Dr Chew Tuan Chiong, Chairman of the Singapore Youth Science Festival 2002 Organising Committee

Distinguished Guests

Ladies and Gentlemen

Boys and Girls

The Singapore Youth Science Festival, which is in its 25th year, has brought together, year after year, young participants to stimulate and ignite their minds on the possibilities of Science. I am sure this year’s Festival offers participants another opportunity to pursue your interest in Science, with passion and enthusiasm.

At this time when globalisation is changing the world, it should be obvious to us that Science and Technology will be our key to creating more productive employment in the increasingly competitive market place. We are a small country, with no hinterland, and lacking in natural resources. Although we have done well, in fact exceedingly well, in the past 35 years, our next phase of development will be difficult as other countries, with more endowed advantages, get their act together.

We will therefore need to find a niche for ourselves in this fast-changing globalised world. There are many uncertainties and much debate over the right strategies that we should take as a nation. But what is clear is that the future will favour nations which are best able to innovate, create new knowledge, and upgrade human skills to exploit the economic opportunities that Science and Technology makes available for us. There is no dispute that embracing and harnessing Science and Technology is the way forward for our nation.

In such a world, which has been variously described as a "knowledge-based economy" or an "innovation-driven economy", the key to our success is to equip our people not only with the right skills, but more importantly, with that inquiring mind, the willingness to ask why and why not, and with the bend to take risks.

Science fair projects are an excellent way to prepare our youths to be inquiring, entrepreneurial and competitive. In the course of your science project, participants would have to ask some why and why not questions, think of how best to test out your ideas and hypotheses, and make detailed and scientifically verifiable observations. You will also have to make further investigations and experimentation, before finally coming to some conclusions and deductions, which you can defend.

Whether or not you have made a great discovery or found a new application that has commercial prospects, the process of preparing and engaging in such independent research and experimentation would itself have been an invaluable and enriching experience. You would have had some exposure to the discipline of scientific enquiry, and more importantly, a taste of the passion for finding things out and the thrill of creating new useful applications to benefit others. And you will find these attributes useful not only for you as budding scientists, but also hopefully as would-be entrepreneurs. You would also have had to take a disciplined and yet creative approach towards problem-solving in the course of your project work, which is something useful even in daily life as well.

An event such as this annual Singapore Youth Science Festival therefore plays an important role in stretching individual horizons and in fulfilling national aspirations. For that, we thank those who started the Science Festival 25 years ago. And I commend the organisers - the Singapore Science Centre, the Science Teachers’ Association of Singapore and the Shell Companies in Singapore - for their effort and support in organising this annual Singapore Youth Science Festival.

I am told that this year, the organisers have introduced new and more creative activities in the Festival. They include an island-wide crow survey involving members of the public in a mass data-collection, and the Science Festival Web Quiz in which Primary 6 students are tested on their knowledge of Mathematics and Science through the use of Information Technology.

I must say that I am encouraged to see the enthusiasm and support given by the many principals and teachers present here this morning. You have not only zealously promoted the learning of Science in the classroom, but more importantly, demonstrated your commitment by taking the process a step further by developing the enrichment activities included in this year’s Singapore Youth Science Festival.

Finally, I wish all young participants of this Science Festival a challenging experience and success with their endeavours.

It is with much pleasure that I now declare open the 25th Singapore Youth Science Festival.

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