DPM Teo Chee Hean at the Opening Ceremony of the Global Young Scientists Summit

“Working Together to Translate Research Outcomes for Social and Economic Good”

Eminent Scientists,
GYSS Participants,
Distinguished Guests, 
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good evening, and welcome to the Global Young Scientists Summit@one-north, or GYSS for short. To our overseas friends, a warm welcome to Singapore.  

Global Young Scientists Summit

The annual GYSS brings together over 250 promising young scientists from around the world to learn from distinguished scientists and technologists. This year, we are pleased to welcome 18 distinguished speakers – 9 Nobel Laureates, 5 Turing Award winners, 2 Fields Medallists and 2 Millennium Technology Prize winners. A quarter of our speakers are speaking at GYSS for the first time. Thank you for your strong support and we hope your insights will contribute to the next wave of scientific breakthroughs and innovations.

Since the first GYSS in 2013, we have brought together close to a hundred eminent science and technology leaders, and over 1,400 participants over the five editions of GYSS. I am glad that through GYSS, several distinguished speakers have formed partnerships with our local researchers. This is very encouraging for our young scientists seeking to work with the world’s best. To our participants, make good use of this opportunity to share your ideas and enlarge your network. 

This year, GYSS is hosted at the Singapore University of Technology and Design or SUTD for short. SUTD’s emphasis has been to advance multi-disciplinary research, design and technical knowledge. This is a vibrant campus where innovators and technopreneurs come together to solve problems and develop new products and services to meet societal needs. We hope that our speakers and participants will similarly find new inspiration in your interactions here this week.

Transforming Singapore’s Economy through Research, Innovation and Enterprise

One year ago, Singapore announced our next five-year Research, Innovation and Enterprise (RIE) 2020 Plan from 2016 to 2020. For RIE 2020, we will be investing S$19 billion, or about 1% of our GDP. This is a significant 18 % increase over the previous five-year plan and signals our strong commitment to research, innovation and enterprise. 

We will prioritise our RIE efforts in four domains where we have strong capabilities: Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering, Health and Biomedical Sciences, Services and Digital Economy, and Urban Solutions and Sustainability. These are exciting areas where the latest scientific developments can lead to innovative solutions for Singapore and Singaporeans, and the development of new products and services which have wider applicability beyond Singapore.

Our investments in science and technology will enable Singapore to go beyond our current level of development to be a knowledge-based economy and a Smart Nation. To maximise the benefits brought about by science and technology, we must prepare for the future and enhance our collective ability to translate research outcomes into societal and economic benefit, and new products and services. To do so, our universities and research institutes, industry and public agencies are three key partners. They can work together more closely to strengthen our R&D ecosystem, enhance innovation and product development, and accelerate the deployment of solutions. Let me explain.

Strengthen our R&D Ecosystem 

First, strengthen our R&D ecosystem. Our universities and scientific community are now increasingly able to provide a strong pipeline of ideas, research capabilities and talent that our companies and agencies can draw on. 

Today, Singapore has a strong scientific base. The number of research scientists and engineers has doubled over the past last decade to more than 30 000 today. Our universities and research institutes have improved their research influence internationally. From 2000 to 2015, the number of citations received by Singapore’s publications has increased by 1.8 times the global average.  

We are also strengthening support for early stage investments and facilitating access to incubators and accelerators. A*StartCentral is the latest addition, dedicated to biotech and engineering start-ups. A*STAR’s commercialisation arm ETPL, will provide spaces, mentorship and advice. 

Our businesses are also increasing their R&D capabilities and activities. Business expenditure on R&D has doubled over this past decade to more than S$ 5 billion annually. Major companies such as Rolls-Royce, Keppel Offshore and Marine, Applied Materials and Nestlé are conducting R&D and co-locating their high value-added activities in Singapore, creating good jobs for Singaporeans in the aerospace, offshore, precision engineering and biomedical sciences industries.  

Our research efforts are bearing fruit and generating spin-off companies. For instance, Visenti, a spin-off from the collaboration with MIT, developed wireless sensor networks that allow the remote detection of leaks and pipe bursts in urban water distribution systems. The Public Utilities Board has deployed this technology in Singapore, and its intellectual property rights licensed to 10 countries. 

