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SINGAPORE: The Economic Development Board (EDB) will be launching a new programme to further expand the talent pool for the medical technology (medtech) sector.
It is called the Medtech Innovate, Design, Engineer for Asia in Singapore programme, or Medtech IDEAS programme for short.
This will be done in partnership with medtech industry players.
150 training places will be set aside to nurture multi-disciplinary teams of engineers, voice-of-customer specialists and regulatory experts in Asian medical device innovation.
These trainees will spend time at leading companies' global headquarters, as well as their Singapore-based research and development (R&D) labs.
The new programme comes on top of the Singapore-Stanford Biodesign programme with Stanford University, which was launched earlier this year by EDB and A*STAR.
It is targeted at Singapore postgraduate students and seeks to nurture the next generation of Asian medical device innovators.
The latest programme was announced by Senior Minister of State for Trade & Industry and Education, S Iswaran.
"Many other MedTech companies have also made Singapore their home base in the region," he said. "As a leading market with sophisticated Asian healthcare consumers, Singapore is an ideal base for these companies to innovate and develop solutions for Asia and beyond.
"Indeed, the MedTech sector is now one of Singapore's fastest-growing sectors, contributing more than S$3 billion in manufacturing output and employing about 8,300 people in the city-state.
"There is also strong potential to grow our capabilities in MedTech innovation even further by leveraging on our strong scientific, engineering and clinical capabilities."
Mr Iswaran was speaking at an event by med-tech firm Hill-Rom on Tuesday.
Hill-Rom is expanding its Asia Pacific Innovation Centre by launching two new research and development outfits in Singapore.
These will focus on global respiratory care and patient support technology for emerging markets.
Hill-Rom said it is looking to double staff count at the two new centres in the near future, from 40 currently.
The expansion of the Asia Pacific Innovation Centre is part of the firm's plans to grow in emerging markets, including China.
- CNA/yb
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