It is hard to color the words here, but i got a color version at
my blog. But i think is good i repeat the article here, so that no
one say i promoting my blog.
Take a read, it is very related to the recent debate.. enjoy
reading...
Someone delivered the 2007 Budget Speech in Parliament this
afternoon. In part of his speech, Minister emphasised the
government's focus to invest in R&D to build up new
capabilities that will help drive our economy over the
long-term.
Some of his speech is enclosed for your information. Full Text and
Webcast can be found here:
http://www.singaporebudget.gov.sg/budget_2007/index.html
Investing in R&D
Our second area of focus is to invest in R&D, to build up new
capabilities that will help drive our economy over the long-term.
We plan to invest 3% of our GDP on R&D annually by 2010 up from
2.4% in 2005.
This is a major commitment, both in terms of resources and talent.
We are investing large sums of money. We are also gathering many
very able people in the biomedical sciences and other fields of
science and technology. They include Singaporeans who are doing
post-graduate studies and embarking on careers in R&D, as well
as globally renowned researchers who have uprooted themselves to
come to Singapore because they know we are serious in our plans and
ambitions, and want to work with us on this enterprise. On top of
that, we are attracting world-class corporate R&D labs and
grooming local R&D firms.
We do not expect short-term returns. This is a long-term
investment, and clearly there are risks. We cannot be sure of
success, and even if we succeed, many of the economic benefits are
likely to be indirect. But the Government had considered this
carefully, and decided that this was an investment we had to make
for Singapores future. Over time, we will build up a critical mass
of top-rate researchers in Singapore, who will create new
intellectual property in our research institutes, universities and
hospitals, and will bring in new, technology-driven activities
which will spin off benefits to the rest of the economy. Our
investment in R&D is critical, for Singapore to be a leading
Asian hub for high-value, knowledge-based industries, even as
Beijing, Bangalore and other cities catch up.
Since embarking on this endeavour in the bio-medical sciences and
other areas of R&D that we are engaged in, we have made
significant progress. But we are still on the early legs of a long
journey. Other developed nations, including small ones like
Switzerland and Sweden, have taken decades to get to where they are
today. We need to persevere in our efforts, focusing our limited
resources on areas in which Singapore can make an impact. That is
the framework within which the Research Innovation and Enterprise
Council (RIEC) pursues Singapores R&D strategies, and it will
continue to guide us as we go forward.
It is too early to evaluate the results of our R&D initiatives.
But from MOFs perspective, I am satisfied that this is a good use
of public funds. Hence, I will inject another $500 million into the
National Research Fund that was established last year. Along with
other R&D related expenditure in A*Star, MOH, MOE and other
economic agencies, we expect a total of $2 billion of government
expenditure invested in R&D for this year. These will go
towards continuing the applied and academic research in the public
research institutes, universities and hospitals.