Transcript of Speech by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at the Opening the Sandcrawler Building

Ms Kathleen Kennedy
President, Lucasfilm

Mr George Lucas
Founder, Lucasfilm

Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen

May the Force be with you!

SANDCRAWLER

I am very happy to be here to open the Sandcrawler - Lucasfilm’s new office in Singapore. You need no introduction. Movies you have made, like Star Wars and Indiana Jones, have entertained millions of people around the world and here. Your characters and lines have become part of our popular culture, even in Singapore. When we have our Chinese New Year Chingay Parade, our Singapore Marathon, we had Storm Troopers participating in all seriousness. We look forward to Lucasfilm creating new cultural icons from this Sandcrawler building.

In Star Wars, the Sandcrawler is a slow moving fortress, home to the Jawas, scavengers – what we in Singapore call “karang guni” or “rag and bone” men. But in real life, this Sandcrawler building is anything but slow moving or a home for desert crawlers. It is the base in Asia for Lucasfilm in a rapidly developing industry; a cutting edge office equipped with latest technology, and a training ground of young Jedis under your Jedi Masters Programme. I look forward to touring the Sandcrawler later and to meet your creative young minds.

INTERACTIVE AND DIGITAL MEDIA INDUSTRY

Interactive and Digital Media (IDM) is one of the most exciting and fastest-growing industries in the world. Millions of people go online to consume content or create their own content on YouTube, Vine and so many other platforms. Businesses and artistes are doing likewise, hoping to become the next Psy or to launch the next “Gangnam Style”.

These changes are transforming many lives. e-Books and online music services are making it easier to read and listen to music anywhere - disrupting bookshops and CD stores. In fact, I think CD stores are becoming very hard to find and bookshops are unfortunately heading somewhat in that direction too. Gamers make large sums selling upgrades and virtual equipment. You have “farmers” as well who work at this so as to earn (Bitcoins) to be sold. Although they suffer from ailments like “joystick thumb” and “Nintendo-nitis”, which are becoming medical conditions.

So in this industry, I think there are tremendous opportunities for Singapore. We are located here in the heart of Asia, where the growing middle classes will demand more and more of such services. We are at the crossroads of East and West, whose diverse cultures are critical to this creative pursuit.

We have been developing this industry actively - promoting local production companies and talent with some success. For example, we have VividThree who did the visual effects for Ah Boys to Men 2 – the highest-grossing Singapore film so far. Or Anthony Chen, who made a film recently “Ilo Ilo”, I am sure you have heard of it, which has won many awards, including the Cannes Camera D’Or.

We have attracted leading players to Singapore such as Lucasfilm, Disney, Discovery, Ubisoft. They cover many genres from digital animation to gaming to documentaries. Their activities in Singapore range from animation to post-production editing to sales and marketing. Hence the value-added of the IDM industry in Singapore has grown more than 1.5 times over the last five years to exceed $2 billion. We expect it to continue growing in future and to make sure it happens; we are strengthening Singapore’s position in this field.

Infrastructure

First, by investing in infrastructure - we believe that clustering digital and media companies will spur creativity and innovation. We have created a cluster around Fusionopolis and Mediapolis at One North, which includes MNCs like Lucasfilm, Walt Disney, Ubisoft, Discovery and local companies including MediaCorp’s new campus, and StarHub’s new Internet Exchange.

This clustering has promoted engagement and collaboration. We have employees from different companies getting together regularly to exchange ideas and dream up the next big thing. We have companies partnering research institutes like the Institute for Infocomm Research (I2R) with some success. For example, I2R developed a technology to store and distribute content more efficiently. I look forward to many more interesting partnerships and creations from One North.
Talent.

Secondly beyond infrastructure, I think the people, the talent is most important So, we are concentrating on developing and welcoming talent - Singaporean talents first of all. Our local institutions are offering specialized digital media programmes and degrees. They are partnering companies like Lucasfilm to train promising artists. Under the Jedi Masters Program, Lucasfilm has trained more than 100 Singaporeans. The courses are growing more popular and the graduates I believe by and large are staying on in this field.

The institutions do good work. I do a major speech every year around National Day - it is called the National Day Rally. Like all presentations, it has become a multi-media show. I get Nanyang Polytechnic to help me with my visuals and every year the expectations go up, and every year, they are more ambitious and they do a good job.

Our investment in our institutions and in our people reflects our commitment to help every Singaporean to achieve his potential in a wide range of fields. At the same time as we develop our own people, we also encourage the IDM companies here to assemble diverse, talented teams from around the world. This is not just to find people with good animation skills or creative talent, but to create a diverse and dynamic mix of cultures and creative influences from which new ideas and inspirations emerge.

We see this in the Sandcrawler. It is home to a United Nations of talent. I am told there are almost 40 nationalities here from big countries like America, China and Russia and many less familiar sources such as Macedonia, Ukraine, Argentina and Turkey.

There are more than a hundred Singaporeans on the team including for example Mr Winston Ng who rose from an intern to an Associate Production Manager for ILM Singapore, who recently managed the ILM Singapore team that worked on “Noah” which will be released in March. Or Mr Edward Chew who is a Lead Animator in Lucasfilm Singapore, who worked on “Star Wars: The Clone Wars” and “Rango”.

A Vibrant Creative Ecosystem

One important determinant of the industry’s success in the country is the overall culture and environment of the society. The magic lies not in the equipment or processes, but in the creative spark that resides in human minds. These can only light up in an environment which inspires people, promotes creativity and helps people to realise their dreams and to dream big. That is what we are trying to create here - to promote a spirit of inquiry and to stay abreast of global trends so that we remain relevant to the world, to create an open, vibrant economy that offers exciting opportunities for Singaporeans and for talent from around the world. That is how we can attract a diverse range of talent to Lucasfilm and develop exciting new sectors like digital animation. And that is how we can create exciting new opportunities for Singaporeans and Singapore.

CONCLUSION

I like to thank Lucasfilm for your trust and confidence. We started this dream “a long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away” at the Skywalker Ranch in Marin County. Lucasfilm could have set up your office anywhere in the world, but you chose to come to Singapore. We welcomed you and that was 10 years ago. Lucasfilm has thrived since and progressively built up your presence to seize the opportunities here and in the region. This Sandcrawler is the latest milestone in our partnership, reflecting your confidence in Singapore, in our people and our system. We will do all we can to ensure that Lucasfilm continues to succeed, as well as other companies in Singapore. I wish you every success, and look forward to more exciting new partnerships in future.

Thank you!
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