Singapore’s Moment Has Come: Its Role as a New Global Biotech Hub

In the realm of biotechnology, Singapore now appears poised – after more than two decades of preparation – to capitalize on a confluence of trends to establish itself as one of the industry’s global biotech “hubs”. To succeed as a biotech hub, however, Singapore must show that it possesses not only skills, such as research and manufacturing, but an appetite for taking risks – in science, and in the investment needed to translate that science into medicines and other therapies. We now see evidence of this “venture” mindset in Singapore’s biotechnology community; and it comes just as the biomedical industry is looking to diversify its footprint in Asia. Singapore’s timing could not be better. In this article, Sidley surveys key features of Singapore’s past, present, and anticipated future in biotechnology.