Singapore: Biomedical association of Singapore, BioSingapore has appointed Mr Simranjit Singh, director, strategic planning Asia, Quintiles, as its new chairman.

In his new role, Mr Singh plans to build the association's effort in boosting the next lap of growth of Singapore's biomedical sciences industry. BioSingapore is focusing its strategy to develop talent and financing framework by working in collaboration with academia and research institutes. The effort is to develop entrepreneurship courses for researchers to encourage them to focus on R&D that can translate to useful commercial applications.

"In order to create awareness on available financing options BioSingapore is intending to set up an investor panel comprising of Government entities such as SPRING, A*STAR and EDB, VCs, Incubators/Accelerators & Angels to provide mentorship, investment guidance and possibly investments in local companies," said Mr Singh, who is succeeding Mr Leigh Berryman.

BioSingapore will also assist to nurture and encourage new BMS start-ups by amplifying and aggregating existing programs by various government entities and business federations, informed Mr Singh. This includes programs such as the GetUp scheme that encourages scientific researchers to be part of a start-up environment and the Action Community for Entrepreneurship (ACE) mentoring program to guide and provide grants for new start-ups. BioSingapore will also look into driving more regional collaborations for market expansion and co-development opportunities for local start-ups and BMS companies in the region.

Wearing his new cap, Mr Singh plans to foster greater interactions among various stakeholders and build BioSingapore as a catalyst for further growth and maturity of the Biomedical Sciences industry. BioSingapore aims to continue and expand this role and help drive the success of Singapore as a global hub for Biomedical Sciences.