I used to live near this street a few years ago when it was just an empty piece of land. As I walked through the streets day after day, I witnessed one of the most incredible urban transformations ever. The area is called One-North, a new development in Singapore designed as a hub for research, innovation, and entrepreneurship. The name “One-North” stands for one degree north of the Equator – the actual location of the city-state. The word play encapsulates the Red Dot’s ambition to be a strategic nexus for knowledge-intensive industries, – just as it is already a key hub geographically.

One-North has added several buildings to Singapore’s already exciting city-scape, including:

• Biopolis, a building dedicated to biomedical sciences and is home to several public research institutes, multinational corporations, and biotech start-ups.
• Fusionopolis, a skyrise that focuses on infocomm technologies, media, and the physical sciences. It houses a mix of research organizations, corporations and start-ups working on innovative technological solutions.
• Mediapolis, a digital media hub for innovation in media and entertainment. It is home to various studios, broadcasters, and gaming companies.
• LaunchPad houses many incubators, accelerators and VC companies. The zone is dedicated to fostering a start-up culture and nurturing new enterprises.
• Sandcrawler, unmistakably shaped like the Star Wars vehicle and houses Disney’s APAC division.

Some of the most famous companies in the world have already found their regional homes at One-North, including Apple, Razer, P&G, BandLab, the already mentioned Disney and others. It’s quite fascinating how quickly the district became a real business powerhouse, and it undoubtedly has an even more exciting future.