AN ANALYSIS OF R & D POLICIES IN SINGAPORE

Abstract

R&D is currently a very popular topic in Singapore due to the special emphasis the government has placed on it. Its importance to our future economy has been recognised as early as during the mid-eighties. Efforts to promote it intensified during the early nineties as it became clear that it was going to become inevitably essential for sustainable growth. Hence the First Technology Plan was launched by the government in 1991 in a bid to upgrade technology in Singapore. Given that R&D is a relatively new phenomenon here, the objective of this exercise will be to introduce readers to the concept of R&D and expose them to the R&D scene in Singapore and why R&D is necessary for future growth. Policies to promote R&D will be examined and alternative options as to how it can be done more efficiently will be considered. The methodology used in this exercise is highly qualitative, partly by choice and partly due to the limited data available on R&D in Singapore. As mentioned above, R&D is still a relatively new concept to us. Therefore unlike in developed countries like the U.S or Japan, relevant authorities in Singapore have yet to develop sufficiently comprehensive databanks for the purpose of quantitative analysis as those. Nevertheless, I hope that readers will find the information contained in this work to be useful and enlightening.