not-for-profit organisation
A not-for-profit or non-for-profit organization (NFPO) is a legal entity that does not distribute surplus funds to its members and is formed to fulfill specific objectives.
While not-for-profit organizations and non-profit organizations (NPO ...
. It is part of the Palo Alto, California based global
CommerceNet
CommerceNet is a 501(c)6 organization established in 1994 to promote electronic commerce on the Internet.The company was initially founded by Murray Sherwood and Martin Blackburn who sold it to A.T and T in 1996. The organisation initially focused ...
consortium of business partners that organises resources from the industry, plans and executes key strategies. CommerceNet Singapore seeks to sustain market initiatives that promote security, innovations and develop human, intellectual, financial and cultural capitals within the self-sustaining enterprise ecosystems.
CommerceNet Singapore has also assisted and turned around failing technopreneurs and
entrepreneur
Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones.
An entreprene ...
s; reviving start ups and advising corporate entities in financial difficulties often prior to their bankruptcies. It has become one of the organisations acting as a place of last resort for those seeking assistance in Singapore.
Goals
The consortium has been involved in initiatives that pioneer and advance new and usually untested technology. The consortium's main aim is to keep up a strategic role as a pilot project initiator. They usually influence and encourage innovation and driving progress in new areas of operation through grants, market access and other technical assistance. Although the name implies the geographic region of
Singapore
Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...
, the consortium is known to operate beyond its territory. As most members of the consortium are MNCs operating out of Singapore, CommerceNet Singapore follows its members to new markets regionally. This anomaly occurred as Singapore is known to host the 'operation headquarters' of many MNCs.
CommerceNet Singapore has established a reputation as a neutral technology facilitator and catalyst. It helps create environments that encourage the flow of new
idea
In philosophy and in common usage, an idea (from the Greek word: ἰδέα (idea), meaning 'a form, or a pattern') is the results of thought. Also in philosophy, ideas can also be mental representational images of some object. Many philosophe ...
s and
concept
A concept is an abstract idea that serves as a foundation for more concrete principles, thoughts, and beliefs.
Concepts play an important role in all aspects of cognition. As such, concepts are studied within such disciplines as linguistics, ...
s. Initial activities include creating a unified
eCommerce
E-commerce (electronic commerce) refers to commercial activities including the electronic buying or selling products and services which are conducted on online platforms or over the Internet. E-commerce draws on technologies such as mobile comm ...
and eBusiness movement. It is now the leading independent non-profit technology organisation in
ASEAN
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations,
commonly abbreviated as ASEAN, is a regional grouping of 10 states in Southeast Asia "that aims to promote economic and security cooperation among its ten members." Together, its member states r ...
. Member-driven initiatives today include diverse test-beds that advance eBusiness, industry-wide strategic initiatives, creation of business value, advanced education, mediation and certification worldwide. Among some of its better known certification is the TrustSg initiatives. It is one of the few organization still promoting online commerce in Singapore and ASEAN.
In a strong departure from its earlier years, from 2006, CommerceNet Singapore had refocused to take on and implement a portfolio mix of long-term and short-term initiatives. Among the initiatives requested by its members are those of high-risk, untried and theoretical ideas that fulfil the promise of the general commercialisation of technologies, especially pertaining to the Internet, and project finance.
The structure of CommerceNet Singapore is designed to be neutral, allowing it tap
market intelligence
Market intelligence (MI) is gathering and analyzing information relevant to a company's market - trends, competitor and customer (existing, lost and targeted) monitoring. It is a subtype of competitive intelligence (CI), which is data and inf ...
for more effective decision-making. New complex programmes are usually designed, redefined during incubation process or when implemented by CommerceNet Singapore. The projects are usually for industry-wide application, with focus often resulting to lowering of transaction costs and allowing the creation of new categories of products and services.
Fundings for the consortium come largely from sponsorships, membership dues, government grants, pilot projects grants as well as project management fees.
