VZCZCXRO4711
RR RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHHM RUEHNH
DE RUEHGP #0884/01 2570833
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 140833Z SEP 09
FM AMEMBASSY SINGAPORE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 7197
INFO RUCNASE/ASEAN MEMBER COLLECTIVE
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 SINGAPORE 000884 
 
SIPDIS 
 
EAP/MTS FOR MCOPPOLA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EIND EINV TSPL TBIO PGOV PREL SN
SUBJECT: SINGAPORE PUSHING R&D AND POACHING TALENT 
 
¶1.  (SBU) SUMMARY: The Government of Singapore (GOS) aims to 
grow research and development (R&D) spending to three percent 
of its gross domestic product (GDP) by 2010.  GOS agencies 
advocate a results-driven and integrative approach to R&D in 
order to expand the local economy and involve foreign 
researchers in developing local talent.  Prominent 
Singaporeans in charge of a multi-billion dollar fund run by 
the Prime Minister's office actively seek and hire foreign 
scientists, researchers and academics to develop Singapore,s 
R&D, education, and commercial capabilities in areas such as 
life sciences, clean technologies, and digital and 
interactive media. Scientists that have relocated here 
attribute Singapore,s success in luring talent to: visible 
government commitment to and understanding of sciences; 
generous funding; freedom to develop projects with minimal 
administrative burdens; and Singapore,s strategic location 
in Asia.  Compared to the complexities involved in conducting 
research in the United States, Singapore's small size and 
spportive environment have created what some have called a 
"scientific oasis," that has attracted many U.S. scientists. 
Still, Singapore has its work cut out to develop the local 
talent and entrepreneurship required to anchor R&D here 
longer term. 
 
GOS Increasing Public Spending on R&D 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶2.  (SBU) The GOS aims to increase overall R&D spending from 
2.3 to 3 percent of GDP by 2010 by investing and attracting 
foreign investment in three core areas:  life sciences, clean 
technologies (e.g., water and energy technologies), and 
digital and interactive media.  Several GOS agencies are 
tasked with attracting investment and talent, including the 
Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*Star), the 
Economic Development Board (EDB), the Ministry of Education, 
and the National Research Foundation (NRF), which is a 
multi-billion dollar fund established in 2006 within the 
Prime Minister's office.  Each agency has a slightly 
different role, but all are focused on bringing companies, 
institutions and higher-value jobs to Singapore and using 
foreign money and talent to build up local capabilities in 
R&D.  To spur this process, the GOS plans to double the 
public R&D budget from S$5 billion (US$3.47 billion) in 2005 
to S$13.55 billion (US$9.4 billion) in 2010.  It has allotted 
S$5 billion to NRF, S$5.4 billion (US$3.75 billion) to 
A*Star, S$1.05 billion (US$730 million) for academic 
research, and S$2.1 billion (US$1.46 billion) to promote 
private sector R&D, according to NRF. 
 
Results Driven, Integrative Approach 
------------------------------------ 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Singapore emphasizes industry focused R&D, 
commercialization of R&D and local talent development, rather 
than more theoretical, "blue sky" projects, Prof. CHONG Tow 
Chong, Executive Director of A*Star said in a recent 
presentation to the American Chamber of Commerce.  For 
example, small local technology-intensive companies can 
upgrade capabilities and expand export potential by working 
with one of A*Star's research institutes, which can include 
seconding scientists to the local company, and tapping 
International Enterprise (IE) Singapore to help with export 
promotion under A*Star's "GET-Up" and "T-Up" programs. 
A*Star's Science and Engineering Research Council (SERC) 
coordinates and helps fund an aerospace technology consortium 
that includes sixteen members (e.g., Boeing, Pratt & Whitney 
and Rolls Royce) and emphasizes R&D relevant to the aerospace 
industry such as developing erosion resistant coating for 
airframes.  U.S. scientist, Kerry Sieh, the Director and 
Professor at the Earth Observatory of Singapore, told Emboffs 
that in addition to the research he is doing in Singapore, he 
has been asked to work with MOE to create an earth sciences 
curriculum for secondary-school students here. 
 
