Distinguished Guests
Ladies & Gentlemen
Introduction
- Good afternoon to everyone here in this room and those joining us online.
- Thank you for the invitation to kick off the NUS Distinguished Speaker Series.
- It is said that universities are the longest-surviving secular institutions in world history.
If so, then universities, including ours, must be the brain trusts of societies.
With this come heavy responsibilities.
Universities must be at the forefront of research and innovation.
Universities must also be leaders in teaching, and partners for lifelong learning, and industry transformation.
Ultimately, universities have the responsibility to help societies evolve to be stronger, better, and more cohesive for everyone to enjoy the benefits of growth and development.
These are also what we expect of our universities.
- In early history, humanity mainly progressed through the acquisition of more resources – essentially for more land and food sources. This was often through conflicts and conquests.
But the more rapid progress in recent times really came through innovation.
The ability to use the same, or less resources, to produce more and better things to improve lives.
And the ability to organise societies in ways that enable such innovations to come about.
I want to emphasise that it is not just the innovation itself that is important, but also the way we organise societies to deliver these innovations and to deal with the challenges and opportunities that come from innovations that are most important.
- The Industrial Revolution was one such period in history – where technological innovations, combined with legal and societal organisational innovations, produced a tremendous shift in a society’s capacities and capabilities to uplift the lives of millions and generations.
A small country, Britain, became a global power
Not by dint of its resource base or population size per se
But by the power of its technological prowess, its access to the global hinterland and to a certain extent, the power of its ideas on how to better organise its society to bring out the full potential of its people.
- For Singapore, this similar need to expand our capacities and capabilities to deliver a better life for our people, without conflicts and conquests, is especially salient.
How do we survive and thrive as a city-state without a conventional hinterland?
How do we secure our lifelines and supply chains?
How do we produce things of value to exchange with others for things we need?
How do we muster and steward our finite resources to produce improvements in our quality of life, for this and future generations?
- For us, these are existential questions.
The answers, and breakthrough innovations, cannot come by chance.
Instead, it must come from a disciplined pursuit of answers in context for our needs.
- To these ends of delivering the capacities and capabilities for Singapore to keep thriving, towards SG100 and beyond, innovations are key. Taking a leaf from the Industrial Revolution, we can look at innovations on three fronts – technology, connectivity, and policies and organisations.
Tech Innovation
- Let us start with tech innovation.
- To say that tech innovation is important, is cliché.
It is more important to understand which areas of tech innovation are critical for our survival, and competitiveness.
While every tech innovation is important and valuable to us, some tech innovations are much more critical to us as a small city-state.
Let me suggest some of these more critical pieces for discussion.
- If I have to make some tech picks critical for the next lap of our history, I will choose:
Energy and Sustainability,
Biopharma and Medicine,
Urban Sustenance,
Digital and Information.
- Let me explain my considerations:
The tech areas must enhance our survivability as a city-state without natural resources.
They must play to our strengths in terms of trust and creativity, rather than resource base.
They must give us a better chance to entrench ourselves in the global value chains that makes us harder to be bypassed.
- Let me elaborate on my four choices.
- Energy and Sustainability.
In the next 50 to100 years, this is existential to the world, and more so to us.
We cracked the water challenge in the last 50 years.
We need to crack the food challenge in the next 50 years.
We also need to produce things of value and entrench ourselves as a critical node in the global data and digital networks.
All within a carbon budget that will only become tighter over time.
All these will be impossible without sustainable energies.
Hence, we need significant innovations in energy production, storage, management, and usage to open up option space for our survival and competitiveness.
- Next, biopharma and medicine – combined with data.
The quality of life, especially for an ageing population, and the capacity of our human potential will depend very much on our ability to master the emerging biopharma and medical advances.
Not just as a defensive strategy to cure diseases or counter pandemics
But also, as an offensive strategy to enhance human potential and optimise performance as an individual and as a team.
What matters more than how many people we have, is how good each of our people can be, and how good Team Singapore can be collectively.
- Next, urban.
More and more of humankind will live in urban societies in time to come.
When well-managed, urban societies can be the most efficient form of civilisational organisation to achieve a certain quality of life with the least impact on the environment.
But only if urbanisation is well-managed and well-organised.
More often than not, mismanaged or unmanaged urban societies instead become the blight of human civilisation and the environment.
The art and science of designing good urban spaces as a system; providing efficient and safe water, energy and waste management; building efficient and sustainable transport infrastructures; and ensuring accessible and quality public health care and education systems; are all essentials for good urban management.
To achieve these, technological innovations must be coupled with societal organisational innovations.
Singapore’s track record is not too bad.
We can certainly build on these and even make it an exportable product.
- Finally, on the tech front, digital and informational innovations.
This is an obvious choice because it allows us to transcend our physical limitations.
Indeed, the shift of weights from physical assets to intangible assets allows us to leverage our brand of trust and quality and frees us up from the constrains of size and geography.
