Number of Participants and Executive Summary Submissions

The total number of participants has been increasing, driven by an increase in the number of youth entries. For the year 2006/07, the youth entries were almost equal to the number of general category entries. We attribute this to our greater reach in tertiary institutions, Junior Colleges & Polytechnics.

The number of Executive Summary submissions has also seen an increase from 2005/06 and we expect this trend to persist. Notwithstanding the quantity of entries, S@S judges have also reported an improvement in the quality of entries. This can be assessed by our large number of semi-finalists (about 200) which makes up a substantial percentage of the total number of entrants.

Nature of entries

The nature of the entries is an interesting indicator of the popularity of industries to entrepreneurs. We are heartened to note that for 2006/07, more entries based on the Healthcare & Life Sciences industry are coming in. Traditionally, this industry is known to generate many patents and is viewed by Singapore as one of the 4 key economic pillars.

Age Distribution of Participants for 2006/07

The average age of participants has remained at a steady 20-25 years over the past 8 competitions. More specifically, we note that a substantial 65% of the participants for 2006/07 are in the age group of 20-29 years old. As tertiary students generally graduate around the age of 25, they are well-placed to actually create a start-up firm given funding opportunities. In fact many, such as our past winners,  tenCube & TMN Biofuels have gone on to incorporate after their victory. Our incubation tie-ups have also been a great help to S@S spin-off companies.

Reach

8th S@S Events Turnout

S@S Database

S@S Reach