Prime Minister's Office (National Research Foundation)
Prime Minister's OfficeSpeakers
Summary
This statement concerns Singapore’s research, innovation, and enterprise (RIE) strategies as outlined by Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean to drive the future economy and Smart Nation goals. He announced a $19 billion commitment to the RIE 2020 Plan, focusing on sharpening value capture and translating research into tangible economic and societal benefits. The plan aims to strengthen linkages across the ecosystem—including startups and corporate laboratories—while leveraging technology to solve national challenges and create high-quality jobs. Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean emphasized upskilling Singaporeans through postgraduate research training and industrial internships to ensure they play a central role in these efforts. These initiatives conclude that sustained investment in science and technology is vital for Singapore to remain competitive and ensure continued progress for its citizens.
Transcript
The Deputy Prime Minister (Mr Teo Chee Hean): Singapore's research, innovation and enterprise efforts will play a key role in our future economy and in enabling Singapore to be a Smart Nation. NRF partners scientists, technologists, innovators, entrepreneurs, companies and Government agencies to transform our economy and society through knowledge and technology. We seek to grow more innovative Singapore-based companies, create more good jobs for Singaporeans and improve the lives of Singaporeans.
Singapore has achieved a good standing internationally in R&D. Our Universities and research institutes conduct high-quality R&D that creates economic and societal value for Singapore and Singaporeans. Many international partners have set up R&D centres in Singapore. We have catalysed new economic activity through strategic research programmes in sectors, such as Marine & Offshore, Satellite and Cybersecurity, which have attracted active participation from the industries. More companies are investing in corporate laboratories in our Universities and research institutes. We have a vibrant and growing ecosystem of startups, venture capitalists, incubators and accelerators, leveraging Singapore's strengths as a financial centre and a trusted location to protect intellectual property. The growing number of successful companies based in Singapore or founded by Singaporeans, built from knowledge and technology created in Singapore, spur young Singaporeans to take up careers built around science and technology.
The Government will sustain our commitment to research, innovation and enterprise. We will set aside $19 billion for the Research, Innovation and Enterprise (RIE) 2020 Plan for 2016-2020. We will continue to invest in research but sharpen our focus on how we create and capture value from our R&D investments. We will grow our capabilities in research translation, innovation and facilitating startups, so that scientific breakthroughs improve our lives. We will support industries to get better at investing in new ideas and facilitate the flow-through of researchers into industries.
Our investments will be focused in domains where Singapore has a strong competitive edge and where research and innovation can be applied to our economic and social needs. We will work with our companies to grow industry R&D capabilities and nurture innovative enterprises, to strengthen economic competitiveness and create value and good jobs for Singaporeans. We will build stronger linkages across the value chain in our research, innovation and enterprise ecosystem – scientists, technologists, innovators, entrepreneurs, venture funds, MNCs and homegrown companies – to bring technology from our laboratories into our industries and grow stronger industry clusters. These efforts will be aligned with the work of the Committee on the Future Economy.
Singapore must also leverage technology to seize new opportunities, become a Smart Nation and overcome our challenges. Deployment of technologies to make our lives better, solve problems and address our needs is important to realise the benefits of our scientific enterprise and grow our companies' capacity for innovation. We will build up capabilities of our Government agencies to lead in the use of new technologies and collaborate with companies to pilot and test-bed innovative solutions. The Government will also organise stakeholders across the national landscape and facilitate appropriate policies and regulations to enable new industries to grow.
We will upskill Singaporeans to play a central role in our research, innovation and enterprise efforts, while continuing to partner with and learn from the global community. In line with SkillsFuture, we will involve industries in providing postgraduate research training for Singaporeans through new programmes, such as Engineering Doctorates, and by expanding EDB's Industrial Postgraduate Programme. We will facilitate industry internships for our postgraduate research students to deepen skills and expand career choices.
In a competitive world changing rapidly with technological advances, our research, innovation and enterprise efforts will be crucial to bringing Singapore and Singaporeans forward in the next stage of our development. We must continue to invest in science and technology to support growth and innovation and exploit new knowledge to diversify and create new industries, so that Singapore continues to thrive as an island of opportunity where Singaporeans progress together.