Singapore

Total R&D spend in Singapore in 2003 was around S$3.4 billion (£1.2 billion), or 2.15% of GDP. Of this, 61% was in the private sector (about S$2 billion) and 39% by government (about S$1 billion). The Agency for Science and Technology Research (A*STAR) directs domestic science and technology policy and research and international policy. The research institutions are allocated a block budget for 5 years, which is given out annually through the Biomedical Research Council (BMRC) and the Science and Engineering Research Council (SERC) who in turn fund twelve national institutes. A*STAR has an International Biomedicial Advisory Council including leading British scientists such as Sir Richard Sykes, Sir George Radda and Dr Colin Blakemore.

Singapore is making a big push into the Biomedical sciences sector. A key priority area is stem cell research. In addition to A*STAR research funding, the Economic Development Board has a large investment fund to support companies. There is also significant infrastructure investment, e.g. the state-of-the-art Biopolis which now houses the research institutes of the Biomedical Research Council, a number of companies and the British High Commission S&T Office.

Singapore suffers from a shortage of local talent. Of its 18,000 research scientists and engineers, many are from overseas, mainly India and China. 80% of postgraduates research students are from overseas. It has devoted significant resources to luring world class talent, sometimes relocating whole teams to Singapore with the lure of large research funding. In addition it is providing significant funding to train its own population. A*STAR has a ten-year target, set in 2001, of achieving 1000 Singaporean PhDs, of which 550 are so far in the programme.

On 4 July 2005 the Prime Minister Tony Blair and Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong signed a joint statement on science, engineering and technology establishing a long-term UK-Singapore Partners in Science Initiative. The statement included the announcement of an initiative to encourage scientific collaboration and networks, with stem cell research as one of the main priority areas. Under the initiative a networking event on stem cell research will be held in 2006.

The initiative builds on previous successful UK-Singapore stem cell events. A UK-Singapore Stem Cell workshop was held at Imperial College London in June 2004. Dame Julia Polak of Imperial College led the workshop. Dr Steve Ho of the Bioprocessing Technology Institute and a recognised expert in this field led the Singaporean team. Researchers from several UK institutions met with researchers from Singapore's Agency for Science Technology and Research (A*STAR) institutes and the National University of Singapore.

In September 2004 a DTI-funded Global Watch Mission of stem cell experts, led by Dr Jack Price of King's College London, visited Singapore to benchmark the UK's stem cell research activity and ethical climate against that in Singapore. The Mission concluded that researchers in Singapore are as talented as their UK counterparts and that the challenge to Western pre-eminence in stem cell science from Singapore is real. The mission also pointed out that there is strong infrastructure support and significant funding available for those academics and businesses willing to undertake research or establish business operations in Singapore. The Mission's main conclusions about Singapore are at Annex A.

As a result of the mission and workshop several UK-Singapore collaborations have already been established and or are under discussion.

Stem Cell research is a priority for Singapore. A number of institutes under the Biomedcial Research Council, most notably the Genome Institute of Singapore, the Bioprocessing Technology Institute and the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology have research groups focussed in this area. In addition the Centre for Molecular Medicine is undertaking a major research programme on regenerative medicine. A number of companies are also active in this area including ES Cell International, founded by world leading stem cell researcher Prof. Arriff Bongso, and now led by Dr Alan Colman previously research director of PPL Therapeutics. Many of these companies have significant investment from the Singapore government.

Expenditure on stem cell research in Singapore is estimated at S$40-45m a year (£13-15m) (approx. S$15m (£5m) a year in the public sector and S$25-30m (£8-10m) in the private sector). The BMRC and the US Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International (JDRF) have jointly established a S$5.2m (£1.7m) funding programme to support stem cell research in Singapore. The first call in 2004 awarded funding of S$3m (£1m) to seven projects. In addition there are significant activities funded by the BMRC in its own research institutes and elsewhere (e.g. around 10% of its extra mural projects were funded in its BMRC were for stem cell research). The BMRC are currently considering whether more resources should be devoted to stem cell research.

Singapore is also attracting major stem cell conferences. A stem cell research and commercial applications conference was held in March 2005. In October 2005 Singapore will be hosting a Keystone Symposium - the first to be held outside North America - on Stem Cells, Senescence and Cancer. Speakers from the US dominate this conference.

In December 2000, the Cabinet appointed the Bioethics Advisory Committee to address the potential ethical, legal and social issues arising from biomedical sciences research in Singapore. The Committee is charged to ensure that Singapore's decisions regarding the biomedical sciences and research are solidly based on good science and high ethical and legal standards. It actively gathers information and views from the international and local community, and after careful deliberation, the BAC make its recommendations to the Life Sciences Ministerial Committee.

The BAC has three subcommittee's including one on Human Stem Cell Research. The BAC issued a report on Stem Cell Research in 2002, in which the BAC expressed its support for embryonic stem cell research. It was on the basis of this report (which was strongly influenced by the UK system) and following public consultation that on 2 September 2004 the Singapore Parliament passed the Human Cloning and Other Prohibited Practices Act. This act prohibits reproductive cloning, the import and export of cloned embryos, eggs or sperm. It also forbids the culture of human embryos outside the body of a woman for more than 14 days. The legislation allows research on human embryos, including those created by therapeutic cloning, provided the embryo is grown for no more than 14 days. The derivation of human embryonic stem cells is therefore permitted.

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copyright: © | last updated 24 November 2005