Enhance Innovation and Product Development

Second, enhance innovation and product development. While we have invested significantly in innovation inputs, such as creating a pro-business environment, we will focus more on outputs to improve our ability to bring innovations from R&D to market. By working more closely with industry, we will grow our companies and further expand our high-tech products and exports. 

One key area is to strengthen integration between industry and the R&D community. About 20% or S$ 4 billion of RIE2020 will be directed to industry-research collaboration. 

The National Research Foundation or NRF for short, is helping to forge more R&D collaborations between industry and the scientific community. The Industry Alignment Fund will catalyse multidisciplinary and integrated research programmes with industry. We are also promoting the Corp Lab@University Scheme. Through this, our researchers can benefit from industry inputs at an early stage, and draw on our research base to focus applied research to develop new products and services. Nine Corporate Labs have been set up to develop a strong talent pool for high-impact solutions in areas such as cybersecurity, urban mobility, advanced manufacturing and robotics. For instance, the NUS-Singtel Cyber Security R&D Laboratory will develop solutions to guard against emerging cyber threats, drawing on research in labs such as the Centre for Quantum Technologies. The Corporate Labs will produce a pipeline of researchers who can transit to the public sector and corporate world, helping to apply and deploy new technology.  

We will also enhance knowledge sharing and technology transfer to more companies by forming technology consortia. To date, we have facilitated four consortia in next-generation technologies for spintronics, photonics, cybersecurity and synthetic biology. These consortia will encourage our industry, academia and research community to “hunt in a pack” for opportunities to develop high-impact innovations.   

Accelerate the Deployment of Solutions

Third, accelerate the deployment of solutions. Singapore is a cosmopolitan city with a strong intellectual property rights regime. We have always played a role to connect companies and serve as a launch-pad into the region and beyond. We hope to expand our capability to do so in the technology and innovation space as well. By leaning forward and getting involved early, our public agencies will be better placed to help researchers and companies accelerate the deployment of solutions.

Our public agencies set out bold National Innovation Challenges such as for improving energy efficiency, enhancing liveability and environmental sustainability. For instance, to address rising temperatures and the urban heat island effect, the Land and Liveability Innovation Challenge sought research proposals that could help reduce the ambient temperatures at residential housing estates by 4°C. These policy-related grant calls can help focus research on break-through, yet practical and impactful solutions. Besides improving the lives of Singaporeans, these research outcomes have the potential of commercial spinoffs in Singapore and the region to address similar challenges of urban living. We will seek proposals to improve urban mobility later this year.

As our government agencies plan and work on such challenges, we will provide open environments for our companies to design, develop and test prototypes. Punggol Eco-Town which has 50 000 homes and will eventually have 96 000 homes, the new mega 65 million TEU  container port at Tuas, the new 50 million passenger Changi Airport Terminal 5 being developed are “living laboratories” for our companies to test their ideas and technologies. I recently visited Tengeh Reservoir, where our government agencies are working with researchers and companies on large-scale tests of 9 different configurations of floating solar PV platforms. In land-scarce Singapore, our reservoirs can not only be a source of water, but can also provide innovative spaces to generate electricity.  

Conclusion

Another key feature of GYSS is the public lectures by our distinguished speakers. Singaporeans can hear from you at several public lectures, at the National Library, the universities, A*STAR, and the Science Centre. 2000 members of the public do so annually during GYSS week. These lectures and exchanges will certainly raise public awareness on how science and technology can benefit our daily lives, and can inspire many more Singaporeans to take up a scientific career.

Ladies and gentlemen, our investment in science and technology is an investment in Singapore’s future. We can transform our society, urban landscape and economy and build a better future for Singapore and Singaporeans. We are providing the platforms, opportunities and funding for our universities and research institutes, companies and public agencies to work together more closely to increase the vibrancy of our R&D ecosystem, enhance innovation, and accelerate the deployment of solutions. Ultimately, this is not just about Singapore and Singaporeans. The research enterprise, in many fields of research today, is essentially an international enterprise where knowledge is created, and shared for the benefit of all mankind. That’s one of the key reasons why we have invited our distinguished speakers and participants from all over the world to come here to have this important sharing session.

Let me thank our speakers once again, for coming to this year’s GYSS to “Excite”, “Engage” and “Enable” collaborations with our next generation of scientists and innovators. 

I now declare the Global Young Scientists Summit@one-north 2017 open. Thank you.