Dr Koh
Poh Koon, Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry of Singapore at the
Indoor Ag-Con Asia conference held at Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention
Centre said, “Singapore has the right ingredients to make it the urban
agriculture and aquaculture technology hub in the region and it is in a strong
position to catalyze technological and business innovations as it has a climate
for innovation, strong talent base and strategic location, which can transform
agriculture and aquaculture in the Asia-Pacific region.”
He
further added, "In Singapore, arable land is scarce, innovating how we
produce food is critical in helping us overcome our farming constraints and
better contribute to our food sustainability and traceability efforts.
Investments in agri-tech can also help to reduce our reliance on food imports
and allow us to enjoy seasonal produce while lowering our carbon footprint."
He also
announced, to boost the agri-tech sector, the Enterprise Singapore, through its
investment arm Seeds Capital, has appointed seven investment partners under
Startup SG Equity, a scheme that encourages private-sector investment for
start-ups.
Seeds
Capital aims to spur the growth of emerging and strategic sectors such as
agri-tech, by stimulating investment in innovative local start-ups.
Under
this partnership, more than $90 million worth of investments will go into
early-stage tech start-ups with food and agri-tech solutions.
The
appointed partners are AgFunder, Hatch, ID Capital, Openspace, The Yield Lab,
Trendlines and VisVires New Protein.
Through
Seeds Capital, the partners will assist early-stage start-ups, like introducing
new business partners and providing support to enter new markets. Seeds Capital
will also provide co-funding of up to $4 million per deep tech start-up under
Startup SG Equity.
Dr Koh
said, "We are building a vibrant agri-tech start-up environment to uncover
more talent, anchor experts, partners, investors and accelerators into our
ecosystem, and expand the pool of knowledge and resources.”
"We
are developing relevant research capabilities in areas like seed formulation
and fish nutrition, advanced biotech-based protein production and food safety
science. We are also establishing a high-tech physical cluster in Kranji to
support operations in urban agriculture and aquaculture."
Protenga,
one of the Singapore agri-tech companies present at the conference is an insect
farming company that produces animal feed. It has incorporated data sensors
into its farms to help determine the right feeding frequency and amount,
increasing the quality and volume of produce.
Second
company, VertiVegies, is an indoor vertical farming firm. It displayed its
modular planting system that uses technology to ensure efficient plant growth,
while taking up minimal space and giving Singapore the potential to achieve
food
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