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Good practice Imported

SMEs Go Digital — Productivity Solutions Grant for Small Business Digitalisation

Singapore · Singapore · See the Singapore profile · See the Singapore profile

Evidence: Observational / pre–post Top 23% 92/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Singapore's SMEs Go Digital programme funds up to 50% (capped at S$30,000) of costs for pre-approved digital tools. Over 88,000 SMEs took part since 2017; a 2023 evaluation found participants' digital adoption rose from 78% to 93% (2018-2022), with productivity and revenue gains.

78% → 93%
Digital-solution adoption among participating SMEs (2018 vs 2022) (2018-2022)
88000+
SMEs that participated since 2017
85 %
Participants reporting time savings
75 %
Participants saying digitalisation helped address manpower shortages

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA), Singapore
Period
2017 to present
Keywords
small business, digital transformation, productivity, e-commerce, financial support

Context

SMEs Go Digital has been run by Singapore's Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) with Enterprise Singapore since 2017, helping small and medium enterprises adopt digital tools through the Productivity Solutions Grant (PSG).

Objectives

The programme aims to raise digital-solution adoption and productivity among SMEs by co-funding a curated catalogue of pre-approved digital tools covering accounting, e-commerce, cybersecurity and other functions.

Activities

PSG covers up to 50% of eligible costs, capped at S$30,000 per company per financial year. To claim reimbursement, SMEs must deploy the chosen solution for at least 30 days and pay the vendor in full first.

Results

A joint IMDA–Ministry of Trade and Industry impact assessment, reported to Parliament by the Ministry of Digital Development and Information in 2023, found that digital-solution adoption among participating SMEs rose from 78% in 2018 to 93% in 2022, with measurable increases in value-added per worker and revenue. 85% of participants reported time savings and 75% said digitalisation helped address manpower shortages. Over 88,000 SMEs have participated since the 2017 launch.

Conclusions

The evaluation found that smaller (micro) firms benefited disproportionately and that sector-specific solution bundles were markedly more effective at lifting productivity and revenue than generic, one-size-fits-all tools, a finding the programme has used to refine its catalogue. The requirement to pay vendors in full before claiming reimbursement, while protecting against fraudulent claims, limits access for the very smallest or most cash-constrained firms.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Very high (> €5M) — No specific total budget is disclosed; a national grant scheme reaching over 88,000 SMEs with per-company subsidies of up to S$30,000 per year, conservatively banded very_high in aggregate.
Time to results
Long (> 3 years) — Running continuously since 2017 and folded into Singapore's ongoing Digital Enterprise Blueprint — a long-running programme.
Staffing & skills
Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA), Enterprise Singapore (joint administration), Pre-approved vendors delivering catalogue digital solutions

Conditions for success

  • Curated, pre-approved catalogue of sector-specific and generic digital solutions
  • Sector-specific solution bundles proved markedly more effective than generic tools
  • Capped co-funding tied to accountability requirements (minimum 30-day deployment, vendor paid in full before reimbursement)

Common failure modes

  • The requirement to pay vendors in full before claiming reimbursement limits access for the very smallest or most cash-constrained firms, even as it protects against fraudulent claims

Where it fits

Governance type
government-administered co-funding grant with private vendor delivery
Scale
national (Singapore)
Income level
high-income economy, SME beneficiaries across sectors

Commonly funded by

National / regional programmes

Indicative funding routes for practices of this type — always check each programme's current calls and eligibility rules.

Do you run this practice? Claim it — verified implementers get a public contact pathway and can propose corrections.

Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

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