An additonal $900 million will be spent to spur innovation, Minister for Finance Tharman Shanmuguratnam said in his Budget statement on Thursday.

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'Innovation has to be pervasive in our economy and through good times and bad,' said Mr Shanmugaratnam.

To lift the fast growing media and digital entertainment industry, $230 million will be put into a Singapore Media Fusuon (SMF) fund that will provide grants to help local enterprises export their content, applications and services out of Singapore.

One particular area that was identified by Mr Shanmugaratnam is the interactive digital media (IDM) sector, of which gaming is a big part.

To encourage the transfer of intellectual property to Singapore from other countries, media and digital entertainment firms can now also write down the costs of buying IP rights in just two years, instead of five.

Mr Abhijit Ghosh, tax partner at Pricewaterhouse Coopers said that this accelerated claim will help firms reduce their tax base and offset their overall costs.

Another $130 million will be spent on improving grants and training schemes to encourage enterprises to develop new capabilities.

The Government will also take a greater share of costs under Spring's existing capability development schemes and IE Singapore's internationalisation schemes.

The maritime industry also got a boost with some $45 million to develop new projects and enhance its manpower.

Finally, a new Test-Budding Fund has been created with $200 million to make Singapore a 'living lab' for companies and entrepreneurs to nurture new ideas said Mr Shanmugaratnam.

The focus will initially be on urban planning and traffic management - areas that Singapore has strengths in.

The Core Innovation Fund, which was set up last year to help companies work with government agencies in developing solutions for public services, is to get a further $180 million over the next two years.