SPEECH BY MR LEE YI SHYAN MINSTER OF STATE FOR TRADE
& INDUSTRY AT THE OPENING CEREMONY OF EDWARD LIFESCIENCES
SINGAPORE HEART VALVE MANUFACTURING PLANT ON 22 MAY 2008 AT 10.15
AM
Your Excellency, Patricia Herbold, U.S. Ambassador to
Singapore
Mr Donald BoBo Jr., Corporate Vice President, Heart Valve
Therapy, Edwards
Lifesciences
Distinguished Guests, Ladies
and Gentlemen
Introduction
Good morning. It gives me great pleasure to join
you today for the opening ceremony of Edwards Lifesciences’ Heart
Valve Manufacturing Plant.
We are honoured that Edwards, a global leader in
heart valve therapies, has chosen Singapore for its new Asia
Pacific Headquarters and its first Asian heart valve therapy
manufacturing plant.Clearly, your decisions underscore the
confidence you have in what Singapore can offer, in terms of
technology infrastructure, skilled manpower, advance logistics and
global connectivity.
Medical Technology as a growth
sector
The MedTech sector is a rapidly growing sector in
Singapore. It registered strong growth in both manufacturing output
and value-add of 18% and 15% respectively in 2007, and accounting
for over 7,300 jobs in
total.
We are committed for the MedTech sector to
continue to grow in Singapore over the long term. EDB is targeting
to double Singapore’s MedTech manufacturing output from $2.6
billion last year to $5 billion by 2015.
Dedicating resources to support MedTech manufacturing
investments
To meet these ambitious
targets, we will adopt a two-prong strategy to further strengthen
Singapore’s MedTech
cluster.
Firstly, we will continue to
invest in human capital and enhance physical infrastructure.
For example, we worked with the
industry and the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) to develop
a customized program to train technicians specifically for the
MedTech sector.ITE and EDB are also working closely with key
MedTech companies in Singapore, such as Edwards, to ensure that the
curriculum evolves along with their needs in the
future.
Singapore as
a resource base for MedTech
innovation
Secondly, we want to develop Singapore as a centre
for Medical Technology innovation in Asia.Besides attracting
scientific talent from around the world, and building up critical
basic research capabilities in Singapore, we foster innovation by
supporting entrepreneurship and commercialization efforts.
With this in mind, EDB launched the Biomedical
Sciences Proof-of-Concept Scheme (POC) in late 2003 to support
public sector researchers with promising ideas for new products and
treatments.Supportable projects receive funding of up to $200,000
to demonstrate the validity or commercial value of their
technology. 40 POC projects have been awarded to date.
To further encourage and support innovation, and
help catalyse the formation of technology enterprises in Singapore,
SPRING recently announced the $50-million Technology Enterprise
Commercialisation Scheme (TECS) to help companies convert their
ideas into promising businesses. I see this as a bold step to
challenge our local companies to pursue breakthrough
innovations.
Conclusion
In closing, I would like to extend my heartiest
congratulations to the management and staff of Edwards on the
official opening of your Heart Valve Manufacturing Plant.I
understand that this year also marks the 50th
anniversary for Edwards as a company. Happy 50th
Birthday!I am confident that this milestone will mark the beginning
of a long and enduring partnership between Edwards and Singapore.I
wish you every success. Thank you.