¶4. (SBU) The GOS has underwritten certain R&D initiatives, 
such as biotechnology projects, an approach that differs from 
that taken by the United States government.  In the United 
States, National Institutes of Health (NIH) ethics rules 
require extensive documentation of meetings that NIH 
researchers have with private sector businesses, and the 
rules limit collaboration and the amount of compensation that 
NIH scientists can receive for consulting with private 
industry, a visiting NIH researcher told Poloff. In 
comparison, the GOS encourages and subsidizes scientists who 
wish to convert their discovery into real income, he said. 
Registering a business in Singapore can take as little as 
fifteen minutes via an online process. Scientists in 
biotechnology fields can apply for a three-year sabbatical, 
which includes a US$100,000 per annum stipend to launch new 
business ventures, the NIH researcher continued.  Clinical 
 
SINGAPORE 00000884  002 OF 004 
 
 
trials are often approved within three weeks.  New biotech 
manufacturing businesses can draw on GOS subsidies to build 
new manufacturing facilities and can be operating within 
24-36 months of initiation, according to the EDB's Web site. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Agencies like A*Star and EDB advocate an 
integrative and cost-efficient research model that is enabled 
by collocating multi-disciplinary facilities.  Scientists 
gain from having access to counterparts in a range of science 
and technology fields that can combine on projects (e.g., 
biology and nanotechnology), and investors enjoy reduced 
capital expenditures because multiple companies or 
institutions can share access to expensive equipment. 
Singapore built Biopolis in 2003, a US$365 million, 
seven-building life sciences complex containing five research 
institutes: the Bioinformatics Institute, The Bioprocessing 
Technology Institute, the Genome Institute of Singapore, the 
Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, and the Institute of 
Bioengineering and Nanotechnology.  Nearby, in 2008, the GOS 
opened Fusionopolis, a similarly ambitious complex for 
research in materials science, engineering data storage, 
microelectronics, manufacturing technology, high performance 
computing, and information and communications.  A*Star also 
organizes R&D priorities thematically in areas such as: 
sustainable development; health and wellness; mega-cities; 
and high-value manufacturing. 
 
Prominent Singaporeans Court Prominent R&D Talent 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Singaporeans at the highest levels of government 
and business have a hand in realizing Singapore's R&D vision. 
 Alongside the NRF, the Prime Minister chairs the Research, 
Innovation and Enterprise Council (RIEC), which is tasked 
with advising the Singapore Cabinet on R&D policies and 
facilitating the transformation of Singapore to a 
knowledge-based economy.  RIEC members include:  Dr. Tony 
Tan, NRF Chairman and Deputy Chairman of Singapore sovereign 
wealth fund Government Investment Corporation (GIC); Deputy 
Prime Minister and Minister for Defense Teo Chee Hean; the 
Ministers for Finance, Trade and Industry, and Health; as 
well as private sector leaders from Harvard Business School, 
Stanford University, and DBS Bank.  Philip Yeo, the former 
chairman of A*STAR and EDB was famous for poaching U.S. 
scientists, but now others like Tony Tan have taken up the 
mantle to personally recruit global science and technology 
talent using multi-million dollar NRF grants and assurances 
of limited GOS interference in their projects.  Scientists 
remarked to Emboffs that they were impressed with the caliber 
of GOS officials they met during initial discussions about 
Singapore and said that kind of GOS access and support 
motivated the scientists to relocate here. 
 
Personal Networks Also Key 
-------------------------- 
 
¶7.  (SBU) Many other scientists are lured to Singapore 
through personal connections resulting from collaborative 
work and scientific conferences hosted here.  Biomedical 
scientists from Novartis working in Singapore told Poloff 
that they learned of research opportunities in Singapore 
through existing collaborative relationships between 
Singapore institutions and U.S. universities and government 
agencies (e.g., NIH and the National Science Foundation 
(NSF)).  When the scientists traveled to Singapore for 
conferences or consultations, they were offered lucrative 
positions based on the recommendations of the local 
scientists or institutions.  Singapore played host for the 
second time this summer to U.S. graduate students 
participating in the NSF East Asia and Pacific Summer 
Institutes program, and at the opening ceremony the local 
university faculty made a strong pitch for the U.S. students 
to consider moving to Singapore for post-graduate work. 
 
The GOS Shows Scientists the Money and Commitment 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Financial incentives for scientists moving to 
Singapore can be substantial.  An NIH scientist told Poloff 
that he has been approached approximately 12 times with job 
offers in Singapore's biotechnology industry.  The salary 
offers have ranged from two to four times his annual 
US$150,000 salary at NIH and included an annual 25 percent 
bonus, housing and dependent child educational subsidies, he 
said.  Other U.S. scientists based in Singapore confirmed 
that the salary scale in Singapore is considered generous. 
An assistant professor can earn from US$61-105,000; associate 
professors earn US$94-177,000; and full professors earn 
US$155-234,000.  Singapore will also fund scientists on a 
contract basis, sparing them the regular grant-writing 
 
SINGAPORE 00000884  003 OF 004 
 
 
process necessary in other countries.  A local scientist told 
Poloff that contracts can be as long as five to ten years. 
Each scientists' work is reviewed by an A*Star committee 
every six months to confirm funded work is productive. 
Unproductive contracts are canceled. 
 
