DPM Heng Swee Keat at the National University Health System (NUHS) Innovation Summit

Mr Hsieh Fu Hua, Chairman, NUS Board of Trustees,
Ms Chan Lai Fung, Permanent Secretary (National Research & Development) and
Chairman A*STAR,
Prof Tan Eng Chye, President, NUS,
Prof John Wong, Chief Executive, NUHS,
Sir Peter Gluckman, President Elect of the International Science Council

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Introduction

A very good morning to all of you. I am pleased to join all of you this morning at the inaugural NUHS Innovation Summit. I am very happy to see so many of you here, clinician-scientists and students

from various institutions from all over the world, gathered here to discuss new research and developments that are transforming the healthcare landscape.

Current challenges in the healthcare sector

The global healthcare landscape is transforming. Economic developments are changing the demands for healthcare services, while advances in medical science and technology are creating new possibilities. The world is also facing a major demographic transition – many emerging economies have a growing and youthful population, while many developed economies face a declining and ageing population.

Individuals, companies and governments from around the world will have to review our own lifestyles and practices, or policies and programmes, so that we can enable people to work longer, save more, invest better, and stay healthier. And of course, to have access to high quality and affordable healthcare.

In Singapore, our average life expectancy at birth is now the highest in the world, at nearly 85 years¹. Over the next few decades, with better healthcare, nutrition and medical advances, we can expect life expectancy to rise even further. So healthy and productive longevity will be key.

Our national healthcare expenditure has doubled from about $11 billion in 2010 to $22 billion in 2017. And this is set to rise further. We must therefore plan ahead, and prepare our financial and manpower resources to meet the rising need and to find new ways to achieve quality-driven outcomes. We must transform our healthcare sector. In this regard, Research and innovation will play a critical role in this transformation. Today’s summit, entitled “Redefining Health through Academia” is timely. By gathering the ideas and expertise of Researchers and professionals, Academia and industry from all over the world, We can make the next leap in improving health outcomes for Singapore and Singaporeans. And what is useful in Singapore, we hope will be useful to the world as well.

So let me share some thoughts on:

How research and innovation can help us promote good health
How academia and industry can work together to improve health outcomes
How academic research can better shape policy; and
How we must widen our pool of talent to support research, innovation, and translation.

Greater emphasis on promoting good health

Now first, how can research and innovation help to promote good health? We have all heard the phrase “you are what you eat”. To stay healthy – we must eat healthy And this is particularly important for Singaporeans – because we love to eat! Therefore, we must ensure that healthy food options are affordable, tasty and widely available. I visited the Biopolis earlier this week, to learn more about the strong cluster of food science research in Singapore. The cluster brings together food producers and researchers to focus our R&D efforts on industry challenges – such as making our healthier food taste just as good, if not better.

The WIL@NUS Corporate Lab, which I opened last year, is an example of a good partnership. The lab was set up jointly by food producer Wilmar and NUS, to develop healthier food and ingredients, without compromising on the taste. Researchers are formulating healthier cooking oils, which can help lower cholesterol levels. They are also developing food products to better manage weight gain and blood glucose level. Beyond large companies, our start-ups are also making important breakthroughs.

Few days back, I met a young team of entrepreneurs behind Eatobe (EAT-TO-BE), a local start-up that is developing new food processing techniques so that our bodies can better absorb nutrients from the food. They are also developing a range of ready-to-consume food and beverage products with improved nutritional properties, and hope to launch these products later this year. I hope all these foods can be rolled out in our hawker centres and supermarkets soon, so that we can promote healthy eating even more widely.

Academia and industry working together

This brings me to my second point – on how academia and industry can collaborate to improve health outcomes. WIL@NUS Corp Lab, which I mentioned earlier, is one such collaboration. Another collaboration is the recently-launched NUS-Agilent Hub for Translation and Capture. Scientists, clinicians and industry partners are working together, to investigate how clinical diagnostics can be improved. For instance, in finding new ways to predict the risk of heart attacks before any symptoms manifest. I am sure you will hear many more inspiring and meaningful collaborations at this conference, from the panellists and other participants. The Government is committed to promoting and strengthening this close nexus between industry and academia.

