Supporting Infrastructure Development
The Singapore government recognized that its
competitive advantage in the region lies in
superior supporting infrastructures, especially in
telecommunications, sea/air transport, and public
utilities.
By the early 1980s, the government identified key
clusters in which to proactively invest in, these
include:
Information technology (IT)
Telecommunications
Industrial automation
Biotechnology
Supporting Infrastructure Development
A National Computer Board (NCB) was set-up in the
early 1980s to spearhead IT Diffusion and a National
IT plan was formulated in 1985 to coordinate the big
push in IT.
Supporting Infrastructure
The National IT plan resultedDevelopment
in massive
expansion of public investments in IT
infrastructures. These include:
Digitalization of public switched telecommunication
Investments in optical fiber networks
Introduction of ISDN
Provision of EDI-network services such as:
TRADENET
PORTNET
LAWNET
Teleview
Supporting Infrastructure Development
Expert systems for port and airline management
For the research community:
Campus-wide computer networks at the National University of
Singapore (NUS) which was one of the first in Asia
TECHNET among major research institutes with connection to
the INTERNET
Acquisition of supercomputers by the government
Supporting Infrastructure Development
Since the mid-1980s, efforts were also intensified
to provide technological development assistance
to local firms, especially SMEs.
Financial assistance schemes were implemented
like, Small Industry technical assistance schemes
(SITAS), product development assistance scheme
(PDAS) and computerization grants.
Supporting Infrastructure Development
Technical assistance through several government
such as the Design Service Centers, Technology
Diagnostics Center, Software Quality Assurance
Center, and the Industrial services arms of the
universities and polytechnics.
Supporting Infrastructure Development
A Science Park was established in 1981 to
encourage growth of “high-tech” industries.
Rapid Deployment of Technology in the
Government Sector
As part of the National IT plan, the government
embarked on an ambitious civil service
computerization.
Various government owned enterprise also
spearheaded commercially oriented investments
in various technology-intensive business areas.
Rapid Deployment of Technology in the
Government Sector
Promotion of R&D
Singapore’s public sector investment in R&D, either
directly or indirectly had been relatively low until very
recently.
Singapore’s
gross expenditure in R&D as a share of GNP (GERD/GN
P),
although steadily increasing, had consistently trailed
behind other countries like Taiwan and Korea.
Rapid Deployment of Technology in the
Government Sector
Promotion of R&D
Several new research institutes have been set up to
pursue R&D such as:
Information Technology Institute (ITI) under NCB for IT
Institute for Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB) for
biotechnology
Institute for Manufacturing Technologies (IMT) for advanced
manufacturing technologies
Rapid Deployment of Technology in the
Government Sector
Promotion of R&D
Several existing training institutes were expanded to
cover R&D work such as:
Institute of Systems Science (ISS)
GINTIC
Japan Singapore Institute for Software Technology (JSIST)
Rapid Deployment of Technology in the
Government Sector
Promotion of R&D
Several schemes were initiated to promote R&D:
R&D Assistance Scheme (RDAS)
Promote medium to long-term mission-oriented research projects
for the advancement of specific objectives
Product Development Assistance Scheme (PDAS)
Provides grant to encourage locally owned firms to acquire new
product/process design and development capabilities
INTECH
More recently introduced to encourage new initiatives in
technology development that do not fall within RDAS
Technology Development Performance
Despite the poor performance record of Singapore
on the technology creation front, the relatively
good economic performance and productivity
growth suggests that Singapore has actually
performed very well on the technology absorption
front.
The relatively high performance in technology
absorption achieved by Singapore in the past thirty
years suggests that the government intervention
role has been generally effective.
Technology Development Performance
A major contributor to this relatively absence of
government failure is that the system for
recruitment into the government technocracy has
been relatively meritocratic, and that the
technocrats have been able to act relatively
autonomously due to the political leadership’s
ability to insulate the technocracy from interest-
group pressures.
Emerging Issues and Policies for the
1990s
The need to Invest in Innovation
Past development phases have largely emphasized
technology absorption, a set of new priorities is
emerging as Singapore enters the 1990s. This calls for:
Increasing government funding for R&D
Promotion of R&D by private enterprises
Expanding the supply of S&T manpower
Promotion of a more innovative and creative culture among
the population
Emerging Issues and Policies for the
1990s
The need to Invest in Innovation
The intensified focus on innovation and knowledge-
intensive activities are motivated by competitive
pressures from three directions.
Firstly, increasing competitiveness by the next-rung NIEs
(Malaysia, Thailand , Mexico, etc.) is making Singapore less
attractive for a wide range of existing economic activities.
Second, Singapore is coming into increasing competition with
other NIEs in the race to penetrate into high-tech sectors
Third, Singapore’s attempt to move up the technological ladder
is increasingly pitching her against previously more advanced
countries
The New National Technology Plan
Nine ministerial committees were formed to cover
the nine key areas identified by the NTP. These
include:
biotechnology,
medical sciences,
food and agrotechnology,
microelectronics,
electronics systems,
information technology,
manufacturing technology,
materials technology,
and energy, water, environment, and resources.
The New National Technology Plan
Under the NTP, NSTB will be the main coordinating
body for the various programs funded and will also
take over the coordination of various research
institutes and centers that have been already set up
by the government.
The New National Technology Plan
Autonomous research and technology institute
located within NUS
Institute of molecular and cellular biology (IMCB)
Institute of systems sciences (ISS)
Institutes of microelectronics (IME)
Clinical research Centre
SISIR
Information Technology Institute (ITI)
Research and institutes and centers affiliated with
NTU
GINTIC institute of CIM
The New National Technology Plan
Planning and setting up of new research centers by
NSTB funded by NTP such as:
Magnetic Research Center for the disk drive industry
Institute of Manufacturing Technology (IMT) for
research in advance manufacturing and factory
automation
Other New Strategic Directions
Promotion of Creative and Design Skills
The government recognizes the need to promote
greater creativity and design skills, both in the
industrial and service sectors.
Toward this end, the government established in
early 1991 a high-level National Design Council to
spearhead design promotion and development.
Other New Strategic Directions
Promotion of Creative and Design Skills
Under the council, a Design Centre has been set up to
promote design awareness. A Design Institute has
also been set up to conduct design education, training
and research. A Young Designers Award was also
introduced to complement the existing Young
Scientist and Engineer Awards.
Other New Strategic Directions
Strategic Partnership with Key MNCs and Overseas
Research Institutes
The new emphasis over the next years is likely to be on
technology partnerships, whereby the MNCs are
encouraged to set up more R&D facilities in Singapore and
to initiate more joint R&D projects with local firms or
government institutions.
MNCs are also encouraged to use Singapore as their
regional technology business center in the ASEAN and
eider Asia-Pacific region.
Sony Precision Engineering Corporation (SPEC).
Other New Strategic Directions
Attracting S&T Talents from Overseas
The Economic Development Board (EDB) has
established a new International Manpower
Development Division to attract overseas talents.
The emphasis is likely to be on quality at the very top
level as well as quantity at the lower levels.
Conclusion
Singapore’s technology strategy has always been
an integral part of its overall economic
development strategy.
Singapore being a small and open economy relied
heavily on attracting foreign investments and
talents to acquire technology. Only recently that
Singapore promoted indigenous R&D and
innovative capacity. The main thrust of Singapore
is to reduce the dependence on foreign
technologies and talents to strengthen Singapore’s
attractiveness as a regional hub.
Conclusion
. In Summary, Singapore’s technological
trajectory in the 1990s can be described as
involving two parallel prongs: increasing strategic
and networking with high-tech MNCs and other
international innovation sources on one hand,
and increasing competition with other NIEs and a
significant number of OECD countries for
technology-based products, technology-intensive
investments, and talents on the other hand.
Conclusion
The challenge that Singapore will face in making
this new strategic thrust is likely to be greater
than before:
Firstly, Singaporean firms will come into increasing
direct competition with firms in the other NIEs. In this
competition Singapore is at a disadvantage by its
smaller market base and human-resource supply
constant.
Second, Singapore will also come into increasing
competition with firms in the advanced OECD
countries. Singapore is particularly disadvantaged by its
relative lack of marketing expertise and international
brand name reputation.
Conclusion
Third, Singapore seeks to move into more
technologically intensive activities such as product
design and R&D, it will become increasingly difficult to
attract foreign direct investment in such activities
through investment incentives alone.
Fourth, and more important, the new thrust will face a
immediate bottleneck of highly trained and
experienced R&D technical and creative talents.
Last is the larger issue of how a society that has
developed an extremely efficient system and
educational culture for absorbing existing technological
know-how can best move toward one that encourages
creativity, nonconformist thinking, tolerance of failure,
and new forms of thinking.
