The matchmaking event was organised by the European Commission through the European Cluster Collaboration Platform (ECCP) and the Singapore Business Federation (SBF) and supported by Enterprise Singapore (EnterpriseSG) and the Singapore Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI). It took place on 22 October in Singapore, in conjunction with the Asia Clean Energy Summit, as part of the Singapore International Energy Week. The visiting European delegation met leading industry players and participated in curated site visits.

More than 100 one-to-one business matching meetings between clusters and businesses were arranged to explore collaborations in various sectors including Clean Energy and Green Tech, eMobility, Sustainability in Digital Tech and Energy Transition Financing.

Speaking at the opening of the event, H.E. Iwona Piórko, European Union Ambassador to Singapore and Mr. Federico Donato, Council Member of the Singapore Business Federation and Past President of European Chamber of Commerce, Singapore (EuroCham Singapore), highlighted the strong economic and trade relations between the EU and Singapore, underpinned by the EU-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (EUSFTA) and the recently concluded EU-Singapore Digital Trade Agreement (EUSDTA), as well as opportunities for further business collaborations in innovative technologies.

In the EU, clusters account for around 62 million jobs, representing almost 24% of total employment. In Singapore, TACs and COIs are instrumental in supporting Singapore enterprises in industry transformation, innovation and internationalisation efforts. Cluster-level collaboration plays an important role in opening pathways for EU and Singapore companies to access new markets and sectoral opportunities.

The EU-Singapore Cluster Matchmaking Event 2024 was held under the framework of the EU-Singapore Administrative Arrangement on Cluster Cooperation. This Arrangement was signed on 3 December 2020 on the occasion of the first anniversary of the entry into force of the EUSFTA by the MTI, EnterpriseSG and the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (DG GROW).

Within ASEAN, Singapore is the EU’s largest trade and investment partner. Combined EU-Singapore trade in goods and services continues to grow year-on-year. In 2022, total trade in goods and services reached €130 billion, an increase of almost 28% as compared to 2021.

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