DOES SINGAPORE HAVE A HIGH TECHNOLOGY FUTURE?

Abstract

"Does Singapore have a high technology future?" Many, perhaps, would give an affirmative answer, but what are the evidence? This exercise attempts to provide some relevant evidence, indicating Singapore's stride into the high tech era. As such, various Science and Technology input and output indicators, similar to those used by the OECD Science and Technology Indicators, are employed, to determine the trend of Singapore's R&D commitment as well as her chances of success in such high tech investments. The findings are that the manufacturing sector accounts for the bulk of Singapore's R&D. This is a favourable trend because: ?If a country or a region intends to grow economically, it must rely on the strength of its manufacturing sector. The growth of the manufacturing sector is highly dependent on the development of technology" (Reinosuke Hara [1991]). Within manufacturing, the Electrical/Electronics industrial group was found to be the most R&D intensive. This is reflective of an efficient allocation of R&D resources within this sector, since the group presently accounts for a substantial proportion of output, value-added and direct exports of the sector. Moreover, the inherent nature of this industrial group necessitates constant efforts towards technological upgrading, in order to maintain competitiveness. The critical importance of the National Technology Plan's (NTP) selected technologies is also highlighted, in the context of Singapore's industrial profile. Microelectronics, Electronics Systems, Information Technology and Biotechnology are argued to be very crucial to Singapore's manufacturing sector, due to their generic nature. However, other technologies, such as Manufacturing Technology, are found to be no less important. In sum, the increasing R&D commitment by both the private sector and the government, the rising patent counts, and the improving RCA index of Singapore's technology-intensive products, collectively, indicates that Singapore does have a high technology future. However, the road to high tech is by no means smooth and there are limitations and challenges that Singapore has to overcome before she can be launched into the Innovation Driven stage of development.