Among the winners of the inaugural Singapore prize were a telecommunications company that is helping to deliver broadband connectivity to remote villages and an education centre that is transforming disadvantaged students into world-class graduates. Another winner is a company that specialises in the manufacture of custom aluminium components for aviation and marine applications. The prestigious prize was created as a way to celebrate the best of Singapore’s small businesses and help them grow.
The prize is a monetary award, awarded to a business, which will be used to fund a project or initiative of the company’s choosing. The project or initiative must have significant social impact, either locally or internationally, and is judged by an independent jury panel. It is presented annually at the SG50 Celebration Dinner, which is held to honour the best of Singapore’s small and medium enterprises.
Winners of the Singapore prize are invited to attend a gala dinner at the Ritz-Carlton Millenia, where they receive their awards and speak about their winning projects. Past winners have included a bionic eye that allows the blind to see, and a robotic arm that can grab objects from the table and perform tasks for its owner.
This year, the competition received over 140 submissions from across Asia and beyond, and a total of S$5 million was awarded to winning projects. In addition to a cash prize, all winners will get to showcase their projects at the World Cities Summit 2023 in September, which will be attended by top executives and leading international experts.
Sonny Liew has achieved international acclaim for his graphic novels, with his work on the life of Singapore’s most famous gangster – Sam Hua – earning him a nomination for this year’s Eisner awards (the Oscars of the comic book industry). His debut novel Catskull has made the shortlist for the Singapore Literature Prize this year, which is one of the most competitive national literary prizes in Asia.
Besides fiction, the shortlist also features works of poetry and nonfiction in Singapore’s four languages. The prize’s first-time entrant Wang Gungwu, who is 91, is vying for the prize in English nonfiction, along with fellow nonagenarian Suratman Markasan for Malay.
The Singapore prize is the latest in a series of government-backed initiatives to encourage innovation. Other schemes include a new fund to support research on cancer immunotherapy, and a new programme that will award grants to companies working on artificial intelligence and blockchain-based financial technology.
Celebrities including Cate Blanchett, Donnie Yen, Lana Condor and Robert Irwin joined Britain’s Prince William in walking the “green carpet” at the third Earthshot Prize ceremony in Singapore on Tuesday. The award, given by the Singapore Science Center and Foundation and backed by the US$50 million from Temasek, recognises solutions to tackle climate change, including solar-powered dryers, ocean revival and waste elimination.