SMU President Professor Arnoud De Meyer commented on Singapore’s plan to invest S$19.1 billion into research and innovation in 2016-20 as it gears towards becoming a knowledge economy and digital ‘smart city’. Prof De Meyer said, “Singapore has achieved the status of a true research-oriented city. So it is positive for the universities. The S$19.1 billion planned for 2016-2020 research is a huge commitment by the government.”
Prof De Meyer added, “For universities it is a very positive thing because with the resources we get, we can attract some of the best minds to come and work with us and build up laboratories. Singapore has become a very interesting environment for top quality researchers to come and work; they see a research environment in which they can explore new things; they can try out new things.”
SMU Provost Professor Lily Kong said, “It is true that with quite generous funding there is a lot of money for good ideas. But it is very competitive and this competition is key to excellence. “You don’t simply get the grant even if funding is available.” Prof Kong noted that at SMU, a number of the projects being funded were already being worked upon but the 2016 announcement by the Government on research and innovation funding “gave it a fillip”.