Singapore: An emerging hub for medical devices

 20-Apr-16, Asian Briefing 

It comes with little surprise that Singapore consistently ranks as one of the top countries to do business in; the country’s infrastructure and well educated workforce attracts multinationals, SMEs and start-ups alike. What may shock some investors, however, is Singapore’s involvement in the medical devices industry – still a relatively young sector overall – and its push to become one of the top medical technology hubs in Asia.

Image: Asian Briefing

Singapore’s medical devices industry is currently aiming to hit SG $5 billion in manufacturing output. The government is targeting up to 1 million foreign patients a year, which will contribute SG $2.6 billion (US $1.55 billion), or about one percent, to Singapore’s GDP. Already there are 30 global medical technology companies, including the industry’s leading manufacturers, who carry out their operations and R&D in Singapore.

Singapore’s medical technology sector contributes about SG $4.3 billion and around 9,000 jobs to the country’s economy. To put this into perspective, 10 percent of the world’s contact lenses, over 70 percent of microarrays, and roughly half of the world’s thermal cyclers and mass spectrometers are currently produced in Singapore.

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