ADDENDA, PRIME MINISTER'S OFFICE (NATIONAL RESEARCH FOUNDATION)

PRIME MINISTER'S OFFICE (NATIONAL RESEARCH FOUNDATION): MR LEE HSIEN LOONG

Prime Minister

The mission of the National Research Foundation (NRF) is to help transform Singapore into a knowledge-intensive, innovative and entrepreneurial economy. The NRF seeks to deepen Singapore's R&D capabilities and capacity, encourage greater innovation and the growth of technology-based enterprises in Singapore. This will help Singapore remain competitive and offer opportunities to our people to better their living.

Developing excellence in use-inspired research

Great scientific breakthroughs are often not made by a single brilliant researcher working in isolation, but by teams of scientists working across disciplines. Recognising this trend, the NRF seeks to develop research excellence in multi-disciplinary areas in our local universities, by jointly establishing with MOE, a small number of world class Research Centres of Excellence (RCEs).

Four RCEs have been approved so far. They are the Centre of Quantum Technologies, Cancer Science Institute of Singapore and the Mechanobiology RCE at the NUS; and the Earth Observatory of Singapore at NTU. When fully operational, they will train some 580 PhD students and post-doctoral fellows, adding significantly to the local talent pool in multi-disciplinary research. They will contribute to generating knowledge and innovation that could be commercialised.

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Under the NRF Research Fellowship programmes, we will attract and root top research talent in Singapore by providing brilliant young scientists the opportunity to direct independent research teams. These NRF Research Fellows will be encouraged to take up appointments at the local universities and offered tenure-track positions. They will provide not just the resources and talent to generate breakthrough ideas, but help create an environment and culture for our people to do the same.

The NRF is establishing an international Campus for Research Excellence And Technological Enterprise (CREATE), to bring together in one physical location, research centres from some of the world’s top research universities. The concentration of diverse talents doing cutting edge research in CREATE would act as a magnet for attracting more research talent locally and from all over the world, making Singapore perhaps the first R&D hub that congregates the best of research talent from diverse cultures and backgrounds.

We will continue to invest in strategic research areas where Singapore has a competitive edge to gain a leadership position or create new industries. The Biomedical Sciences (BMS) Translational and Clinical Research programme (BMS-TCR) has a clear intent to translate basic research into treatments for patients.

The Environment and Water Technologies (EWT) Programme seeks to develop a new water industry supported by strong R&D, as well as position Singapore as a Clean Energy Hub.

The Interactive and Digital Media (IDM) Programme leverages on Singapore's strong foundation in ICT and education to create new innovative niches with a focus on games and edutainment.

Strengthening research, growing innovation and enterprise

Innovation is key to sustainable economic growth, and hi-tech start-ups are responsible for most breakthrough innovations, job and wealth creation. The NRF has developed the National Framework of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (NFIE). Going forward, this will help Singapore better boost innovation and academic entrepreneurship to translate the treasure trove of knowledge from our tertiary and research institutions into applications and products.

All of NRF's programmes are directed at strengthening research, growing innovation and enterprise. Working with other agencies, the NRF seeks to create a self-reinforcing innovation eco-system in the country, which will provide the basis for sustainable economic growth into the future.