In our effort to reinvent the Singaporean economy, moulding it into Asia’s most attractive destination for global entrepreneurial talent, CREATE and MIT’s Global Startup Labs (GSL) have combined forces to kick-start the first-ever Global Connector Program (GCP) in Singapore.

GCP provides MIT GSL Alumni with the opportunity to advance their training and technical mentorship through a 9-day workshop starting 19 Jan 2016. Five start-ups (two from Malaysia and three from Sri Lanka) out of 32 submissions from around the world, have been selected for this program.

CREATE paired scientists to each start-up to advance the innovation and help the entity grow globally, while acting as a local anchor, and imbuing these scientists with entrepreneurial skills that can only be gained through working closely with startups.

Dr Giulia Adriani, SMART BioSyM Postdoctorial Associate, who was one of the researchers attached to the startup TagMe Malaysia, said: "I joined GCP to learn more about entrepreneurship and found it very enlightening especially when Virginia Chan managed to explain complex market strategies in simple words while supporting her business lessons with examples from her personal experience. I was also impressed by how young and passionate the start-up founders are and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience of being a start-up advisor."

The five start-ups were:

    Feed On Malaysia       Tagme Malaysia       4axis Solutions       Extrogene       Pay Media

Duncan Tsen, founder of Feed On Malaysia, dubbed the programme as "one of the most useful incubators" that he has ever been to. He said: "Through GCP, I have learnt much more in depth about my product, competitors and the market and how to leverage opportunities. It has given me the drive to grow my startup and think critically to address customers' needs. The speakers and trainers have been extremely helpful. I would definitely recommend future startups to join GCP."

GCP is an important step in grooming and attracting start-ups from other countries to base and go global from Singapore. It is sponsored by the National Research Foundation (NRF) Singapore under its Campus for Research Excellence and Technological Enterprise (CREATE) programme.

See news coverage on OpenGov Asia.