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Dr Dee
annakat
-benFrom the corporate site of A*STAR:
Mr. Philip Yeo (59 years old) will be stepping down as Chairman of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) A*STAR at the end of March 2007. On 1st April 2007, he will assume Chairmanship of the Standards, Productivity and Innovation Board (SPRING Singapore), and also be appointed as Senior Advisor on Science and Technology to the Minister for Trade and Industry.
LG(NS) Lim Chuan Poh (44 years old), an officer of the Administrative Service, will take on the additional appointment as Deputy Chairman of A*STAR with effect from 1 November 2006. He will relinquish his appointment as Permanent Secretary (Education) to assume the appointment of Chairman A*STAR from 1 April 2007.
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The success of this model is evident in the tripling of the BMS industry’s manufacturing output from S$6 billion in 2000 to S$18 billion in 2005. BMS now accounts for 18% of manufacturing VA and 10,200 jobs.
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The prestigious A*STAR scholarships (launched in 2001) leading to PhD studies have seen 6 cohorts of our best and brightest students taking up the challenge to get an education that will prepare them to tread the path of science and research. We have 612 scholars to date; and this talent pipeline will be a precious resource for the country over time as the scholars return to contribute to A*STAR and Singapore.
Am I the only person who finds it odd that the chairman of a very high-profile agency is going to lead one that is arguably less so?
See also the SPRINTER press release [pdf], esp. para. 12:
Said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong: “Philip has made many outstanding and lasting contributions to Singapore[...] At A*STAR, he assembled a dedicated team and in the span of just six years, they grew the biomedical sciences sector at a frenetic pace. Philip’s relentless drive and boundless energy has always been directed to just one goal: to do the best he can for Singapore, to bring in more jobs, more employment opportunities for all Singaporeans.
Let’s see what the next few years will bring. Specifically:
- Whether A*STAR will consider relaxing its controversial adherence to the 3.8 GPA criterion in favor of a more diverse collection of metrics, e.g. participation in undergraduate research, written feedback from faculty advisors and science-related extracurricular activities.
- Whether Singapore’s biomedical sector can grow and support jobs beyond the entry-level “keep ‘em fed” jobs that so many recent bachelors’ level graduates have clamored for, and sometimes in vain.
- Whether A*STAR will be able to convince the general public that their S$1m price tags are well worth the public dollars spent, as the first generation of A*STAR scholars graduate with Ph. D.s and are placed in positions where they can show their true mettle.
Looks like this Facebook group might be getting a name change soon. Heh.
Elia,
Finally, you are the next person who agree with me on this as well about the new appointment.
The thing about PY is that his “successes” so far is with the MNCs and his management is pretty much the MNC mentality (EDB and A*STAR). His new appointment in SPRING will be trying to push up the small medium enterprises which is one of the most difficult tasks in the entrepreneurial community. This will be the part which I am going to see how he is going to tackle the entrepreneurs and the ball game is totally different from the past two.
hmmm… i don’t think it’s a negative move for Philip (though some might feel it is). He has developed a reputation in the civil service as no nonsense boss that gets the ball rolling, and rolling well… they probably are sending him to springs to clean up the mess there.
Doubt Lim Chuan Poh will be much of an improvement. There’s an endemic problem with the approach Singaporeans have towards science (and indeed academic pursuits in general).
I wonder why it is that actual scientists are overlooked for leadership while they put another bean counter who has never done actual research on top.
i don’t find it that odd…. (only just read the press release today…) he comes across strongly as an SME person far more than a science and technology person…. (and in the science-tech pair far far far more on tech)
on the other hand…. like twasher, i have very strong reservations about lim chuan poh…. i don’t know him though and can’t comment on what he might be like, just that i fear that his approach (as my prior model places him) would not be sufficiently pro science, and in a fashion that would prove potentially deleterious for even technology…..
yes…. *sigh*….. the 3.8 GPA thing is as vacuous to as it is dumb (which doesn’t say much unless you assert that it is dumb)….. written testimonials for the final three semesters seem like a pretty darn good idea though…..
[...] 60 as he had claimed, there is no mention at all of Philip Yeo’s imminent transfer to head SPRING Singapore. It seems relevant to mention it here since apart from becoming a senior science and technology [...]