A vibrant hub for bilateral exchanges blooms in Suzhou

"Here at NURSI, we aim to use technology from Singapore to help Chinese start-ups upgrade themselves so that they can go global. On the other hand, Singapore start-ups can benefit from the vast networks here in China," said Hui.

One of the success stories from NUSRI is Singapore company PatSnap, whose analysis software makes life much easier for entrepreneurs searching for patents.

Hui said that PatSnap, which was founded in 2007, did not manage to achieve much growth during its initial years in Singapore but was given a major boost when it arrived in China. It has since expanded its operations to other cities such as London, Shanghai, and Beijing.

"I think the company managed to get 80 partners within two months of setting up in Suzhou, thanks to the assistance that NUSRI and the local government provided. Before long, they were expanding quickly across the region. Last year, they managed to secure $11 million in Series B funding and had an impressive revenue of around $5 million," said Hui.

Last year, NUSRI held the inaugural InnovFest Suzhou - a spinoff of the annual InnovFest event in Singapore - on its campus grounds. The event showcased 28 tech projects from Singapore and was attended by numerous Chinese officials and entrepreneurs who used the opportunity to network with their Singaporean counterparts and learn more about the tech being exhibited.

According to Hui, the number of projects and attendees at this year's event in June had almost doubled, an indication of the deepening ties between the two countries. He noted that new technologies related to water and environmental energy were the focus for this year.

NUSRI had also worked with various government departments to organize a joint event showcasing these innovations at a low-carbon function that was held after InnovFest Suzhou.

"I hope that more Singaporeans can make use of this platform provided by NUSRI to explore the scene here in China," said Hui.

"There is so much market potential here and Singaporean companies should take the time to find out how they can tap into this."