18 April 2016

On April 18, Singapore’s Minister of State of the Ministry of Trade and Industry Koh Poh Koon visited the Hi-Tech Park to meet with HTP Director Valery Tsepkalo and learn about Belarus' experience in developing the IT industry, training IT professionals and supporting innovative entrepreneurs.

The delegation also explored HTP activities and potential in promoting the startup movement in Belarus, while walking around the HTP business incubator. The parties shared ideas about the existing and future high technologies and tools to be used for developing the knowledge economy in both countries.

Dr. Koh Poh Koon: "Interestingly, while HTP has an incubation and co-working space similar to our Launchpad @ OneNorth, you do not provide any grants or seed funds to startups, and entrepreneurs have to bootstrap themselves and pitch their ideas to VCs in order to attract seed funding. The idea is that the market should be the best determinant of which startup should deserve to survive. Perhaps we need to rethink how we use our generous grants in our startup ecosystem to not cripple the development of our startups."

This is the second visit of the delegation from Singapore to HTP this year, the first one being paid by officials of Singapore’s Ministry of Trade and Industry headed by Director of Emerging Markets Division Wong Toon Joon on March 16. The guests showed interest in activities of HTP resident-companies and expressed willingness to expand bilateral ties.