Singapore and Zhejiang enter new partnerships to strengthen cooperation in digital economy and innovation

18 December 2025

On 18 November 2025, Enterprise Singapore (“EnterpriseSG”) announced a series of new partnerships that further deepen cooperation between Singapore and Zhejiang in the digital economy and innovation sectors. This came alongside broader efforts to strengthen commercial ties, with companies from both sides continuing to explore collaboration across multiple high-growth industries.

At the 18th Singapore-Zhejiang Economic and Trade Council (“SZETC”) meeting in Taizhou, Singapore and Zhejiang companies concluded 16 agreements spanning digital technology, biomedical, sustainability, and innovation. The meeting, co-chaired by Senior Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and Home Affairs Ms Sim Ann and Zhejiang Vice Governor Mr Lu Shan, brought together approximately 240 officials and business representatives. The range of agreements underscored the breadth of Singapore-Zhejiang engagement and the sustained interest of Singapore companies in the province.

Economic links between the two jurisdictions remain strong. Bilateral trade reached US$6.51 billion in the first half of 2025, while Singapore companies have cumulatively invested in close to 2,000 projects in Zhejiang as at end-2024, covering areas such as renewable energy, new materials, and digital trade.

Progress across key collaboration areas

Digital economy

Partnerships in FinTech and digital trade continue to gain traction, including a project where parties will work together to develop digital financial solutions to streamline cross-border trade finance processes with the aim of improving transaction security, shortening processing times, and supporting increased trade flows between Singapore and China.

Innovation collaboration and exchange

Singapore and Zhejiang enterprises have also advanced cooperation in innovation. With a view to supporting regional agricultural technology development, a partnership between Singapore and Zhejiang enterprises will include joint work on establishing a new plant factory in Taizhou for high-value crop production, as well as the creation of a digital monitoring system for rice farming that uses plant volatile organic compounds signals to track crop development.

Beyond these private-sector initiatives, the Singapore-Zhejiang Joint Innovation Call has supported close to 10 joint projects to date in areas such as life sciences, new materials, and smart cities. This year’s call attracted more than 15 applications, signalling continued strong interest in cross-border innovation activities.

Emerging opportunities in biomedical and sustainability

New collaboration opportunities are also emerging in the areas of biomedical and sustainability. These include:

  • Biomedical: An MOU has been signed between a Singapore-headquartered company and a Zhejiang medical health group to develop a province-wide early gastric cancer screening programme, to be implemented across communities and elderly care centres.
  • Sustainability: A Singapore architecture firm has signed two agreements to collaborate with Zhejiang companies on green building and smart city development, including work on integrating green materials into architectural design.

Reference materials

The following materials are available on the EnterpriseSG website www.enterprisesg.gov.sg: