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SINGAPORE: Singapore will invest S $ 25 billion, or 1% of its gross domestic product (GDP), in research, innovation and business over the next five years.
The Research, Innovation and Enterprise Plan 2025 (RIE2025), announced by Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat at a press conference on Friday (December 11), includes a new national program to prepare for future epidemics.
RIE2025 will expand research and development in four domains: manufacturing, commerce and connectivity; health and human potential; urban solutions and sustainability; and Smart Nation and digital economy.
It will also help companies embrace science and technology and expand into adjacent “high growth potential” areas. In addition, you will customize the support for different business segments.
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RIE2025 is the third five-year plan of its kind, the budget of which has progressively increased over the years. It was S $ 19 billion for RIE2020, while S $ 16 billion was reserved for RIE2015.
Within the RIE2025 budget, 15 percent will be set aside for “White space,” Heng said, giving RIE domains flexibility to reallocate their budgets.
“This will give us greater agility and agility to respond to emerging priorities, new advancements and changes in the global technology landscape.”
Almost 30 percent of the new budget, or S $ 7.3 billion, will be reserved for A * STAR universities and research institutes, 26 percent to support further R&D in its four domains, and 9 percent will be reserved for the development of talent.
HUMAN AND POTENTIAL HEALTH
As science and technology become “more ubiquitous,” the four domains of the RIE need to be “updated” to “better drive post-COVID economic growth and address the broader spectrum of national needs,” Heng said.
The domain of Biomedical and Health Sciences will be expanded to include Human Potential, to address the problems of aging populations and low birth rates.
“We must continue to allow our people to be healthy and develop to their full potential,” he said, adding that the government will invest more in preschool and research to improve prenatal and early childhood development.
For example, Singapore’s largest birth cohort study, called Singapore Growing Towards Healthy Outcomes (GUSTO), will be expanded to study the factors that influence adolescent growth and maturity.
The study has followed participants from early pregnancy, continuing with mothers and children, and GUSTO’s insights have informed the review and implementation of new health policies in Singapore, including universal screening for gestational diabetes mellitus for all women. pregnant mothers in public health institutions.
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Ministers Grace Fu, Chan Chun Sing, Heng Swee Keat, Lawrence Wong and S Iswaran at the announcement of the Research, Innovation and Enterprise Plan 2025 (RIE2025). (Photo: MCI)
The Minister of Trade and Industry, Chan Chun Sing, the Minister of Sustainability and Environment, Grace Fu, the Minister of Education, Lawrence Wong, and the Minister of Communications and Information, S Iswaran, were also at the announcement of the EIR2025.
Mr. Wong said that the National Institute of Education will have a new Learning Science Center in Education (SoLEC) that will integrate research in different fields of the child development curriculum, instructional learning sciences and sports sciences.
“It will provide an important bridge between cutting-edge research being done at universities in our research institutions and teaching practices in classrooms.”
Investments will also be made in research projects related to the health and well-being of the elderly.
In addition, the Government will develop a new National Research and Development Program for Epidemic Preparedness and Response (PREPARE) to prepare for future pandemics, Mr. Wong said.
URBAN SOLUTIONS AND SUSTAINABILITY
The government seeks to better integrate urban solutions and sustainability, and to pursue the latter in a “broader way,” Heng said.
RIE2025 will make the built environment more efficient and sustainable by embracing robotics and automation and 3D concrete printing.
You will study the decarbonization of Singapore’s energy, industrial and transport sectors by exploring low-carbon technologies.
Furthermore, the government is “taking climate change seriously,” he added. “We are committed to reducing our carbon footprint, meeting our commitment under the Paris agreement and protecting ourselves from rising sea levels.”
For example, it will conduct climate models to understand the impact of the increased urban heat island effect and warming trends on health and food resilience, Ms Fu said.
It will strengthen food resilience and preserve Singapore’s biodiversity.
MANUFACTURING, COMMERCE AND CONNECTIVITY
As part of the government’s push for manufacturing, it is considering the “next generation of transportation solutions” that will strengthen Singapore’s air and maritime connectivity to the world, said Mr. Chan.
“Over the past 12 months through COVID, we have seen both natural causes and the pandemic disrupt our supply chains. We have also seen how man-made factors such as export restriction policies have exacerbated the disruption of our supply chains, ”he said.
As such, the government is looking to improve the resilience of Singapore’s supply chain, from food to intermediate industrial products.
INTELLIGENT NATION AND DIGITAL ECONOMY
RIE2025 will accelerate the development, translation and adoption of “key technology areas” such as AI, cybersecurity, trusted technologies, communications and connectivity and quantum computing, said Mr. Iswaran.
As it aims to develop “globally relevant and leading digital solutions,” Singapore will need to do more to “strengthen the translation of research findings into tangible products and services,” he added.
This will include investments in communications technology R&D, focusing on 5G and future communications technologies, and will drive the construction and adoption of AI models nationwide.
“Digital technologies are set to change the game in the next step in economic development, and through our RIE efforts, we will ensure that Singapore remains well-positioned to seize the opportunities of the digital future.”