¶9.  (SBU) Beyond the financial benefits of moving to 
Singapore, scientists cited the very visible GOS commitment 
to science and technology and R&D.  Singapore is a smaller, 
less competitive environment than the United States.  Top 
experts in their fields are brought to Singapore to pioneer 
new R&D projects, university departments, and curriculum, 
Kerry Sieh told Emboffs.  The timeline for having projects 
approved can be dramatically shorter than in more mature and 
complex markets like the United States.  Sieh said that when 
he was in talks with the GOS to develop the Earth Observatory 
of Singapore, MOE actually developed the first draft of his 
proposal, anticipating how the GOS might like the Observatory 
to function.  Sieh said that about 70 percent of the initial 
proposal from MOE was "right on," so he only had to make 
revisions and fill in the other 30 percent, saving him time 
and effort.  The proposal was approved in less than six 
months.  Sieh said a comparable project in the United States 
could take several years and require a very competitive and 
labor-intensive grant-proposal process. 
 
Other Lures:  Stem Cells, Easy Immigration and IPR 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
 
¶10.  (SBU) In addition to the GOS investment, infrastructure 
and support for R&D, Singapore is exploiting its other 
advantages.  Singapore has had more permissive stem cell 
research regulations than the United States.  Human embryonic 
stem cells can be obtained from surplus embryos produced for 
fertility treatments in Singapore.  Human embryos can also be 
created for research purposes and kept up to 14 days, the 
point where the embryos start forming tissues and organs. 
Foreign scientists also remarked to Poloff that visa and 
immigration issues in the United States drove them to 
Singapore.  An Indian scientist who worked for five years at 
NIH told Poloff that he waited four months for his H1B1 visa 
renewal in India and decided instead to come to Singapore.  A 
Chinese-born scientist told Poloff, "Tell your people in 
Washington that I wanted to be American, but the United 
States didn't want me.  Instead, now I bring my talents to 
Singapore."  Intellectual property (IP) protections are also 
key to encouraging multinationals to conduct R&D here. 
Relative to its neighbors, Singapore's patent protection 
regime is strong.  However, some questions remain about 
patent ownership in certain scenarios.  When A*Star seconds 
scientists to local companies, the local company would own IP 
generated from the collaboration, A*Star's Chong said.  Other 
scientists said that in cases where scientists are funded by 
the GOS, the scientists split patent royalties with the GOS, 
usually on a 50/50 basis. 
 
A Foreign Scientist's Oasis, but Work to do Locally 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
 
¶11.  (SBU) Singapore aims to establish itself as a science 
and technology hub for the region, mostly by bringing in 
foreign researchers and institutions that locate here for the 
access Singapore provides to the rest of Asia.  Duke 
University and the National University of Singapore (NUS) 
collaborate in Singapore on emerging infectious disease 
research because much of the global population growth and 
urbanization is happening in Asia, Duane Gubler, Director for 
the Program on Emerging and Infectious Disease at Duke-NUS 
Medical School, told Emboffs.  Kerry Sieh noted that he 
valued the opportunity Singapore provided to build an earth 
sciences program from the ground up in Singapore that also 
reaches students studying here from Indonesia, Malaysia and 
India.  Foreign scientists have said Singapore is like a 
science and technology oasis in the region in terms of the 
local funding available and the economic opportunities Asia 
represents for future commercialization of technologies. 
However, local talent still has to catch up.  At the Earth 
Observatory of Singapore, all of the administrative staff is 
Singaporean, but almost all of the researchers are foreign, 
Sieh noted.  A*Star's Chong deduced, based on Singapore's 
annual birth rate of approximately 35,000, that only 700 of 
those born annually are likely to go on to study at the very 
top global universities.  Out of that only a small number 
would enter science and technology fields.  Therefore, it 
will be several more years before Singapore has sufficient 
local talent to anchor R&D here longer term. 
 
¶12.  (SBU) A*Star's former chairman, Philip Yeo was 
instrumental in building Singapore's biomedical sector and 
Yeo now heads Spring Singapore, the local equivalent to the 
 
SINGAPORE 00000884  004 OF 004 
 
 
U.S. Small Business Administration.  While Singapore has been 
very successful in luring foreign scientists and corporations 
to its soil and providing fertile ground for R&D, it has been 
far less able to incubate and develop new local companies. 
Singapore is not a hotbed for entrepreneurship or venture 
capital.  Failure is still seen as a career-ender and not a 
step on the way to developing a successful business.  The 
challenge in results-driven Singapore is to produce new small 
businesses and create jobs.  Given Singapore's aversion to 
failure and reliance on government-led business initiatives, 
Philip Yeo and Spring Singapore have their work cut out 
developing local R&D that can result in thriving Singaporean 
companies. 
 
Visit Embassy Singapore's Classified website: 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eap/singapore/ind ex.cfm 
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