Singapore: regional profile for digital innovation

Posted on by DigitalHealth.London

Are you a UK-based health innovator looking to explore international markets? Throughout 2025 and 2026, the Health Innovation Network (HIN) South London and its DigitalHealth.London programmes will be supporting innovators considering international expansion. Find out about our new expert-led webinar series, and scroll to the bottom of this page to watch our webinar focused on Singapore.

Why Singapore?

For UK-based health and care innovators, Singapore offers an attractive entry point into Asia due to its English-speaking environment, transparent regulation, and strong institutional support for health innovation. It is a small, wealthy, highly urban, and digitally mature health system that actively seeks international partnerships.

The Healthier SG reform is a Singaporean initiative launched by the Ministry of Health (MOH) to shift healthcare from a reactive, curative model to one focused on preventive and population health. The government’s clear strategic direction towards integrated, data-driven care creates favourable conditions for UK innovators in health technology and digital therapeutics.

Singapore faces some similar challenges to the UK – an ageing population, workforce pressures, and a growing demand for chronic disease management and preventive care. This creates a market pull for solutions in chronic disease management, integrated care, remote monitoring, and clinical AI.

Country profile

Population: approx. 6 million (end-June 2024).

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita: US$140,132 (more than double the average for OECD countries).

Healthcare spending as proportion of GDP: 5.57% (2021).

Economic growth: 4.4%.

Total annual spend (as of March 2025): approx. S$21 billion (≈£12 billion).

Singapore is a highly urbanised city-state with an estimated population of 6.04 million, of which 4.18 million are residents. In June 2024, the non-resident population increased by 5%, with Work Permit Holders contributing most to the increase, followed by Migrant Domestic Workers. This presents a growing need for accessible and culturally adaptable health services. The non-resident demographic offers opportunities for innovations designed for transient or underserved populations, often delivered through employer-based or community health programmes.

Singapore is ageing rapidly, with one in five Singaporeans being 65 or above as of 2025. This demographic shift is driving a rise in chronic conditions such as hypertension and diabetes, which already account for a large share of healthcare use. The government’s Healthier SG strategy and investments in community care, digital monitoring, and preventive health reflect an urgent push to adapt services to the needs of an older population.

Unlike many larger markets, Singapore’s single regulatory environment and nationally coordinated health system enable faster scale-up of innovations once approved. The presence of three standardised public healthcare clusters (with aligned digital infrastructure) allows for streamlined pilot-to-adoption pathways across the country.

English is the primary working language across healthcare and business, making it a more accessible market for English-speakers.

Healthcare market dynamic

The healthcare system blends public coverage with private provision. It is a unique hybrid model that emphasises both efficiency and cost-effectiveness, with their GDP expenditure on healthcare being almost half the average of comparable countries.

Universal healthcare is available to citizens and residents via public hospitals, polyclinics, and government subsidies. Private healthcare plays a role mainly in elective care and any other non-covered services. In the FY2025 Budget, total estimates expenditure reached S$20.86 billion, reflecting continued investment in infrastructure, workforce, and digital transformation.

Singapore’s health system is centrally steered by the Ministry of Health (MOH), which sets policy, allocates budgets, and oversees three integrated public healthcare clusters. The three integrated healthcare clusters are: SingHealth, National University Health System (NUHS), and National Healthcare Group (NHG).

Key system organisations for digital healthcare:

Digital innovation landscape

Singapore is one of the most digitally advanced health systems in Asia. Its national digital infrastructure is managed by Synapxe (formerly IHiS), which operates the National Electronic Health Record (NEHR), the Next-Generation Electronic Medical Record (NGEMR), and the national health data platform HEALIX. These systems underpin Singapore’s goal of “One Patient, One Health Record”, enabling coordinated care across the public and private sectors.

Data protection and cybersecurity are governed by the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA) and the Advisory Guidelines for the Healthcare Sector, issued by the Personal Data Protection Commission. Organisations connecting to national systems must comply with strict MOH and Synapxe cybersecurity requirements. For UK innovators, strong evidence on data governance, interoperability, and security is essential to gain approval for integration with public systems.

Regulatory pathways

Singapore’s regulatory environment for health technologies is overseen by the Health Sciences Authority (HSA). The HSA provides clear guidelines for the registration and approval of medical devices, including Software as a Medical Device (SaMD).

Data governance, privacy, and cybersecurity

Organisations seeking to integrate with national systems like NEHR and HEALIX must demonstrate compliance with these regulations.

Infrastructure readiness

Singapore boasts a robust digital health infrastructure managed by Synapxe (formerly IHiS). The government’s commitment to digital transformation is evident in initiatives like the MOH Health Innovation Fund, which allocates significant resources to support the adoption of AI, genomics, and predictive analytics in healthcare.

Cultural and adoption factors

Singapore’s public health policy strongly emphasises preventive care and personal responsibility for health. This means digital solutions which support prevention and self-management are likely to resonate culturally and gain traction among patients and providers alike.

However, recent research shows that patient adoption of digital health solutions in Singapore remains uneven. Adoption barriers around the acceptance and comfort of using digital health technologies are prevalent among older adults. For this reason, innovators should prioritise simple user interfaces, multilingual functionality (depending on region), and caregiver integration features to ensure solutions are usable within family-supported care models.

Collaborating with local stakeholders to conduct pilot studies can help address these factors and facilitate the integration of new technologies into Singapore’s healthcare system.

Funding and support

Opportunities for UK innovators

  • Developing or localising solutions for chronic disease management, ageing, and population health analytics.
  • Leveraging Singapore’s R&D and innovation funding schemes to co-develop and test technologies for the Southeast Asian market.
  • Supporting the Healthier SG strategy through innovations in preventive, community, and home-based care.
  • Partnering with Singapore’s public healthcare clusters (SingHealth, NHG, and NUHS) to pilot proven digital health or AI-enabled solutions.
  • Collaborating with Synapxe, ACE, and Enterprise Singapore to align technologies with national interoperability and data standards.

Webinar recording

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