February 28, 2025
SINGAPORE – Singapore will push on with applying artificial intelligence (AI) on a large scale in key sectors, as well as launch major research and development (R&D) programmes that cut across different fields in an effort to drive economic growth that creates good jobs.
Giving a preview of Singapore’s plans for research, innovation and enterprise (RIE) by 2030, Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat said both initiatives will be among wider efforts, including major investments, to secure Singapore’s future amid quickening economic and geopolitical shifts.
These changes include greater political polarisation, climate change and rapid technological advances, he said in a speech to Parliament on Feb 27 to kick off the second day of the Budget debate.
“How can we ride these changes to create a better future for Singaporeans? Now, we must stay creative and find opportunities in adversity and in times of major changes to emerge stronger, just as we did during the Asian financial crisis, global financial crisis and, more recently, through Covid-19,” DPM Heng said.
On applied AI, DPM Heng said the first initiative in that area entails putting the technology to use in a major way in key sectors such as healthcare, education, finance, advanced manufacturing, connectivity, logistics and transport.
A $120 million AI for Science initiative launched in October 2024 is part of this push.
DPM Heng said this initiative supports researchers in leveraging AI to accelerate discoveries in fields such as advanced materials and biomedical sciences.
New R&D programmes dubbed “RIE Flagships” that push for value creation in key economic sectors and “RIE Grand Challenges” that address national strategic priorities are also in the works.
The first Grand Challenge programme will address opportunities and challenges of healthy and successful longevity, while the first RIE Flagship project will focus on advancing Singapore’s semiconductor and microelectronics R&D, DPM Heng said.
More details will be announced in due course, he said.
DPM Heng added: “The linkages between research, translation and commercialisation will be tightened to advance key economic areas, produce new products and companies, and address real-world needs and problems.”
The Flagships and Grand Challenges will be part of a wider push on RIE investments.
DPM Heng added that these RIE investments also, directly and indirectly, benefit Singapore’s population, such as via the automation of routine tasks and precision medicine.
He said Singapore has invested around 1 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) each year to support RIE activities, with $28 billion set aside for the latest RIE 2025 plan.
Responding to questions posed by both sides of the House, including Ms Jessica Tan (East Coast GRC) and Leader of the Opposition Pritam Singh, DPM Heng said the RIE spending has supported research talent and raised the quality of research in Singapore, based on research impact and entrepreneurship metrics.
DPM Heng, who also chairs the National Research Foundation, laid out two other areas where Singapore is continuing to invest in its future.
The first is to press on with economic transformation, he said.
“Between 2016 and 2023, Singapore’s labour productivity grew by 2.1 per cent per annum, and this puts us among the top three of a group of small, advanced economies with similar population, size and GDP,” DPM Heng noted.
However, he said that fewer companies are launching transformation projects as they face near-term headwinds like geopolitical uncertainties and higher costs.
He called for businesses to tap measures newly announced in Budget 2025, including the Enterprise Compute Initiative and SkillsFuture Enterprise Credit, on top of the corporate income tax rebate and Progressive Wage Credit Scheme.
Another area Singapore needs to continue pressing on is in the enterprise and innovation ecosystem to capture the value of research done here.
He said regulators play an important role in attracting overseas players keen to test new solutions with Singapore as a springboard to the region and wider world.
“In this regard, our regulatory agencies play an important role. They need to fulfil their mandates to regulate safely and effectively while staying on top of changes, and facilitating new ideas and innovation,” he said, noting examples such as the Monetary Authority of Singapore that both supervises the financial sector and pushes the frontier in new areas such as sustainable finance.
DPM Heng also highlighted talent as another key plank of Singapore’s innovation strategy, and he encouraged more Singaporeans to use the schemes in the latest Budget to hone their skills to effectively straddle the business, and science and technology worlds.
“At the same time, we must also welcome the best from around the world to be here. Just as steel sharpens steel, strong minds sharpen each other,” he said.
To this end, the Economic Development Board will launch the Global Founder Programme to attract seasoned venture founders to grow impactful new ventures from Singapore, he said.