• How IPI Singapore enables local SMEs to access advanced technologies through strategic collaborations with leading corporates and promising startups.
  • Real-world examples of successful MNC-SME co-creation, including Panasonic’s collaboration with a local enterprise on AI-enabled inspection technology.
  • New cross-border opportunities emerging from IPI Singapore’s MoU with KILSA Global, linking SMEs to innovative South Korean companies.

IPI Singapore’s partnerships with multinational corporations turn TechInnovation into a practical launchpad for SME co-creation and cross-border growth.

From cutting-edge technology startups to traditional family-run businesses, Singapore’s small and medium enterprises (SMEs) employ 70 per cent of the workforce and contribute to roughly a quarter of the nation’s gross domestic product. Across a variety of industries, these SMEs do not lack innovative ideas and products. However, without access to scalable technology, markets and partners with relevant expertise and know-how, it can be difficult to bring these ideas to fruition.

This is where structured collaborations with multinational corporations (MNCs) can shift the equation. When technology owners and innovation-oriented SMEs work together, SMEs gain access to proven capabilities and global networks, while MNCs benefit from agile partners who can adapt rapidly and localise solutions for new markets.

IPI Singapore sits in the middle of this exchange. Through its co-creation programme and technology scouting services, as well as its flagship TechInnovation event, IPI Singapore helps MNCs and SMEs find the right counterparts, frame their innovation needs into clear problem statements, and move from initial conversation to structured collaboration.

Since 2023, this approach has enabled Panasonic to embark on 11 co-creation projects with local enterprises and engage in nearly 50 technology discussions through IPI Singapore’s co-creation programme and technology matching service. In parallel, IPI Singapore has expanded its cross-border engagement through a partnership with KILSA Global, opening new collaboration opportunities with South Korean startups and enterprises for local SMEs.

Deepening the partnership with Panasonic

Panasonic R&D Center Singapore has been a strategic partner of IPI Singapore since 2022, working together through the co-creation programme. Under the current memorandum of understanding (MoU), Panasonic continues to feature selected technologies on IPI Singapore’s innovation marketplace, receive inputs on Singapore industries’ needs, and meet startups and SMEs identified by IPI Singapore as potential co-creation partners. These partnerships create potential pathways for technology and IP licensing, as well as collaborations in areas such as AI and digital transformation.

Panasonic’s participation in the Japanese Corporates Technology Innovation (JCTI) Launchpad initiative further extends the collaboration to other like-minded Japanese corporates, which hold extensive portfolios of intellectual properties, including patented technologies, technical expertise and know-how that remain underutilised due to limited market access or applications confined to their own industrial domains.

As a strategic partner, IPI Singapore bridges these MNCs with Singapore’s innovation ecosystem by identifying viable use cases, uncovering cross-industry applications and connecting them with local SMEs capable of adapting or scaling these technologies. This creates mutual value: Japanese corporates find new pathways to further develop the technology into new use cases, and eventually commercialise them, while local SMEs gain access to advanced technologies that can strengthen their offerings that would otherwise remain out of reach.

One exemplary outcome is the collaboration between Panasonic and a Singapore-based solution provider specialising in command-and-control and data centre infrastructure solutions. At TechInnovation 2023, the enterprise discovered Panasonic’s “Autonomous Built Environment Inspection” technology, an AI-enabled inspection platform that uses cameras and LiDAR, along with proprietary machine learning algorithms to detect defects in building facades.

The enterprise saw a potential fit with its autonomous robots for mission-critical environments such as data centres, where precise inspection of water stains, defects on walls and ceilings, and potentially anomalies associated with data centre hardware is essential. Image datasets from robotic inspections were subsequently provided, enabling Panasonic to adapt and train its AI models to better suit these operational requirements.

With IPI Singapore’s support, Panasonic granted early access licences to its AI inspection platform. Both parties have commenced a pilot trial involving model training, edge deployment across multiple robots and testing at the customer's site. The aim is to validate performance in an operational data centre environment and assess the feasibility of a licensing arrangement.

For the local enterprise, the collaboration offers direct access to advanced AI capabilities, while creating the potential for new revenue streams and products with enhanced features. For Panasonic, working with the local SME in this specialised infrastructure segment offers valuable data, feedback and market insights that can guide future product development.

Opening doors to Korea with KILSA Global

Meanwhile, the newly signed MoU with KILSA Global, a cross-border business-building platform that drives innovative companies’ global commercialisation across Asia, demonstrates how IPI Singapore is building breadth across global markets. Under this partnership, IPI Singapore and KILSA regularly share technology profiles to identify potential commercialisation opportunities between South Korean and Singaporean enterprises. Both parties leverage each other’s networks, from government agencies and consortia to startups and investors, and promote the technologies through their respective marketing channels. They also support each other’s events and provide practical assistance such as meeting facilitation and translation to help deals move forward.

At TechInnovation 2025, KILSA returns in partnership with Seoul Business Agency’s Seoul Startup Hub, bringing a delegation of 10 Korean companies across digital health, logistics, energy, sustainability and smart city solutions. Their plethora of technologies range from AI-powered imaging tools for knee osteoarthritis and health-scoring platforms for dynamic insurance pricing, to intelligent air-conditioning optimisation, solar asset management, logistics orchestration and smart recycling systems.

Singapore SMEs benefit from this structured route to explore co-development, licensing and test-bedding projects with companies that already have a track record in Korea, while gaining access to market-ready or high-readiness technologies that can be adapted and adopted for local and regional needs. Concurrently, it gives Korean firms the opportunity to test-bed their technologies in Singapore and identify new applications or use cases in collaboration with local enterprises.