SPEECH BY MR LIM HNG KIANG, MINISTER FOR TRADE AND INDUSTRY AT THE LAUNCH OF THE MEDTECH HUB, THURSDAY 12 APRIL 2012, 10.15AM, MEDTECH HUB SITE, TUKANG INNOVATION PARK

Mr Manohar Khiatani, CEO of JTC 

Distinguished Guests

Ladies and Gentlemen

Good morning. I am pleased to join you here today at the launch of the MedTech Hub, Singapore’s first dedicated development for the medical technology industry, or medtech, in short.

The medtech sector has seen revolutionary advances in science and technology. Today, we have more than half a million different medical devices and technologies to enhance healthcare services and serve mankind. Medtech plays a critical role in our modern society, as it provides us with solutions to complex medical challenges that would never have been possible some decades ago.

Bright Outlook for Global MedTech Industry

Over the years, the global medtech industry has been growing rapidly. It is expected to grow at a rate of some 10 per cent per annum[1]. Today, the global medtech industry accounts for approximately S$423 billion in annual revenues.[2]

Across the various regions in the world, Asia Pacific is the fastest growing medtech market, and it is expected to account for a quarter of the global market share by this year[3]. An ageing population, a prevalence of chronic diseases and the growing affluence of its middle class have collectively led to an increase in demand for high quality medtech products. This naturally presents tremendous opportunities for global medtech companies to extend their presence here in Asia and address the healthcare needs of everyone here in this region. 

Against this backdrop, Singapore is therefore well positioned to harness the growth opportunities. Our medtech sector has witnessed significant growth over the past decade. In year 2000, the manufacturing output stood at only S$1.5 billion. Last year, this almost tripled to S$4.3 billion[4].

Today, medtech companies in Singapore manufacture a diverse range of products, from pacemakers to heart valves, and from hearing aids to contact lenses. These companies provide some 9,000 jobs, which is more than 60 percent of the total number of jobs in the biomedical sciences cluster[5]. We also have leading global medtech companies, such as Medtronic, Baxter Healthcare, Hoya Surgical Optics and Edwards LifeSciences located here in Singapore. These companies undertake a wide range of activities, from product innovation to manufacturing and performing their global headquarter operations here.

The presence of these companies here has benefitted our small and medium enterprises (SMEs), who supply goods and services to them. SPRING Singapore has been helping our SMEs upgrade so they can better support these multinational companies. For example, SMEs like PWG and Biomedical Research and Support Services, or BRASS, provide contract research activities. These complement the needs of MNCs. Our SMEs also help the research institutions provide a full cluster of services.

Investing in Infrastructure to Help MedTech Companies

Notwithstanding our success in attracting these companies to Singapore, we recognise the competition for medtech investments will become more intense. Singapore has many areas of strengths that are sought after by investors. These include our qualified manpower, excellent connectivity to key Asian markets, our transparency in doing business and strong intellectual property protection, all of which are crucial attributes for knowledge-intensive industries like medtech.

However, we have our challenges to overcome as well. As a country without natural resources and with limited land, we have to continuously try to optimise our land use and drive our various industry sectors to embark on higher value-added activities. To nurture and promote high-value growth clusters such as medtech, JTC plays the role of an industrial infrastructure developer and innovator so as to provide specialised solutions that differentiate Singapore from other locations.

One of these solutions is to cluster companies within the same industry sector in a specific area. JTC has identified several potential sectors for this approach, and medtech is one of them. Consolidating the activities and common facilities needed by the companies within a dedicated hub helps to optimise our resources as well as our land utilisation. It also creates synergies and collaboration opportunities among the companies. We believe this will eventually lead to an overall improved competitiveness and enhanced attractiveness of the sector in Singapore.

MedTech Hub is the latest of JTC’s specialised infrastructure projects, following what we have done in Seletar Aerospace Park, in CleanTech Park and in the Offshore Marine Centre. It is the first specially built facility for the medtech industry in Singapore and is set to host an integrated ecosystem of both local as well as international medtech companies, involving medtech manufacturers, suppliers and service providers, and providing things such as shared utilities.

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I am very happy to note that the response to the MedTech Hub has been very encouraging. We are pleased to announce that Biosensors International Group will be the first medtech company to set up their operations here. More than 10 other companies, local as well as foreign, have also expressed interest to take up space within the MedTech 1 facility that JTC will be building. This is a strong endorsement of the concept and the value proposition that the MedTech Hub offers.

Other Efforts in Growing Singapore’s MedTech Industry

Apart from attracting medtech companies to site their operations in the MedTech Hub, the Government is also taking steps to produce a more conducive environment for our home-grown medtech start-ups. Recently, we launched the S$40 million Biomedical Sciences Accelerator (BSA) Programme. SPRING Seeds Capital[6] will be working with a local company, Clearbridge Accelerator,[7] to co-fund the programme as well as to identify, invest and grow young medtech companies to help bring their innovative ideas and technologies to the market. Through this programme, we want to nurture a comprehensive pool of talents and businesses that will enhance Singapore’s competitiveness in the global market.

Building on our core capabilities and our requisite talent base to fuel the companies’ innovation and growth is also pivotal to meeting the demands of the expanding medtech industry. To this end, A*STAR, EDB and Stanford University embarked on the Singapore-Stanford Biodesign, or SSB Programme, in short. This one-year programme aims to groom medtech innovators and leaders by having them work in multi-disciplinary teams to develop viable solutions for identified healthcare needs in Asia. We saw the first batch of Fellows graduating last December, and I am heartened to note that there have already been enquiries from the industry to hire the SSB Fellows.

Conclusion

The Government is optimistic about the long-term growth prospects of the medtech industry. To this end, we are committed to further grow the industry and establish Singapore as the choice investment location for both foreign and local medtech companies. We will also continue to enhance our manufacturing research to chart new frontiers in innovation and develop the talent that is needed to create a thriving medtech industry.

Let me once again thank Biosensors for making MedTech Hub your home. I also wish to thank all our other partners from the medtech industry for their support and wish them every success in this sector. I’m confident that the collaboration will bring Singapore’s medtech industry to even higher levels. Thank you.