Port Innovation Ecosystem Reimagined at BLOCK71 or PIER71TM in short, was co-founded by the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) and NUS Enterprise, the entrepreneurial arm of the National University of Singapore (NUS) with the purpose of establishing Singapore as a vibrant maritime ecosystem spearheading world-class innovation.
Setting out with just 18 start-ups in the inaugural Smart Port Challenge programme in 2018, PIER71TM has since nurtured 100 start-ups through its programmes, supporting entrepreneurs from ideation to acceleration of their ventures. PIER71TM also collaborates closely with an increasingly vibrant ecosystem of corporates, industry associations, institutes of higher learning and other stakeholders who are keen to digitalise and create the next wave of maritime innovation.
“Prior to setting up PIER71TM, the maritime start-up scene was rather low key and fragmented,” observed Brian Koh, Director of Ecosystem Builder, NUS Enterprise.
