Sze Wee Tan

October 5, 2016

Local industrial output has been tepid for some quarters, reflecting weak external demand. The electronics sector however, buoyed by the semiconductor industry, has thrived and managed a near 9 per cent growth in the first eight months of 2016.

The local semiconductor industry is a fine example of public R&D investment paying off in multiple ways for society and the economy.

In the early days, Singapore attracted foreign players in the electronics industry by offering incentives and cheap labour. We were mere recipients of foreign direct investment, because we did not have an active R&D ecosystem then. Through strategic investments in science and engineering, we have evolved to become active participants and partners within a developed research ecosystem. This has allowed us to attract some of the best semiconductor companies to set up in Singapore.

A case in point: United States-based Applied Materials, one of the world’s largest semiconductor manufacturing equipment and solutions company, announced on 19 September, that it is extending its research collaboration with A*STAR’s Institute of Microelectronics (IME) by five years. This partnership will expand the R&D scope of the fan-out wafer-level packaging which has the potential to make chips and devices more compact, operate faster and efficiently.

A*STAR’s IME and Applied Materials’ partnership started in 2011, when a Centre of Excellence (COE) in Advanced Packaging was initiated with IME. The products developed through this collaboration will eventually be manufactured and sold from Applied Materials’ Singapore hub, contributing to the local factory output.

Over the years, the success of the COE attracted similar collaborations with more industry partners to deepen R&D activities in Singapore. These took the form of four joint semiconductor R&D labs in other areas such as metrology, assembly and lithography; with 10 other companies including Dai Nippon Printing, KLA-Tencor, Nikon, and Tokyo Electrons, representing an investment of around S$200 million.

Local small and medium enterprises currently provide the support to MNC players like Applied Materials here, but they should also adapt these new innovative technologies for their own growth. This allows us to lay the foundation for a vibrant start-up environment of our own and transfer knowledge to the local companies, creating new local businesses and revenue streams. This in turn will also generate jobs and stimulate GDP growth.

MAKING RESEARCH DOLLARS WORK

Governments across the world constantly try to quantify the return on investment for their spending on research. Traditionally, output indicators of R&D activities include papers, patents and bibliographies. Based on these matrices, Singapore has risen up the international innovation rankings. According to the latest Global Innovation Index, Singapore is now the sixth most innovative economy in the world, surpassing Germany and South Korea.

Beyond such rankings, the socio-economic impact of R&D activities can also be measured by tangible examples like Singapore’s sizeable and well-developed electronics industry.

To further translate R&D into impact, public sector research performers like A*STAR have to develop other innovation capital such as licenses, start-ups, industry projects, technology adoption by local companies, and opportunities in emerging industries for Singapore.

Another prominent outcome of A*STAR’s work stems from the Urban Computing and Engineering Centre of Excellence (CoE), the result of a public-private partnership between A*STAR, Fujitsu and Singapore Management University. In line with Singapore’s Smart Nation initiatives, its goal is to understand the island’s complex city dynamics, and turn it into a “living lab” where analytics and computational social sciences are used to test-bed next-generation solutions for heavily urbanised cities.

As Singapore maintains its positions as a financial hub, A*STAR is also playing its part in facilitating the FinTech push. In early September, DBS announced that it would be working with A*STAR’s Institute for Infocomm Research (I2R), and data management and analytic platform provider Cloudera to detect fraudulent transactions through big data analytics. DBS and I2R first set up a joint lab in 2014 to develop innovative banking products and services.

To facilitate the growth of Singapore’s precision engineering sector, A*STAR launched the Advanced Remanufacturing and Technology Centre (ARTC) in 2015. Asia's first centre for road-testing and developing sustainable remanufacturing technologies, ARTC is a public-private collaboration between A*STAR, the Nanyang Technological University and industry partners. To date, ARTC has 42 members, with heavyweights such as Rolls-Royce, IHI, Siemens Industry Software, and Singapore Aero Engine Services Private Limited as key partners. The centre focuses on five technology themes: repair and restoration, surface enhancement, product verification, robotics, and industrial 3D-printing. One of ARTC’s collaborations with Rolls-Royce involves the joint development of a suite of manufacturing and repair capabilities for aerospace, land and sea components.

LOOKING AHEAD

In the spirit of spurring economic growth, it seems imperative for the public sector to strongly support the ecosystem by developing the talent base required to serve these new R&D groups and the new capabilities they want to build.

There is a strong need to think holistically and consider the total manpower needs, education requirements, and demographics of the current workforce. We need to project the resources required to continue growth, and the policies and regulations that might have to be reviewed to make ourselves more nimble.

One nascent area lies in our lack of “innovation brokers’’ who can communicate with and link scientists to companies. By continuing to strengthen our ecosystem and developing our talent base, we can overcome the limitations of our small size.

The importance of science and talent cannot be understated, as it is the bedrock upon which impact is created and delivered. The Singapore government’s five-year Research Innovation and Enterprise 2020 journey holds exciting and numerous opportunities for A*STAR to create an impact and make a difference to the country.

As a primary driver of innovation, we need to continue to be mission-driven, creating economic value for Singapore with increased attention on growing our local companies and boosting their competitiveness. Our capabilities can also be applied to address national priorities such as developing solutions for our aging population.

As an R&D agency, there is a clear and pertinent role we can play to mould the vision for Singapore’s future.

Stay connected with us via A*STAR & Industry showcase page to find out more on how A*STAR can help innovate your businesses.