musings & critique about hi-tech, academia, building startups, and a journal to building eKita
Friday, August 31, 2012
I just have to make a short post here - a bit off-topic, about how amazing Singapore is.
The city itself is definitely a spectacle alone.
More beautiful skycrapers huddled together in seeming synchronicity I have never before seen.
The city is very new, obviously. Singapore itself is now 47 years old - something that is currently being celebrated with banners and flags all over the city.
I will definitely have to be here for its 50th birthday. Perhaps by then eKita will be based here and so will I.
A common phrase here that the locals seem to have ingrained into them goes "everything just works"...and it does. Busses, subways, everything is on time. People queue automatically for even the smallest things - like waiting for a taxi.
In fact everything works so well here - that people dont actually need to think all that much. Not to be negative, of course. I'm sure many people use that brain power to think of other things instead of the mundane trivialities in life that aught to be automated anyway.
It is a high-tech city with an efficiency level rarely seen anywhere else, and it is also very green. Singapore is indeed the garden city. With penthouse gardens and garden balconies even a common sight amongst the city skyline.
Singaporeans also seem to be incredibly happy with their fair city - which of course they should be. I havent actually spoken to a single true local here yet who felt like they wanted to move elsewhere - and yes, they do travel quite a bit. When you live in a country that is in fact a city (and an island) - taking even a short vacation means a passport and flight is involved; so might as well go anywhere. It appears quite common that Singaporeans go to essentially all random corners of the globe - so they have a good deal to compare to: and yes, they definitely should be happy with their fair city.
The SG startup scene is also quite a-buzz. Though it seems the majority of startups are built by foreigners, the city provides quite the benefits for both locals and foreigners (especially if they become permanent residents). Government matching 1:1 for investments into startups is available for angel-type investments. There is also an entity called the NRF (www.nrf.gov.sg) which provides a clean $500k for startups that get verified and invested into for a mere $89k by one of the accredited incubators.
In Singapore the term incubator is not the traditional incubator either - it simply means it is some sort of fund or partnership of investors.
It seems almost too good to be true actually. There are a few catches - for example one must have an SG-national or PR (permanent resident holder) as local director of your company. There are easy ways to sort this out however, and it just takes some time to find the right local partner and make a good friend and ally. Which is actually what I am currently doing myself.
People here are quite friendly, fairly occupied in their own lives, and to sum-up life in this city in 3 words I could most properly offer up: safe, clean, & quality.
The city itself is definitely a spectacle alone.
More beautiful skycrapers huddled together in seeming synchronicity I have never before seen.
The city is very new, obviously. Singapore itself is now 47 years old - something that is currently being celebrated with banners and flags all over the city.
I will definitely have to be here for its 50th birthday. Perhaps by then eKita will be based here and so will I.
A common phrase here that the locals seem to have ingrained into them goes "everything just works"...and it does. Busses, subways, everything is on time. People queue automatically for even the smallest things - like waiting for a taxi.
In fact everything works so well here - that people dont actually need to think all that much. Not to be negative, of course. I'm sure many people use that brain power to think of other things instead of the mundane trivialities in life that aught to be automated anyway.
It is a high-tech city with an efficiency level rarely seen anywhere else, and it is also very green. Singapore is indeed the garden city. With penthouse gardens and garden balconies even a common sight amongst the city skyline.
Singaporeans also seem to be incredibly happy with their fair city - which of course they should be. I havent actually spoken to a single true local here yet who felt like they wanted to move elsewhere - and yes, they do travel quite a bit. When you live in a country that is in fact a city (and an island) - taking even a short vacation means a passport and flight is involved; so might as well go anywhere. It appears quite common that Singaporeans go to essentially all random corners of the globe - so they have a good deal to compare to: and yes, they definitely should be happy with their fair city.
The SG startup scene is also quite a-buzz. Though it seems the majority of startups are built by foreigners, the city provides quite the benefits for both locals and foreigners (especially if they become permanent residents). Government matching 1:1 for investments into startups is available for angel-type investments. There is also an entity called the NRF (www.nrf.gov.sg) which provides a clean $500k for startups that get verified and invested into for a mere $89k by one of the accredited incubators.
In Singapore the term incubator is not the traditional incubator either - it simply means it is some sort of fund or partnership of investors.
It seems almost too good to be true actually. There are a few catches - for example one must have an SG-national or PR (permanent resident holder) as local director of your company. There are easy ways to sort this out however, and it just takes some time to find the right local partner and make a good friend and ally. Which is actually what I am currently doing myself.
People here are quite friendly, fairly occupied in their own lives, and to sum-up life in this city in 3 words I could most properly offer up: safe, clean, & quality.
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