International panel of industry and research experts meets to review Singapore’s progress in the environment and water industry and discuss recommendations for growth.

The International Advisory Panel (IAP) to the Environment and Water Technologies (EWT) Executive Committee will convene its third annual meeting in Singapore from 27 to 28 June 2008, during the inaugural Singapore International Water Week.  

2          During the meeting, the IAP will review the progress made over the past years to grow Singapore’s environment and water industry, and make recommendations on the plans by the Environment and Water Industry Development Council (EWI) to further develop Singapore as a Global Hub for Environmental Sustainability.

3          The IAP meeting is co-chaired by Lord Ronald Oxburgh, Deputy Chairman of the Science and Engineering Research Council Board, A*STAR, and Mr Tan Gee Paw, Chairman PUB. Leading experts from the water industry and academia form the rest of the Panel. (Please refer to Annex A for the full list of members).

4          At the two-day meeting, Panel members will also be updated on EWI’s efforts in promoting strategic environment and water technologies (EWT) research and development in Singapore and the progress of EWI’s various technology development schemes, such as R&D projects funded under the flagship Environment and Water Research Programme (EWRP).  

5          In addition, researchers from the National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University will brief the Panel on the recent environment and water initiatives undertaken in the universities. These include the newly established NUS Environment Research Institute (NERI) and Nanyang Environment and Water Research Institute (NEWRI), both of which host a number of EWT Centres of Excellence with renowned faculty and niche expertise, including the Singapore Membrane Technology Centre, DHI-NTU Centre of Excellence and Singapore-Delft Water Alliance.

6          The meeting will round up with deliberations on EWI’s plans to position Singapore as a global hub for environmental sustainability, and discuss emerging technologies and opportunities in the environment and water industry.

About the Environment and Water Industry Development Council

The Environment and Water Industry Development Council (EWI) was set up in May 2006 under the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources (MEWR) to spearhead the development of the environment and water industry in Singapore and position Singapore as a Global Hydrohub.  It is guided by the Environmental and Water Technologies (EWT) Steering Committee, chaired by Dr Tony Tan, Chairman of National Research Foundation, and the EWT Executive Committee, co-chaired by the Permanent Secretaries of MEWR and Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI).

Using R&D as the key driver, EWI targets to increase the value-added[1] (VA) contribution from the water sector to $1.7 billion by 2015.  Jobs for this sector are expected to double to about 11,000 by 2015.

~The End~

For media enquiries, please call:

Ms Tristin Ong, Senior Corporate Communications Executive

Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources

Tel:  6731 9025 or email:  tristin_ong@mewr.gov.sg

Annex A

MEMBERS OF THE EWT INTERNATIONAL ADVISORY PANEL

Co-Chairs

Lord Ronald Oxburgh

Deputy Chairman, SERC, A*Star

Mr Tan Gee Paw

Chairman, PUB

Members

Dr Andrew Benedek, Chairman and CEO, Benedek Inc.

Dr Glen Daigger, Senior Vice President, CH2M Hill

Prof Jorg Imberger, Professor, Environmental Engineering, Centre for Water Research, University of Western Australia

Dr Yasuo Ninomiya, Director-Board Member and CTO, Nitto Denko

Dr Rengarajan Ramesh, Advanced Programs Leader, GE Infrastructure, Water & Process Technologies

Prof Alexander Zehnder, Alberta Water Research Institute

Mr Joseph Zuback, Chief Technology Officer & Senior Vice President, Siemens (I&S division), Siemens Water Technologies