OIST International Symposium 2010 Keynote Address Part 2

In his keynote address "Singapore's Experience: Economic Development with Science and Technology," Mr. Philip Yeo, Chairman of SPRING Singapore and Special Advisor for Economic Development, Singapore Prime Minister's Office, talked about his country's transformation through five stages of development: the labor-intensive 1960s, largely fueled by the relatively low cost of the country's labor force; the skill-intensive 1970s, made possible as workers became better educated; the capital-intensive 1980s, with the promotion of high value-added and capital-intensive industries; the technology-driven 1990s, when technology began to power the growth of Singapore's economy; and the innovation-intensive current stage of the 21st century, when research and development (R&D) have become the engine of the country's economic development in such areas as biomedical sciences, electronics, chemicals and engineering. In describing the Biopolis, Singapore's regional and international biomedical sciences research-development center which opened in October 2003, Mr. Yeo emphasized the importance of both bringing in the best minds from all over the world while also nurturing young talent. Many in the audience were surprised when Mr. Yeo described how promising young international students are supported for their entire graduate training and given full Singaporean citizenship with the condition that they must return to Singapore to work for 5 years after finishing their doctorates. He also emphasized the importance of sustaining economic development by strategically creating a new industrial sector every five years.

For more information about the Symposium, visit http://www.oist.jp/en/event-report/670-international-symposium-toward-develop...

In 2012 The Okinawa Institute for Science and Technology Graduate School will begin offering a single interdisciplinary 5-year doctoral program in which all research and education is conducted in English. At least half of the students and faculty members will be non-Japanese. For more information, please visit the website at http://www.oist.jp

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Singapore
• Japan
• Okinawa
• R&D
• cluster