The Singapore government will set aside $25 billion, or about 1% of its GDP to sustain investments in Research, Innovation and Enterprise (RIE) between 2021 to 2025.
This comes as "science, technology and innovation will be critical to overcome Covid-19 and in enabling us to emerge stronger," Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee explained at a virtual press conference on Dec 11.
Dubbed the RIE2025 plan, this will to build on the progress of previous investments in RIE, as science and technology remain key to shape Singapore’s ability to meet future challenges and respond to shifts in the global economy, he added..
In the earlier five-year plan for 2016 to 2020, the government had allocated $19 billon.
Singapore’s sustained investments in RIE over the past 30 years have contributed significantly to the republic’s progress and development as a nation.
Such contributions are evidenced in Singapore’s research in areas such as membrane technologies for water, quantum technologies, 2D materials and trust technologies, adds Heng who wears another hat as chairman of the National Research Foundation (NRF), which administers the funding.
These developments have translated to Singapore being ranked the 8th most innovative economy in the world by the Global Innovation Index.
The city state has ranked top in Asia for the past seven years.
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Areas of focus
The latest RIE2025 five-year blue print focuses on three areas: broadening Singapore’s base of scientific capabilities, expanding the scope of RIE to drive economic growth post-pandemic and strengthening enterprise innovation capabilities.
A third of the overall RIE budget will be channeled into supporting basic scientific research, according to NRF.
Such research will look to increasing support for “investor-led grants to encourage bottom-up ideas and shift funding from large centres towards medium-sized grants that continue to bring capabilities together”.
Aside from this, research on inter-disciplinary areas will be strengthened to address complex challenges such as climate change and pursue emerging and novel science.
Meanwhile, the growth in Singapore’s economy through the expanded scope of RIE will follow the adoption of science & technology to strengthen specific sectors.
For instance, research will go into improving manufacturing, trade and connectivity by raising the capabilities of aviation, sea transport, logistics and wholesale trade.
Some ways this may happen is through the adoption of robotics and automation, says Trade and Industry Minister Chan Chun Sing, who was speaking at the same press conference.
With manufacturing accounting for 20.9% of Singapore’s GDP and employing around 13% of its total workforce in 2019, Chan believes that improvements to the sector will enhance its long-term competitiveness and ability to generate higher growth.
Similarly, the human health and potential segment will be supported with more research particularly in the areas of enhancing development during pregnancy and early childhood.
This serves to foster healthy and meaningful longevity, explains Heng.
In the same vein, research on urban solutions and sustainability will be strengthened to better address challenges such as climate change, decarbonisation, healthy cities and built environment.
For instance, to understand climate change, the team will conduct climate modelling to understand impacts such as increased urban heat island effect and warming trends on health and food resilience, explains Minister for Sustainability and the Environment Grace Fu.
The last area of focus will be on developing a smart nation and digital economy through key technology areas such as AI, cybersecurity, trust technologies, communications and connectivity and quantum computing, details Iswaran, Minister for Communications and Information.
Key areas of focus include 5G applications as well as future communications technologies that have the potential to scale into commercial applications, adds Iswaran.
These efforts serve to enhance Singapore’s status as a trusted digital innovation hub.
To complement these sector-specific efforts, RIE2025 looks to scaling up innovation and enterprise platforms. The goal of this is to drive research and development towards the creation of new products, services and solutions.
Historically, such efforts have yielded positive outcomes such as the accelerated development and regulatory approval of novel diagnostics solutions like resolute series test kits for Covid-19. This was seen through by the Diagnostics Development Hub at the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR).
In another instance, the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Cluster worked with over 1,800 organisations to accelerate additive manufacturing applications across industries such as aerospace, maritime and logistics.
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Aside from this, some $3.75 billion or 15% of the RIE budget will be channeled towards “white space” research. This is up from the $2.5 billion set aside in RIE2020.
Such research will allow Singapore to be more agile and nimble in responding to emerging priorities, new breakthroughs and changes in the global and technological landscape, notes Heng.
Looking ahead, he says that the innovation and enterprise platforms will complement other initiatives such as technology consortia and corporate laboratories. This way, enterprises engaging in RIE will have stronger innovation capabilities.
“RIE2025 will strengthen Singapore’s vision of being a Global-Asia node in technology, innovation and enterprise,” mulls Heng.
“The investments are significant and underscore Singapore’s commitment to investing in research, innovation and enterprise. I am confident that these will drive economic recovery and growth, and address our national needs,” he adds.
