development Board (EDB) said in a year review Thursday.

Quoting the 2005 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor report, the board said that total entrepreneurial activity, which refers to the proportion of adults aged 18 to 64 in a country that have engaged in starting up or running their own new businesses in the last three and a half years in Singapore, has risen from 2.1 percent in 2000 to 7.2 percent in 2005.

"Singapore adopts a broad-based and pervasive approach to developing an entrepreneurial culture and mindset across the entire spectrum, from schools to the public and private sectors," EDB said, adding that venture capital firms, business incubators and accelerators have also contributed a lot.

To boost innovation and commercialization, EDB and other related agencies have launched several programs like the Patent Application Fund Plus Scheme and the Innovation Commercialization Scheme, and set up the Utility Innovation Community in the past few years.

As a result, the number of patent applications filed by Singapore residents increased from 523 in 2001 to 641 in 2004, while the number of new high-tech companies formed every year grew from 3,502 in 2001 to 3,908 in 2005.

Meanwhile, the nationalities of enterprises set up in Singapore have also been diversifying in the past years and the city state is negotiating more free trade agreements with its trading partners to expand its business connectivity, EDB said.

It vowed to further improve the environment for enterprise and innovation, engage the private sector more and develop new sources of growth, value and investment to strengthen Singapore's position as a Global Entrepolis.

Source: Xinhua