History
The CommerceNet consortium history in Singapore is well documented. Its early days saw the consortium engaging many of the industry players in its daily activities. This has brought in large amount of financing to the consortium allowing it to grow rapidly.
The pro tem committee of CommerceNet Singapore signed the Global Partner MOU with CommerceNet. That brought Singapore member companies into the fold of the 500-strong CommerceNet members worldwide. The consortium also sits on Global Electronic Commerce Board (GECB). Following the MOU, CommerceNet Singapore was formed and incorporated in February 1998 as a not-for-profit public
company limited by guarantee
A company limited by guarantee (CLG) is a type of company where the liability of members in the event the company is wound up is limited to a (typically very small) amount listed in the company's articles or constitution. Most have no share ca ...
. Among the key initiators are entrepreneur Mr. Charlie Tan assisted by Dr. Toh See Kiat, a former Member of Parliament in Singapore.
The first inaugural board meeting was held in March 1998. Membership grew rapidly, and by April 1998, the consortium achieved 20 funding members. The consortium sent its representatives to GECB meeting in
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...
in April 1998. The first corporate members' meeting was held in May 1998, setting the tone and pace of the consortium in Singapore. CommerceNet Singapore become the first Singapore organisation to launch
XML
Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a markup language and file format for storing, transmitting, and reconstructing data. It defines a set of rules for encoding electronic document, documents in a format that is both human-readable and Machine-r ...
and
Metadata
Metadata (or metainformation) is "data that provides information about other data", but not the content of the data itself, such as the text of a message or the image itself. There are many distinct types of metadata, including:
* Descriptive ...
seminar, held in November 1998. The high-profile international seminar attracted a keen following with more and more industry players joining the consortium.
The consortium set its sights beyond its members and launched a Common Accreditation Scheme to Enhance Trust known as "CaseTrust" in collaboration with Retail Promotion Centre and Consumer Association of Singapore in April 1999. It was a founding partner in Global Trustmark Alliance with BBBOnLine.
The consortium was promoting
intellectual property protection
Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, co ...
, sitting on IP Taskforce and had worked with Business Software Alliance (BSA) to achieve its goal.
Projects
* Curriculum Development
* Specialist Diploma Priogrammes
*
* CaseTrust
* ConsumerTrust
* BusinessTrust
* PrivacyTrust
* TrustSg
* BSA Business Software Alliance Initiatives
* Market Intelligence Reports
* iTeknoCity
* ITCN Asia
* E-Global Conference
* E-Global Awards
* Singapore National Infocomm Awards
* PRT Assistance Programme
* Digital Printing Promotion
* Dadabhoy University
* Online Gaming Initiatives
Investments
One specialty of CommerceNet Singapore is its ability to arrange funding for early-stage and high-risk projects. It has built a close working relationship with CNSG Consulting Group, which consists mostly of ex-CommerceNet Singapore's consultative partners, or CPs.
The common investment quantum varies from bite-size US$100,000 to syndicated US$10,000,000 for technological projects that have an industry-wide impact. Smaller amounts are usually given out as one-off grants, mostly to Singapore- and ASEAN-based companies. More than 515 companies in Singapore alone had received grants from CommerceNet Singapore from 2005 to end-2007, with the bulk approved for
e-commerce
E-commerce (electronic commerce) refers to commercial activities including the electronic buying or selling products and services which are conducted on online platforms or over the Internet. E-commerce draws on technologies such as mobile co ...
and trustmark certification projects.
Partners
CommerceNet Singapore collaborates with international consortia and agencies like KIEC, KOTBA,
KOTRA
KOTRA (Korea Trade Promotion Corporation initially, Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency since 1995) is a state-funded trade and investment promotion organization operated by the Government of South Korea.JIPDEC, ECOM, IE Singapore, SEDB, Singapore IDA and others including private sector industrial R&D Labs as well as universities, colleges and institutes of higher learning. CommerceNet Singapore also played an active role in Asia Trustmark Alliance (ATA) and worked closely within ATA framework with bodies like GBDe.