This is so Singaporean. When a local blabs about something, he’s told to shut up. When an ang moh opens his mouth, the gospel truth emerges.

STI Nov 12, 2004 - Taking S’pore into next phase of R&D - DPM Tony Tan draws lessons from Swiss experience
By Natalie Soh In Zurich (Switzerland)

Singapore will see how it can better encourage basic research, and get private companies to spend more on it. It will also see how it can attract foreign talent in the same way that Switzerland has, said Deputy Prime Minister Tony Tan after a study tour to the small European nation. Switzerland is known for its scientific excellence despite having only 7.3 million people, and thus hold lessons for Singapore’s pursuit of success in research and development, he said.

Dr Tan, who heads a ministerial panel looking at the next phase of Singapore’s own R&D direction, was speaking on Wednesday to reporters at the end of his three-day trip to study the Swiss science and technology system in Zurich. He said he was very impressed with what he saw, adding: ‘There are many good lessons for us.’

One is its emphasis on basic science, he said. For example, 80 per cent of the funding given out by the Swiss National Science Foundation - 328 million Swiss francs (S$461 million) last year - is for basic research. Basic research not only produces new knowledge but also attracts people to train manpower that the country needs, he said. This is one reason it has most publications per capita among the 30 countries in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and its scientists are the most highly cited as authorities in their fields by their peers.

Another reason is that ‘they have an open society, they welcome talent’, said Dr Tan. This is evident in how almost half the researchers getting federal funding are not Swiss. For example, in the country’s top university - the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich - half of the faculty comes from foreign countries. Basic research and funding help draw in foreign talent, which is key to both Swiss and Singapore’s success, Dr Tan said. ‘We should see how Singapore can also support that calibre of people. ‘These talents can be a catalyst to attract an entire group of good scientists. We have to see how it can be translated into reality.’

With the right talent pool, Singapore could be a base for research for companies who want a foot in Asia. This will help get private sector spending on R&D up. In Switzerland, almost three-quarters of all the money made available for research comes from private companies. Getting companies to do more R&D is something Singapore also hopes to do, he said. This is because the private sector is better at identifying promising technologies that are more likely to succeed in the market. Meanwhile, Singapore’s institutions could do well to establish links with their Swiss counterparts, noted Dr Tan.

Presidents of both the National University of Singapore (NUS) and the Nanyang Technological University (NTU), who were in the delegation, said they were already pursuing more R&D opportunities with Swiss Universities. Both added they already had follow-up trips planned. Dr Tan also said that Swiss officials told him that they saw Singapore as a gateway to Asia for their companies. ‘Singapore institutions should take advantage of this and build up links with the Swiss. ‘Singapore can use Switzerland as a gateway to Europe,’ he said.

The Straits Times understands that both NUS and NTU will be sending delegations within the next few months to Swiss universities to firm up more joint research projects and programmes. The delegation left for Singapore on Wednesday.

In other news, beavers make a dam out of stolen money.