To promote this, we have increased the size of the Industry Alignment Fund under the Research, Innovation and Enterprise (RIE) 2020 plan. Government agencies such as NRF and A*STAR have also established technology consortia, which bring together companies and researchers in related fields to promote collaboration and knowledge sharing.

We hope that these partnerships will enable more research outcomes to be turned into commercially-viable products, to benefit many more people. I understand that many of the plenary sessions in this Summit will discuss the applications of artificial intelligence, precision medicine, and other technologies to improve healthcare outcomes. So I hope this Summit will give rise to many more meaningful collaborations in these new and emerging areas.

Academic research shaping policy

My third point is that academic research can help shape better policies and we must strengthen the partnership between academia and policy makers towards this. The Growing Up In Singapore Towards Healthy Outcomes (GUSTO) research programme is a good example.

GUSTO is an ongoing study to understand how pre-natal and early childhood conditions influence the health and development of women and their children.

The programme was started 11 years ago by researchers in NUHS, KKH and A*STAR. One important finding from the programme is that half of the mothers who were eventually diagnosed with gestational diabetes were classified as low-risk based on previous guidelines.

Typically, women who were assessed to be low-risk would not be recommended for screening. Left undetected, gestational diabetes would have affected the development and long-term health of their children. This finding led the Ministry of Health to offer routine gestational diabetes screening for all expecting mothers, so that timely intervention can be made.

This is a very good example of how science has informed policy. Sir Peter Gluckman will be speaking more on this topic in his keynote speech later. I look forward to more of such studies and to learn more from Professor on what more we can do.

Widen our pool of talent

My final point is that to translate research breakthroughs into cost-effective interventions, a strong talent pool is essential. Research is only as good as the clinician scientists and researchers we have. I am glad that over the years, we have invested in growing a strong talent pool. 

For example, the National Medical Research Council Human Capital Awards have supported close to 150 clinician-scientists. They have played a critical role, in helping to focus our efforts in the lab on problems that are encountered in clinical practice, and applying research breakthroughs in these practices. A*STAR has also nurtured over 1,600 Singaporean PhD scientists through its scholarship schemes. I believe many of you here are also recipients of these scholarships. Now, I want to thank Mr Philip Yeo for starting the A*STAR scholarships and his many protégés are now contributing in our RIE ecosystem.

I would also like to acknowledge one individual who has made major contributions to our research effort – the late Dr Sydney Brenner. All of you would be familiar with Dr Brenner’s many seminal discoveries in molecular biology. Dr Brenner was an old friend of Singapore. He first came here more than three decades ago, in 1983, to advise us on the development of our biotechnology sector. Over the next few decades, he helped Singapore establish our key R&D institutions and develop our education and research efforts in the life sciences.

In fact, I had many meetings with Dr Brenner as well as Phillip Yeo when I was in the Ministry of Trade & Industry ten years back. I am glad that with all these efforts, Singapore is recognised as a vibrant, world-class biomedical research hub in Asia today. Sadly, Dr Brenner passed away earlier this year. He was 92. I thank the family of the late Dr Brenner for their unwavering support of his work in Singapore. As a tribute to Dr Brenner’s legacy, I am pleased to announce that NUS will establish a fellowship in his honour.

The Brenner Fellowship will help promising young researchers in the biomedical sciences pursue their research ideas and to make the next scientific breakthroughs.

The Fellows will be mentored by a network of leading scientists from around the world. Fittingly, many of these mentors were themselves influenced by Dr Brenner over the years.

These Fellows will have the opportunity to travel overseas to work with their mentors in their laboratories. This will allow our Fellows to learn from the best, and build a network of relationships around the world.

I look forward to seeing the fruit of their labour in the coming decades. I am confident that our Fellows will do the enduring legacy of Dr Brenner proud.

Conclusion

Let me conclude. As academics and healthcare professionals, you drive the next lap of advancement of our healthcare system. Your innovations will help promote good health, develop new breakthroughs, and shape healthcare policies. I am confident you will rise to the challenge of transforming how we deliver good health and healthcare for our community. In line with the Singapore Together effort, let us work hand-in-hand to build a better healthcare system for the future, in Singapore, and around the world.

Thank you.

[1] Epidemiology & Disease Control Division, Ministry of Health, Singapore; Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. The Burden of Disease in Singapore, 1990-2017: An overview of the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017 results. Seattle, WA:IHME,2019.