Data and the ability to transform data into analytics, insights, knowledge and even wisdom, will allow us to compete on different dimensions, compared to others who are competing with better endowed natural resources.
Connectivity Innovation
- Let me now move on to connectivity innovation.
- Without connectivity, and having the world as our markets and hinterland, our survivability will be limited, if not threatened.
Never mind the higher goals to thrive and bring out the best in our people.
To expand our capacities and capabilities, we need to innovate not just in the physical connectivity dimensions of air, land and sea; but also, in the non-physical dimensions of data, finance, talent, technology, regulations and even cultural understanding.
- In the physical dimensions of air, land and sea; we must constantly seek to diversify and densify our connections with the rest of the world, especially in a world that threatens to fragment into geopolitical and technological blocs.
This is why we can never be done strengthening the hub status of Changi and Tuas.
They are our lifelines.
They are our sources of growth.
We must be a key node where the world connects for trade, data, and ideas.
- To reinforce our efforts to be a key global node, our data and financial connectivity are key enablers. They also mutually reinforce the physical connectivity.
This is why we constantly seek to innovate our free trade agreements (FTAs), digital partnership agreements, and financial linkages with the rest of the world.
MAS participated in a collaboration between the Bank for International Settlements Innovation Hub and central banks across the world to develop prototypes for a shared platform to facilitate cheaper, faster, and safer cross-border transactions.
IMDA has also helped to develop the Singapore Trade Data Exchange, which is a digital infrastructure that streamlines information flows across the fragmented global ecosystem through a common data highway.
However, the global competition is intense. These are but two examples of how we need to continually innovate to come up with new products and services for the rest of the world to use Singapore as a platform for them to serve the world and create value.
- The next innovation in the connectivity dimension is talent.
As a small country, we will always aim to have more talent.
Our measure of success is not how many talented Singaporeans we can have in Singapore only.
Our measure of success is how many talented Singaporeans and non-Singaporeans we can have in our Singapore talent network, here in Singapore and beyond, to create the best opportunities for Singaporeans in this and future generations.
- Digital connectivity, hybrid work, and ease of physical travels have all transformed the global talent pool that we have access to, and the opportunities we can leverage to level up our own talent pool.
This can be transformational to the survival of small city-states like ours.
When we remain open, and connected to the world as our hinterland, we will never need to fear that our size will be a constraint.
Instead, our size can allow us to be more nimble than many others.
- To achieve that, we must be bold in pioneering new forms of connectivity to draw from the talent networks of the world.
We have done so by setting up the Singapore Global Network (SGN), for example. The SGN leverages digital technology to build connections with people and businesses. It enhances Singapore’s international mindshare.
But we can do more, especially after the experience of COVID.
Our companies and people can connect and collaborate with many more of the world’s talents, even if they are not physically in Singapore.
- For decades, Singapore has been among the busiest ports in the world, connecting a vast network of physical trade. Now, we must also become a safe harbour for the exchange of ideas and creation of new knowledge.
Our value-add lies not just in channelling the flow of information in trade, finance, data and business through Singapore.
Just like physical trade, we aim to go beyond “trading with Singapore”, to “trading through Singapore” and “trading on the Singapore platform”.
Where Singapore is a global hub for the exchange and creation of new ideas.
This requires us to have a deep understanding of the world and be that bridge that connects.
A deep understanding of other people’s cultures, perspectives, and needs, for us to value add by creating new and better solutions, rather than just arbitrage.
- To enable such connectivity innovations, our people must be exposed and be comfortable to connect and collaborate with people from all over the world.
We must start young.
This is why we strive for all our education institutions to be open, inclusive, and connected communities where our people have the opportunities to work, learn and spar with the best to hone our own capabilities and build networks.
Our universities, including NUS, must continue to be a nexus of talent development and idea creation in a global context. We must continue sending our students out into the world to connect and learn from the very best.
But we must also bring the world to our students and to Singapore. Our universities must become the point of convergence where the most talented students, professors, and researchers from across the world can gather to learn, debate, and develop the next generation of innovations for Singapore and the world.
However successful we may be, we must never think that we can achieve all these by ourselves, without collaborating and competing with the rest of the world.
- Finally, we must ensure that our regulations support and enhance our efforts to become a global hub for talent and knowledge.
We are in an era where new arenas of trade and innovation emerge constantly to disrupt traditional ones.
In fields like fintech and biotechnology for example, new technology and business models will transcend the boundaries of existing regulations.
We need to pioneer innovative regulations that connect us to these fields of rapid growth, to help businesses seize new opportunities in the future economy.
Policy and Organisational Innovations
- Let me now come to the third limb of innovation – policies and organisations.
They are important, both as enablers for tech and connectivity innovations,
And as enablers to manage the issues, overcome the challenges and seize the opportunities that come with progress.
- On the economic front, we need to continue developing policy innovations to support both our businesses and our people.
