We already started to get nervous during breakfast and discussed intensively about the upcoming group presentation. During the whole week we worked on a business case with field research, which we had to present today. As expected, we all found each other in the hotel facilities finalizing our presentations.

At 14:00 all groups met in a conference room in the hotel and were ready to present their results and conspicuous features. In the following sections we summarize our findings:

Group 1 has worked on the research question: Which payment methods are mainly used in Singapore and how do they work? As a result, Singaporeans use credit and debit cards most, followed by cash and wireless payment such as wallets and QR-codes are becoming more popular.

The second group dealt with the topic of the App economy in the food delivery sector. They presented Grab’s concept, which combines delivery services with driving services, scooter rental and other services in one app. Opportunities for the Swiss market were also highlighted.

Group 3 explored the government’s ability to tackle declining health and rising health costs through digital data collection. In conversations with locals, they tried to find out how Singaporeans integrate fitness into their stressful daily lives. Surprisingly, they learned that the Singaporeans are having a different attitude than Switzerland. They are very open about sharing personal data.

Singapore is listed on the Ease of doing business report on the second place and hold for years the first place. But is doing business in Singapore really so easy as we think? This question had to be answered by the fourth group. For that purpose we had the pleasure to meet several startup founders. Although the administrative process to register an entity is very easy, the challenges lies in the money raising, client acquisition and network establishing. The spirit of those founders was overwhelming and impressive to all of us.

Group 5 investigated about individual transportation in Singapore. We found out that the majority of people use the app Grab, with which you can order a taxi to a certain place within a few minutes. We wondered whether the app was also very popular with students. Because of that, we interviewed 30 students at the National University of Singapore. According to our research, students do not use “Grab ” that often and prefer public transport for cost reasons.

All groups received feedback from Prof. Dr. Petra Barthelmess and Mr. Andri Färber. This was a great moment to thank Ms. Anika Wolter for all organization during this trip and Ms. Michelle Stegmann (Swiss Economic Forum) for joining us and taking all photos and videos.

Afterwards we were able to demonstrate our acquired knowledge about Singapore in Online game with a Kahoot and reflecting the week during a feedback session. 

We set off for our last dinner together, delicious seafood, before we went to the airport. 

Compared to our lively breakfast, we ate the food in the plane very calmly, almost sleepy. Were were quite tired and snuggled up in the blanket right after the start and slowly dawned thinking about all fascinating impressions of this week.

Thank you for this wonderful and exciting time in Singapore.

The fourth day of our study trip was very intense. After a delicious breakfast from the wide range of options of the buffet – as usual – we had time for individual fieldwork and research.

Our subject is “Ease of doing business for SMEs and micro-businesses in Singapore”. The difficulty of this topic lies in the development of a methodology to collect data in the field, given that statistics on the topic are rarely available in the internet. We decided to focus on personal stories and anecdotes. The day before, we had called and sent out E-Mails to various startup-businesses, hoping we could interview them during our time in Singapore.

Since none of the startups responded to our request, we decided to (re-)act and headed to the JTC Launchpad at one-north, which they themselves describe as a “site that offers a conducive environment and nurturing ecosystem for startups.”

We were surprised by the openness of the team. We had the chance to spontaneously interview Vincent, a Co-Founder of the socially engaged startup “WateROAM”. This startup is engaged in the production of water filters for areas in the world where a proper and healthy water supply is not guaranteed (mainly developing countries with wars or other crises).

After this interview, we had the opportunity to visit the office of the German Accelerator for Startups in South East Asia. The German Accelerator is a program of the Federal Government from the Republic of Germany to support startups in South East Asia. They bring together experienced business leaders with startups in their very early phase. We were lucky to meet three founders who kicked off their business just two weeks ago and got a sense of the issues one might face when considering establishing a business in Singapore or the nearby region.

We would like to say thank you to the assistant marketing manager of the German accelerator for enabling us to talk to the German startups present on-site and filming our interview with them. This really helped us to finalize our group project.

The second part of the day was an intense cultural activity with a 6h guided tour through the ethnic quarters of Singapore. We started the tour at the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple, an impressive building housing the tooth relic of Buddha, located in the Singaporean Chinatown district. Like in most Chinese temples, there are three entrances: the central entrance is meant for the gods and is blocked by a golden pole; the left entrance represents masculinity and is reserved for the Emperor or blue-blooded individuals; the right entrance represents femininity and is open to everybody. The Buddha Tooth Relic Temple contains 420 kg of pure gold in total, which amounts to 18 million S$.

