$400 million to spearhead R&D in urban sustainability
Minister for National Development’s R&D Awards also conferred for the first time at inaugural Urban Sustainability R&D Congress
Singapore, Monday, 27 June 2011 – The Government held its first ever Urban Sustainability Research and Development (R&D) Congress today and announced that $400 million would be committed to support R&D efforts in this area.
2. Eight hundred participants from government agencies, research institutes and private sector companies, will convene at the Biopolis today and tomorrow for the inaugural Congress. They will discuss R&D responses to national urban sustainability challenges and to collaborate on projects in “living labs” such as Punggol Eco-town, CleanTech Park, Jurong Lake District, and Marina Bay. This is the first attempt at bringing together multiple stakeholders to articulate and coordinate key national challenges in urban sustainability.
2 Minister of State for National Development and Manpower, Mr Tan Chuan-Jin, who was the Guest of Honour at the Opening Ceremony, said, “Like many other cities in the world, we will need to grapple with fresh challenges, from climate change, competition for resources and opportunities from megacities, changing demographics, and growing demands on urban services. How can we continue to grow and meet the rising expectations of our people when resources are becoming increasingly scarcer and land constraints are becoming tighter? The next chapter of the Singapore Story must be about us confronting these challenges with the same human ingenuity as we did before. I think Singapore has to blaze this trail to find our own innovative solutions. R&D, which this Congress seeks to foster, will be key to helping us solve this innovation challenge. The theme for this inaugural R&D Congress ‘Collaborate, Integrate, Innovate’ is significant because it encapsulates how we will need to approach R&D in this area.”
$300 million to drive Energy Resilience for Sustainable Growth
3. In September last year, the National Research Foundation (NRF) announced that $1 billion would be earmarked for National Innovation Challenges (NICs). For the first NIC on building “Energy Resilience for Sustainable Growth”, MOS Tan announced today that $300 million will be set aside. The aim is to develop cost-competitive energy solutions for deployment within 20 years, so that Singapore can improve energy efficiency, reduce carbon emissions and increase energy options.
Additional funding of $50 million to address urban sustainability challenges
4. The Ministry of National Development will be topping up the MND Research Fund with an additional $50 million to bring the Ministry’s total commitment to $100 million. The funding will support research to cover other aspects of urban sustainability, beyond energy. During the Congress, government agencies will discuss the preliminary roadmap of R&D priorities in Green Building and Sustainable Urban Living with delegates from the academic and private sectors. The finalised roadmaps will then guide the Call-for-Proposals by government agencies.
$50 million towards developing food supply resilience and sustainability
5. NRF has set aside $50 million under its Competitive Research Programme (CRP) Call on “Meeting Future Food Demands for Singapore”. Proposals are currently underevaluation, and are expected to contribute to the sustainability of Singapore’s future food supply. This will complement MND’s current $10 million Food Fund to enhance food supply resilience.
Inaugural ‘Minister for National Development’s R&D Award’
6. At the Congress, MOS Tan also presented the Minister for National Development’s R&D Awards to three MND Statutory Boards to recognise and support technological innovations within the MND Family. The Housing & Development Board’s (HDB) Treelodge@Punggol and BCA’s Zero Energy Building are the Distinguished Award winners. The Vertical Farming project helmed by the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) won the Merit Award.
R&D Collaborations to meet Key Challenges
7. The challenge of urban sustainability is multi-faceted and complex.Professor Peter Newman,Professor of Sustainability at Curtin University of Technology, one of the keynote plenary speakers said, “The world is in a race against time as it tries to wean itself off fossil fuels before climate change and peak oil wreck our economies. Cities are the engines which must bear the brunt of the required changes. Research must focus on reducing urban footprints whilst continuing to provide social and economic opportunity. This is the historic calling of urban sustainability researchers. Most of all they need opportunities to demonstrate how to do this. Besides providing a national platform, the Congress aims to foster collaboration between stakeholders, which is important so that our achievements can be more than the sum of our parts.“
8. For more information, please visit http://www.urbansustainability.sg
Issued by: The Ministry of National Development
Date: 27 June 2011
Urban Sustainability R&D Congress
The biennial Urban Sustainability R&D Congress is a new national platform for government agencies to engage researchers and industry on urban sustainability challenges and R&D opportunities. The Guest-of-Honour is Mr Tan Chuan-Jin, Minister of State for National Development and Manpower.
The Congress is initiated by the Ministry of National Development and co-organised with 11 other government agencies, namely, the National Research Foundation, Agency for Science, Technology and Research, Economic Development Board, JTC Corporation, Centre for Liveable Cities, Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority, Building and Construction Authority, Housing and Development Board, Land Transport Authority, National Parks Board, and Urban Redevelopment Authority. Agencies will share national priorities in sustainable urban living, urban mobility, green building, urban ecology and food, and present opportunities in “living lab” projects such as Punggol Eco-town, CleanTech Park, Jurong Lake District and Marina Bay.
Over 800 participants are expected to attend the inaugural Congress on 27 and 28 June 2011 at the Biopolis, which will feature more than 50 international and local experts.
Ministry of National Development (MND)
Established in 1959, the Ministry of National Development (MND) is the key government ministry responsible for national land use and development planning.
We guide Singapore’s land use planning, urban redevelopment and building conservation, deliver affordable and quality public housing solutions, develop an efficient construction industry to ensure a safe, quality and sustainable built environment, provide and manage parks, open spaces and the conservation of nature areas, maintain a high standard of primary food safety and animal and plant health, as well as protect consumer interest by raising the professionalism in the real estate agent industry.
The MND’s vision for Singapore is “An Endearing Home and a Distinctive Global City”. In MND, we aim to achieve this by developing world-class infrastructure, creating a vibrant and sustainable living environment and building rooted and cohesive communities.
Together with our statutory boards, namely, the Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority (AVA), the Building and Construction Authority (BCA), the Council for Estate Agencies (CEA), the Housing & Development Board (HDB), the National Parks Board (NParks), and the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), the Ministry continues to provide the best home for Singaporeans and all those who come to Singapore.
The National Research Foundation (NRF)
The National Research Foundation (NRF), set up on 1 January 2006, is a department within the Prime Minister's Office. The NRF sets the national direction for research and development (R&D) by developing policies, plans and strategies for research, innovation and enterprise, funds strategic initiatives, builds up R&D capabilities and capacities through nurturing our own and attracting foreign talent, and coordinates the research agenda of different agencies to transform Singapore into a knowledge-intensive, innovative and entrepreneurial economy. It provides secretariat support to the Research, Innovation and Enterprise Council (RIEC), chaired by the Prime Minister. A five-year budget of S$5 billion has been allocated to the NRF in 2006 to achieve this mission.
The NRF aims to:
• Transform Singapore into a vibrant R&D hub that contributes towards a
knowledge-intensive, innovative and entrepreneurial economy; and
• Make Singapore a talent magnet for scientific and innovation excellence.
