RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

Mr Tay Beng Chuan asked the Minister for Education (a) whether the National University of Singapore and the Nanyang Technological University have given due emphasis to research and development activities; (b) how much has been allocated to research and development endeavours in the budgets of both universities; and (c) to what extent these research and development efforts have been translated into commercialised products.

RAdm Teo Chee Hean: NUS and NTU are both committed to the promotion of research and development activities. They believe that the reputation of a university rests not only on teaching but also on its research excellence, and that a strong research standing attracts good academic staff and students. The universities have generally focused their research efforts on niche areas, including multi-disciplinary research, in which they can make an impact and which are of strategic relevance to Singapore and the region.

In FY97, MOE allocated the universities a budget of $94.5 million to be used on research activities, including the purchase of equipment and recruitment of supporting manpower. This is almost 9% of the total budget allocated to the universities, and does not include the salaries of the academic staff which are covered under the universities' normal allocations. The universities also have access to research funding from other sources, eg NSTB, MOH, MINDEF, various foundations, and the industry. In total, they obtained another $68.8 million.

There are some 19 national research institutes and research centres hosted by our universities. These institutions focus mainly on research that has high national relevance. NUS and NTU also have faculty-based research centres which nurture new niche areas in research.

As part of our vision for Singapore to be a centre of excellence in education, our universities, together with various Government agencies, have recently initiated international collaborations at an institutional level. Cooperative arrangements have been formed with top institutions like MIT and Johns Hopkins. These seek to uplift the quality of research and teaching at our universities and to help them reach world-class status.

At the individual level, the researchers in our universities have fostered strong links with industry and Government agencies. There are also numerous projects conducted jointly with researchers from top institutions around the world, eg Stanford University, University of Cambridge, Tsinghua University.

The number of postgraduate research students has more than doubled in the past 5 years from 1551 in 1994 to 3956 this year. This is due to the aggressive recruitment drives undertaken by the universities to bring in the best students from Singapore and around the world. Selected undergraduates are also exposed to research work through specially tailored programmes in order to cultivate their interest in research at an early stage.

The universities have made concerted efforts to ensure that their R&D works are commercially viable or academically relevant. Both have institutional outfits that promote commercialisation and technology transfer, namely the Industry and Technology Relations Office in NUS and the Innovation Centre in NTU. Over the past 3 years, they have been granted 65 patents and have set up 20 spin-off companies. Successes in commercialising staff research cover a broad range of areas from waste water treatment to orthopaedic implant products to sensor systems. Beyond commercially oriented research, there is also a significant level of basic research which encompasses the breaking of new frontiers in knowledge and innovation.