We need policies that are progressive, predictable, and innovation-friendly to connect ourselves to the global economy and entrench Singapore in the global value chain.
One such effort is the Pro-Enterprise Panel (PEP). The PEP works closely with enterprises to encourage innovation, streamline processes, and minimise compliance costs for businesses by regularly reviewing Government rules and regulations.
Since its inception in 2000, the PEP has initiated more than a thousand regulatory changes across various industries and domains.
- On the socio-economic front, we need innovative policies and strategies that uplift our local workforce and strengthen our social compact.
The greater our competitiveness in the global stage, the greater the tensions may be on our social distribution front.
How do we help our people to keep pace with the global competition?
How do we mitigate the disparity of opportunities and outcomes?
How do we take care of our population, be they old and young; rich and poor?
- Amongst the many policies that we have to evolve to stay competitive and cohesive, I will use four examples to show the need for continuous innovation:
Our investments in education and the lifelong training of our people.
Our healthcare and retirement support models.
Our housing models.
Our information rules.
- Education.
We have done well with our basic education model.
A decade or so ago, we stepped up the investments in our pre-schoolers to establish the strong foundations necessary for the school system.
We are seeing encouraging results. But we need to do more for the less privileged children. And we will.
For the next lap, our challenge is to find new education and training models to support the upskilling and reskilling needs of our adult population.
Our task is no longer just to produce 30 to 40 thousand graduates a year with good degrees or diplomas.
Our new task is to try refresh the skills of 500 thousand adult learners each year for our people to stay competitive.
Thus, our measure of success is not how well our children do in the first 15 years in schools, but how well they do for the next 50 years beyond schools.
We need policy innovations to encourage our people to keep learning for life.
To create an environment where graduation doesn’t mean the end of learning, but the step towards the next level of training.
And the oft-heard phrase “mid-life crisis” will be banished and replaced by the phrase “lifelong progress”.
We need tech innovations for our people to keep accessing new knowledge and skills throughout life, amidst their busy schedules and other responsibilities of adulthood.
How then do we organise ourselves better to deliver adult training for Singaporeans?
Should this be the responsibility of MOE, MOM, MTI, the Labour Movement, or enterprises?
The answer is all the above, and more. The innovation required is both processes and structural to bring all the stakeholders to the table efficiently and in an agile way.
- Retirement Support and Healthcare
Given the evolving nature of work, such as the rise of platform work and a more volatile economy, we will need new models of social support and assurance for our people.
We will also need to review and refresh our social compact. Individuals, family, community, businesses, and the Government will all need to work together to enable our seniors to retire with a peace of mind.
Healthcare is one important consideration. By any measure, we have a relatively successful healthcare model with good health outcomes.
But given the medical advances available, longevity and rising costs of advanced treatment, we will need policy innovations to encourage our people to stay healthier rather than depend on the healthcare system to remediate the problems that may arise.
We will need new innovative policy support for those who fall on hard times, yet not diminish the entrepreneurial spirit of others or work ethics of our people. We need to risk pool more, and yet not create perverse incentives.
All these make for interesting and challenging policy innovations.
We can take comfort that we are starting from a good foundation.
- Housing Models.
As the years go by, the success of our public housing story will also create higher expectations of the quality, affordability, and accessibility of our public housing system.
As we approach the 100-year mark of our public housing story, we will have the chance to progressively refresh our entire housing stock and create new and better living environments for our people.
At the same time, we can have more varied housing options to cater to the diverse needs of our people.
How we encourage progressive and systematic innovations to renew our public housing stock to meet the elevated public expectations will be both a challenge and an opportunity.
- Information. This is the new dimension that we need to innovate new rules for.
As an open and connected society, our people have access to all kinds of information.
The diversity of ideas can enrich our society and broaden our perspectives.
The contest of ideas and ideologies, if not well managed, can fracture our social cohesion.
The falsehoods, misinformation, and disinformation can erode trust in institutions, leadership, and even amongst our people.
How to develop guardrails and policy innovations for information to be used properly, wisely, and safely is a pressing challenge for every society.
Conclusion
- Let me circle back to the Industrial Revolution story of Britain.
The improvements in humankind’s living and working conditions can never come sustainably from acquisition of more resources and land.
Instead, innovation is the key to unlock the potential of people and countries.
For the world, as it is for Singapore, innovation must progress on multiple fronts concurrently – encompassing technology, connectivity, policies, societal rules, and organisations – to mutually reinforce, support and enable each other to enable innovation to flourish.
Innovation in any dimension alone – be it tech, connectivity, policies, or societal organisations – will not allow us to reap the benefits holistically.
The good news is, if we get it right, we will show the world how a small city-state, without natural resources and conventional hinterland, can defy the odds of history to survive and thrive.
- I hope we can all pitch in and do our part to contribute to the future of innovation for Singapore.
And I look forward to the innovations that this generation will create, for the benefit of all Singaporeans for generations to come.
- Thank you.
Source: Ministry of Education, Singapore