The National Research Foundation (NRF) is a department within the Prime Minister's Office, and we set the national direction for research, innovation and enterprise (RIE) by developing policies, plans and strategies; funding strategic initiatives that strengthen our scientific and technological capabilities, grow our RIE talent base, and achieve economic and national impact; and fostering RIE collaboration in Singapore and internationally.
[NRF Internship] Growing Vibrant Deep Tech Startup Clusters
National Research Foundation
Internship
Closing on 04 Sep 2025
What the role is
What you will be working on
The internship opportunity will provide first-hand exposure to Public Service and Singapore's RIE ecosystem. During the internship period, you will be exposed to these areas:
Singapore has nurtured a vibrant startup ecosystem for general tech (e.g. SaaS-based, digital) startups, but our deep tech startup ecosystem is still nascent. More needs to be done to strengthen our deep tech ecosystem. This project will require the intern to study vibrant deep tech ecosystems globally and understand the key enablers and policy levers that were employed to grow these ecosystems. Thereafter, the intern will assess the state of our ecosystem support for deep tech and make recommendations on how we can grow vibrant Deep Tech Startup Clusters. Throughout the internship, the interns will also have the opportunity to interact with Deep Tech startups, VCs and Venture Builders.
What we are looking for
Internship requirements:
• This full time internship is for 3 to 4 months, starting no later than June 2026 and ending no later than September 2026.
About National Research Foundation
The National Research Foundation (NRF) was set up on 1 January 2006 as a department under the Prime Minister's Office. It was set up to perform the following:
a) To provide secretariat support to the Research, Innovation and Enterprise Council (RIEC), chaired by the Senior Minister;
b) To coordinate the research of different agencies within the larger national framework in order to provide a coherent strategic overview and direction;
c) To develop policies and plans to implement the five strategic thrusts for the national R&D agenda; and
d) To implement national research, innovation and enterprise strategies approved by the RIEC, and to allocate funding to programmes that meet NRF's strategic objectives.
About your application process
This job is closing on 04 Sep 2025.
If you do not hear from us within 4 weeks of the job ad closing date, we seek your understanding that it is likely that we are not moving forward with your application for this role. We thank you for your interest and would like to assure you that this does not affect your other job applications with the Public Service. We encourage you to explore and apply for other roles within National Research Foundation or the wider Public Service.