DPM Tharman at SPRING Singapore’s 50th Quality & Standards Anniversary Gala Dinner

Your Excellencies
Mr Edwin Khew, Chairman of the Singapore Standards Council
Mr Renny Yeo, Chairman of the Singapore Accreditation Council
Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen

Differentiating Singapore through Quality

I am happy to join you on this special occasion to celebrate 50 years of Quality and Standards (Q&S) development.

Our quality journey began in Singapore’s very first stage of development as an independent nation, separated from its Malaysian hinterland and bereft of natural resources. It has underpinned our economic and social development since then.

From day one, in order to survive, we had to be relevant to the world. Q&S was vital in ensuring that the products and components made in Singapore met global standards, including the stringent demands of leading MNCs and their customers worldwide.

We started by setting up the Industrial Research Unit, under the Economic Development Board, to carry out tests on products and raw materials to ensure that their quality measured up to international standards. This unit was later spun off to form the Singapore Institute of Standards and Industrial Research. The   “SISIR mark” became a sought after stamp of quality, and provided assurance of quality to global buyers.

We should never forget SISIR and Singapore Standards for their key role in Singapore’s modern development. Starting with the first Singapore Standard, developed in 1966 for the timber industry  - at the time our fourth largest export industry – and extending to some 600 Singapore Standards since then, they have provided the assurance of quality that has been an important source of competitiveness for Singapore.

In particular, our national bunkering standard, which was first launched in 1993 and enhanced over the years, has propelled Singapore into becoming the world’s top bunkering port today.

Q&S has also improved our quality of life here in Singapore. For example, building and construction standards have helped us to build safe homes for more than one million families in HDB flats since the 1960s. The Singapore Standards on modular formwork system, ready-mixed concrete and precast concrete blocks developed in the 1970s and 1980s helped to speed up the construction of HDB flats. They have also contributed greatly to improving the quality of the finishing and workplace safety.  

More recently in 2012, we launched the world’s first water efficiency management systems standard. It has helped us to achieve savings in water bills, and protects the supply of an important national resource. Singapore is now leading the development of a new international ISO standard on water efficiency. We are able to do so because of widespread recognition of the rigour and quality of our national standardisation programme.

I would therefore like to take this opportunity to commend SPRING Singapore, the Singapore Standards Council, the Singapore Accreditation Council, as well as over 2,000 partners comprising technical experts and organisations from both the private and public sectors. Q&S has been a quiet contributor to Singapore’s growth and development, but a critical one.

In particular, I would like to pay special tribute to the individuals who have spent more than 25 years on the quality journey with us, contributing invaluable expertise and time to help build our national Q&S infrastructure.

One of these individuals is Dr Tam Chat Tim, who has now retired from the National University of Singapore. Dr Tam has led various Singapore Standardisation and Accreditation Programmes over 35 years. His expertise in concrete materials and construction for tropical environments was instrumental in the revision in concrete standards in the 1980s. He was also involved in the adoption of Euro Codes Standards for concrete that are used in Singapore today. Dr Tam’s contributions have played a key role in creating trust and confidence in the structural integrity of buildings in Singapore.

Q&S – A Key Pillar of the Future Economy

Our Q&S ecosystem remains critical for the future. It will be a key pillar of the innovation-driven economy that we must be in the future, and must provide full support for the directions being developed by the Committee on the Future Economy.  

There are two main ways in which our Q&S ecosystem can play this key enabling role in our future economy.

Q&S to support market access

First, in supporting market access for Singapore companies in a rapidly evolving and intensely competitive global market.

Let me highlight two local companies that have leveraged Q&S successfully as a strategic business tool to enter new markets.

SMC Food 21 Pte Ltd was set up in 1999 as an ingredient blending company. Today, it has grown its annual revenue beyond $100 million by supplying blends of sugar, milk and cocoa intermediate products which are used to make chocolates and confectionery goods. One of SMC’s key achievements has been to grow its market share of the Japanese confectionery industry to around 20%. That’s an exacting industry, as everyone knows. SMC’s adoption of internationally recognised food safety management standards such as the ISO 22000 has allowed it to earn the trust of its key global customers.

Another company that has benefited from standards adoption is iT-Bio, a local SME with just 10 employees, that specialises in innovative biometric-related security and tracking solutions. Despite being small, the company decided to adopt ISO and International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) standards for biometric data interchange formats to enable compatibility between their solutions and various disparate computer applications and systems. With these, iT-Bio has been able to secure projects worth millions of dollars to provide biometric solutions for an airport in Qatar as well as for an international engineering and construction company based in Japan. What this example shows is that adoption of Q&S can be a real enabler for small firms. It makes them credible players even in competition with larger players in global markets.

Q&S to support innovation

A second key role of Q&S is in spurring innovation itself, through our Q&S ecosystem and advances in standards. In emerging industries, new standards are being developed even as new technologies are rolled out.  Singapore is therefore plugging itself into the global standards conversations, so as to ensure that our companies are amongst the first movers as new international standards are launched.

A good example is AWAK Technologies, a local medical technology company set up in 2007. It collaborated with Temasek Polytechnic to develop a patented sorbent technology that can aid the development of compact, wearable and portable medical devices.  In particular, the technology has the potential to bring greater freedom and mobility, along with cost savings, to millions of dialysis patients around the world once it is successfully commercialised. Apart from the numerous laboratory and clinical trials, AWAK also participated in the development of an international standard for its sorbent technology and wearable dialysis equipment. This will enable the company to gain quick access to the international market for its innovations and products once the new standard is introduced.

SPRING will continue to work with both its local and overseas partners to keep enhancing our Q&S ecosystem, and ensure it fulfils our new Q&S vision of being a “Key Pillar of the Future Economy”. A budget of up to $100 million has been provided to drive these efforts over the next five years, and to support companies through standards adoption projects.

On the global front, Singapore will continue to participate actively in developing and setting standards, especially on the councils of the ISO and the IEC, and to extend the reach of our Q&S network. We will also leverage on our bilateral and multilateral Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) to reduce technical barriers to trade.

Conclusion

In closing, I would like to once again underline the key role that Q&S will continue to play in supporting our economy.  A special thanks to the individuals who have contributed to our Q&S journey for the last 50 years. Your contributions have helped, and will continue to help Singapore open up new paths as we build our future economy together.

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