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Up to 70% of $16b fund for R&D sector will be spent to boost returns
AN EYE scan which can detect an individual’s risk of heart attack and diabetes. Fibre optic cables which can cut the time needed to download movies.
These are just some outstanding inventions by seven scientists and engineers who were conferred the prestigious President’s Science and Technology Awards last night by President S R Nathan.
More funds will go towards encouraging such efforts to turn research and development (R&D) into products which can yield financial benefits, according to details released ahead of the award ceremony.
As much as 70 per cent of a $16.1 billion fund set aside for research and innovation projects over the next five years will be spent on boosting economic returns from R&D.
Such returns can come from the creation of more commercial products through collaboration between the public and private sectors, and spinning off more job opportunities.
The five-year budget was first announced last month by the high-level Research, Innovation and Enterprise Council chaired by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. The amount is a 20 per cent increase over the $13.55 billion for the past five years.
The breakdown of the funding was made known at a briefing on Tuesday ahead of the award ceremony.
“We have been seeing economic returns but in the future we are likely to see more because the landscape has matured,” Mr Ravi Menon, permanent secretary of the Ministry of Trade and Industry, said at the briefing.
“We have a more solid foundation so now we are more ready to emphasise commercialisation than we were before.”
Providing a breakdown of the funds, he said 20 per cent will go towards investing in basic research to fuel future industry.
The remainder will be devoted to attracting and developing local and foreign talent, and support for pushing research towards commercialisation.
Sales revenue from the commercialisation of products and services from R&D has more than doubled from $10 billion to $21 billion between 2003 and 2008. The number of research scientists and engineers here has also increased from 17,000 to 25,000 during the same period.
In the next five years, growth is expected to be even faster.
Speaking at yesterday’s award ceremony, Minister for Trade and Industry Lim Hng Kiang said the Government is maintaining a steady commitment to R&D because it is key to securing Singapore’s long-term prosperity. “R&D will create the intellectual capital that will give Singapore an edge as lower-cost competitors catch up with us,” said Mr Lim, who sits on the Research, Innovation and Enterprise Council committee.
“As global demand shifts towards Asia, our strong public R&D capabilities put us in a good position to capture more corporate R&D investments whose innovations are tailored to the Asian markets.”
Researchers honoured yesterday include Professor Wong Tien Yin of the Singapore Eye Research Institute who pioneered the eye scan, and Dr Patrick Lo and his team from the Agency for Science, Technology and Research’s Institute of Microelectronics who were behind the optical fibre cables.
Professor Chong Tow Chong, provost of the Singapore University of Technology and Design, was conferred the highest honour – the President’s Science and Technology Medal.
Three other researchers below 35 years old walked away with the Young Scientist Awards at the ceremony.
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