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Singapore has invested heavily in R&D since the creation of A*STAR and launch of Singapore’s first Biomedical strategy (2000). Singapore views R&D as a driver for economic growth and as a foundation for the city state’s long term competitiveness. Investment in science and its related infrastructure have grown at a rapid pace. At the turn of the millennium, total expenditure on R&D (GERD) stood at 1.9% of GDP. Then the Singapore government set an ambitious target of achieving a GERD of 3% by 2010, which the city state is on target to hit. The latest figure hit 2.8% in 2008 with 72% from the private sector. Resultantly, the government recently revised the target upwards to 3.5% by 2015. Singapore was also recently ranked as the world’s most innovative country by the Boston Consulting Group in March 2009.

 

R&D in Singapore is focused on key areas where the country aims to develop a critical mass of research intensive industry and where the greatest perceived potential for economic gain has been identified. The government takes Singapore’s national requirements into account when deciding where R&D should be focused, and especially the country’s lack of natural resources. R&D funding is directed at the challenges faced by the country. R&D development plans are closely linked to Singapore’s industrial development plans. To date, the city state has been adept at levering off its historical manufacturing strengths to move up the value chain from labour intensive up the chain to innovation and knowledge intensive.

 

 

The Ministry of Trade and Industry formulates Singapore’s Science and Technology Plan, which is the official science and technology research strategy. Of the S$13.55 billion (approx £5.9bn) earmarked to promote R&D in the current plan (STP 2010), S$5 billion (approx £2.2bn) has been allocated to the National Research Foundation (NRF) for longer term strategic programmes, S$7.5 billion (approx £3.3bn) goes to the Ministry of Trade and Industry (and primarily A*STAR); and S$1.05 billion (approx £0.5bn) to the Ministry of Education.

 

This investment is complemented by policies to develop human capital and scientific infrastructure. A*STAR has a pro-foreign and a pro-local approach to human capital development. A*STAR currently has 2300 RSEs, of which more than half are foreign. Singapore is also successful in recruiting key international scientists for advisory roles and many leading global researchers have been generously courted and attracted to Singapore’s excellent research facilities. A*STAR also provides generous scholarships for the best students in Singapore to train at the world’s elite Universities and undertake careers in research.

 

Singapore has a world class R&D infrastructure. The new and purpose built laboratories of Biopolis and Fusionopolis make up part of this infrastructure. Biopolis is a purpose-built biomedical research hub co-locating researchers from both the public and private sector. Biopolis has state-of-the-art shared resources for a full spectrum of research activities, including animal facilities and is marketed as the biomedical hub of Asia. Fusionopolis, the ‘sibling’ of Biopolis, is a new state-of-the-art campus housing physical science, engineering and ICT research. The facility also co-locates A*STAR and private R&D and is located close to Biopolis, in an effort to break down barriers between industry and academia, as well as barriers between the traditional boundaries of technology, so-called ‘inter-disciplinary research’.

 

Both Biopolis and Fusionopolis are still under development. Once the next phase of development is complete, a total of 10,000 scientists will be working within a 4km radius. The development of this research campus over the next 5-10 years will be very interesting.

 

The main actors involved in S&T in Singapore include the Ministry of Trade and Industry, the Ministry of Education, the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) and the National Research Foundation (NRF). Singapore also has 2 “science” universities, with the National University of Singapore ranked in the top 30 globally by the Times Higher Education Supplement 2009.

 

A*STAR and NRF are introduced below.

 

 

A*STAR is an agency of the Ministry of Trade and Industry. It is the principal source of public R&D funding in Singapore and has a key role in setting the priorities for research. A*STAR is unique in a UK context because it develops the country’s research strategy and carries out the research. A*STAR comprises of 2 Research Councils (under which 14 research institutions sit), 6 consortia and 3 centres. A*STAR also has a Joint Council to promote the integration between the research councils. A*STAR has a technology spin off arm and a graduate academy. A*STAR’s research councils and institutions are introduced below.

 

 

BMRC supports, oversees and co-ordinates public sector biomedical R&D. BMRC comprises of 7 research institutes focused on specific research areas:

 

Þ          Bioinformatics Institute (BII)

Þ          Bioprocessing Technology Institute (BTI)

Þ          Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS)

Þ          Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN)

Þ          Institute for Medical Biology (IMB)

Þ          Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB)

Þ          Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences (SICS)

 

Þ          Research consortia focus on developing capabilities in translational research: Singapore Cancer Syndicate (SCS); Singapore Bio-Imaging Consortium (SBIC); Singapore Stem Cell Consortium (SSCC); Singapore Immunology Network (SIgN); Singapore Consortium for Cohort Studies (SCCS)

 

 

SERC promotes public sector R&D in the physical sciences and engineering and comprises of the following 7 research institutes:

 

Þ          Data Storage Institute (DSI)

Þ          Institute for Infocomm Research (I²R)

Þ          Institute of Chemical & Engineering Sciences (ICES)

Þ          Institute of High Performance Computing (IHPC)

Þ          Institute of Materials Research and Engineering (IMRE)

Þ          Institute of Microelectronics (IME)

Þ          Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology (SIMTech).

A*STAR Exploit is the marketing and commercialisation arm of A*STAR and in this capacity, manages and consolidates all of the research institutes' intellectual property.

 

The A*STAR Graduate Academy was established to develop high-quality local researchers to contribute to the R&D efforts at the public research institutes, universities and industry.  

 

 

NRF is a relatively new department, established in 2006, and is responsible for the implementation and support of Singapore’s overarching R&D strategy set by the Research, Innovation and Enterprise Council, which is chaired by the Prime Minister.

NRF is a small department with less than 20 employees, and therefore A*STAR continues to have the significant influence on the direction of R&D. NRF has a budget of circa S$1bn ($400m per year). From this funding, NRF is currently promoting 2 initiatives to drive forward R&D:

 

1)      Campus for Research Excellence and Technological Enterprise; and

2)      Research Centres for Excellence.

 

NRF is working with selected international research universities to establish research centres (‘Campus for Research Excellence And Technological Enterprise’), which will have intensive research collaboration with Singapore-based universities and research institutions. The research centres will pursue programmes in areas aligned to Singapore’s strategic interests.

 

Singapore is in the process of establishing several Research Centres of Excellence, long-term investments which will build up Singapore’s research excellence within specific strategic areas and complement the principally mission-oriented programmes of A*STAR. The RCEs will be co-located within one of the autonomous universities in Singapore, and will be headed by a Director who is a leading academic researcher.