After exiting the temple, we walked along Sago Street, named after the local cake “Sago”. In the earlier times of Singapore, it used to be called the “Street of the death”, due to the large number of retired Chineses immigrants that didn’t have any family to go back to and would pass away in the hospices lining the street.

Even though graffitis were forbidden in Singapore in 1966, the government has since then relaxed its laws and some mural paintings are now allowed:

We then headed via metro to the Kampong Glam, the quarter of the Malay-Muslim residents. We strolled through Haji Lane, a now hip street that used to be lined by all sorts of shops selling items necessary for the Malays’ pilgrimage to Mecca. The street is now full of shops and bars, and we were given some time to either go shopping or enjoy a coffee in the so-called selfie café, a coffeeshop in which one can have their face “printed” onto their coffee with food coloring.

We continued our tour of the city by visiting the Arabic Street, home of Masjid Sultan, the largest mosque in Singapore. Legend has it that when the builders called for donations to enable the constructions of the mosque, the poorest citizens of Singapore gave them old soy-sauce containing bottles for lack of money. Truly honoured by the generosity of these people owning so little (an old bottle could otherwise be traded for a few pennies), the constructor incorporated all the bottles into the building, more precisely into the black band below the big golden dome.

Our guided tour of Singapore ended in Little India, the Tamil neighbourhood, where we enjoyed a delicious Indian meal consisting of small shareable plates. The end of another busy day with so many learnings about businesses, cultures and religions.

This morning we were able to meet Ms. Bui Ly, a Vietnamese entrepreneur, who opened a coffee store with high quality coffee from Vietnam (Robusta beans) and Vietnamese food and culture, here in Singapore. After her academic studies she taught herself the art of coffee roasting. Through the help of investors, she was able to open her start-up-business. Bui has big dreams and her goal is to expand on an international basis. She is planning to open a branch in China with chinese investors and then one coffee store in each major city of Asia. You can feel the passion for her business in the ambiance and in the preparation of the dishes and the coffee specialities.

In the afternoon we visited CXA Group, Asia’s AI-driven population health platform. This company is strongly engaged in health promotion of employees through data tracking. CXA Group provides their clients (companies) with a tool for the collection of personal data of their employees. This allows CXA to give individual recommendations to each and every employee to increase their health.

The so called benefit porgrams allow employees in Singapore to receive money back. CXA transforms the benefit selection process into a online shopping tool. Out of over 1000 products you can then buy health supplements, gym equipment, products for children or even vacation. Interesting!

We had the chance to see the whole working space and Ms. Rosaline Chow Koo, CEO of CXA explained us the startup’s business model.

Our day started with a company visit at Standard Chartered Bank. The bank focuses on the Asian and African market. The Presentation was opened by Dr. Michael Gorriz, Chief Information Officer, who explained more about the concept of Open Banking. Followed by Nitin Bhandari, Managing Director & Global Head – APIs, Blockchain & Platform Partnerships and Dr. Sebastian Wedeniwski, CIO Technology Strategy & aXess at Standard Chartered Bank. We gained insights into their strategic global business and their view towards the future of the banking industry in the digital transformation, ie. open banking trends, their technology strategy and aXess platform to apply API’s.

After a short lunch break, we returned to the hotel, where we had the honor to meet Birgitta von Dresky, Partner and Attorney-at-Law at the law firm Luther LLP. She is responsible for clients emerging to Asia and informed us about the legal situation to start a company in Singapore. In comparison to Switzerland the process is much faster and requires 1 SGD only as share capital. We had some time to ask her questions regarding our business cases and we found her visit very helpful and eye-opening.

After learning about the legal aspects, we started to work on our business cases in our groups. At first, we analyzed the topic and prepared a questionnaire for the upcoming field search. We finished the second day with an individual dinner in the local restaurants of Singapore.

This morning at 6am the participants of “Outlook on Future Industries- A Study Trip to Singapore” landed at the Changi airport in Singapore. After the transfer to the Hotel Four Points by Sheraton, the students were given time to work individually on their group presentations about Singapore. This helped to understand more about Singapore’s economy, political system, culture and history. The Kick Off location “Shake Farm” was a great location for a successful Kick Off Start. In addition, all students were able to enjoy a healthy and tasty lunch.

At 4pm the highlight of the day started: A guided tour through the iconic Marina Bay Sands Hotel with exclusive access to a luxurious suite and the famous infinity pool on the rooftop.

Surely, everyone will remember this unique experience for the rest of their life. To finish the joyful and interesting day, the group had the chance to have a fine dining experience with typical Singaporean food. After a long but perfect day, everyone was happy to finally get some sleep.