Singapore's great leap forward in biotech

The Straits Times, May 15, 2007
By Derrick Z. Jackson



THERE was a wry sense of victory in the smiles of Dr Andre Wan and Mr Sheo Rai. Dr Wan is deputy executive director of the Biomedical Research Council of Singapore. Mr Rai is communications director for biomedical sciences for the Economic Development Board of Singapore.

I had just told them how Singapore was highlighted as one of the top 'competitor states and foreign nations' at Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick's recent announcement of his US$1 billion (S$1.5 billion) life sciences initiative at the BIO International Conference in Boston.

The United States administration says one of the top 'challenges' for the initiative is that 'the United Kingdom, Ireland, China and Singapore have developed coordinated strategies to attract researchers and companies'.

'It's flattering because in reality we've been trying to emulate the US,' Dr Wan said. 'We get questions at this conference asking how we do it. People ask us, 'What's your business model?' The thing is, we're not a business model. We've looked to Boston and the Bay Area (in San Francisco) for the innovation. You have a much longer history in achievement. We can only hope to acquire the knowledge.

'It's flattering for us to hear the governor of Massachusetts say these things about us. Five years ago, no one had heard of us for biotech. We are one tiny dot on the planet.'

The tiny dot is now a model. Singapore, a nation of 4.5 million people, is a global technology powerhouse. In just seven years , it has exploded from its birth in biotech infrastructure to global influence in the biomedical sciences. Stem-cell researchers Genentech, Eli Lilly, GlaxoSmith-Kline and Novartis all have announced expansions or plant openings in Singapore.

The newsletter FierceBiotech says Singapore has, for two years running, been one of the world's top five regions for industry growth, right there with California.

Mr Patrick said Massachusetts would invest US$1 billion over 10 years in the life sciences. That important step has been almost universally welcomed by scientists and business leaders. But a year ago, Singapore announced a fresh US$8 billion investment over five years.

'A lot of places plan their research and development in five-year blocks,' Dr Wan said. 'Singapore plans for 10 to 15 years out.'

With such energy, Singapore is the top-ranked nation in the Foreign Policy Globalisation Index and second to the US in the World Competitiveness Yearbook of the Swiss-based International Institute for Management Development. The CIA World Factbook says Singapore's investments in the life sciences and medical industry 'will continue efforts to establish (it) as South-east Asia's financial and high-tech hub'.

Dr Wan and Mr Rai pointed out that one reason Singapore is so attractive is that it puts emphasis on mathematics and science and investments in public education at an early age. In the 2003 Trends in International Math and Science Study of the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement, Singapore was No.1 worldwide in fourth-grade and eighth-grade maths and science.

While the Bush administration flatlines or slashes budgets for health research in the US and cuts student loans, the Singapore Government is in the midst of a programme to fully fund 1,000 scientists to achieve their doctorates in the Republic and around the world by 2010. About 700 students have been enrolled since 2001.

'You have to have a comprehensive education system,' said Dr Wan, a physician by training. 'Yes, it is true that we were able to play on the strengths we already had in maths. We had a good education system. But even with this comprehensive system, we realised that not a lot of students were choosing to do PhDs. They needed a boost. The credit goes to the Government for realising that to be competitive at the next level and to encourage bright minds to stay here, they had to provide the boost.'

In announcing Massachusetts' US$1 billion investment in biotechnology, Mr Patrick said he hoped the money will help close the federal funding gap and 'bypass' the Bush administration's limits on stem-cell research. But the state-by-state approach supporting the industry that could save millions of lives seems pale in the face of Singapore's plans.

'Singapore is a nation with no mineral resources, no agriculture to speak of,' Mr Rai said. 'We realised that our natural resource was our people. To be in the global economy, we had to invest in people.'

THE BOSTON GLOBE



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THINKING WAY AHEAD

'A lot of places plan their research and development in five-year blocks. Singapore plans for 10 to 15 years out.'
DR WAN