SANTA CLARA, Calif., May 30 (AScribe Newswire) — The National University of Singampore Enterprise Center in Silicon Valley (NECSV), a university-level business incubation center situated in SantaClara, Calif., was officially launched on Friday, May 30, by Mr. Raymond Lim, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and Trade and Industry and Minister of State in charge of Entrepreneurship. Theopening of this Center marks a first for NUS and Singapore where an institute of higher learning is setting up an office to help their start-ups venture into a foreign market.
NECSV aims to provide a smooth entry for NUS start-ups into the US markets, where they can “arrive on Day 1 and conduct business on Day 2.” It is managed by NUS Venture Support, a unit of the NUS Enterprise Cluster which was set up to establish a conducive environment for the creation of successful new ventures evolving from NUS technology and involving NUS students, staff and alumni.
Approximately 38 current NUS start-ups generated $17 million in revenues in 2002 and attracted over $98 million in external funding. NECSV would provide these 38 current and future NUS start-ups an opportunity to adopt a global mindset in their businesses. A total of 10 start-ups are expected to be operating at NECSV by the end of this year.
This Center, which will be run on a non-profit basis, offers a range of business services ranging from low cost office facility for short and medium term tenancy to networking events. Start-ups at the Center are also provided access to a panel of advisors who will assist and mentor them as soon as they set foot in the US market. These advisors, who comprise highly successful and established Singaporeans and US entrepreneurs with a passion for helping young start-ups, will play a major role in opening doors for these start-ups to potential investors, business partners and customers. The panel is chaired by Dr Richard Lim, a serial entrepreneur and Chairman of Majulah Connection, a Singaporean global business network that connects overseas Singaporeans and “Friends of Singapore” with private and public sector organizations in Singapore.
Located close to amenities, the Center works on the concept of practicality and functionality. Affordable physical facilities and infrastructure such as office space and equipment are available to interested start-ups. Besides the choice of individual workstations from 6 sq meters or private office suites ranging from 9 to 12 sq meters, the start-ups will have 24-hour access to an office with extensive telecommunications and teleconferencing facilities and other amenities such as a fully equipped meeting room and seminar room. The Center will also provide a panel of preferred professional service providers including law and accounting firms, training seminars by consulting professors and successful entrepreneurs and monthly events with Silicon Valley organizations to broaden business networking opportunities.
The official launch of NECSV will include the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between NUS and the NUS Society (NUSS), which reiterates the strong and effective partnership these two organisations have enjoyed for many years. NUSS will contribute an initial start-up cost of US$100,000 in support of this program. “As the largest Alumni body of the University, we are very proud to be partnering our alma mater in establishing the first overseas enterprise centre in Silicon Valley,” said Mr Lai Kim Seng, President of NUSS. “Today’s launch of the NECSV will enable NUS as well as NUSS members with start-up companies to take full advantage of a cost effective fast-track route to the US markets.”
The start-ups would have the advantage of leveraging on the pool of NUS students who have participated in the NUS College in Silicon Valley (NCSV) program which is managed by the NUS Overseas Colleges. With the NCSV office located within the premises of NECSV, students on the NCSV program would be a valuable resource to these NUS start-ups by assisting them with market studies and other projects. These start-ups would in turn immerse the NCSV students into the entrepreneurial environment of Silicon Valley.
“The setting up of NECSV is in line with NUS’ vision of becoming a Global Knowledge Enterprise and to stand amongst the world’s leading entrepreneurial universities. This Center is a key component in our NUS Venture Support strategy,” said Professor Jacob Phang, CEO of NUS Enterprise.
“Venturing into the US market has never been more attractive as our start-ups operating at NECSV will experience a significant drop in operating costs from $100,000 to $10,000. The success of our start-ups at NECSV will in turn contribute significantly to the Singapore economy and result in more jobs being created for all Singaporeans.”
With the successful launch of NECSV, plans are already underway to set up more overseas centers in other major world markets in Europe and China.
For more information, please contact Ms Yu Ling Chua, 650-967-4770, fax 650-967-3922, cell 650-302-6410, yuling@nus.edu.sg.
About NUS Enterprise
In support of the University’s drive towards being a leading entrepreneurial university, NUS Enterprise was set up to inject an enterprise dimension to NUS teaching and research involving NUS students, staff and alumni. NUS Enterprise aims to provide entrepreneurship education and nurture talents with a global mindset; identify, protect and commercialise intellectual property; nurture NUS spin-offs and start-ups; foster industrial collaboration; and facilitate the dissemination of NUS knowledge to the external community. The units of the NUS Enterprise Cluster are the NUS Overseas Colleges, NUS Entrepreneurship Centre, NUS Industry and Technology Relations Office, NUS Venture Support, NUS Consulting, NUS Extension and NUS Publishing.
About NUS Venture Support
NUS Venture Support (NVS) was formed in December 2002 to provide infrastructural support for technology start-ups founded by NUS students, staff and alumni. NVS provides the necessary framework to nurture and encourage the success of new businesses established on NUS technology and expertise. It offers support services and business networks that add value to NUS start-ups, by leveraging on NUS’ intellectual property, domain expertise and incubator facilities, to give companies a launching pad into global markets. NVS’ one-stop entrepreneurship ecosystem helps a business from the initial seed stage, to starting-up the company, and eventually venturing into foreign markets.
About NUS Overseas Colleges
NUS Overseas Colleges (NOC), part of the NUS Enterprise Cluster, cultivates dynamic and resourceful entrepreneurs amongst NUS students by immersing them in the entrepreneurial and academic environments of leading entrepreneurial hubs around the world. Students spend a year as interns at technology-based start-ups, concurrently attending entrepreneurship and discipline-based courses at renowned partner universities. Since its inception, NOC has set up the NUS College in Silicon Valley, located in Santa Clara, Calif., and the NUS College in Bio Valley, located in Philadelphia. By 2005, there would be three more colleges established in leading entrepreneurial hubs all over the world.
