SPEECH BY MINISTER-OF-STATE (T&I) LEE YI SHYAN AT THE
OPENING CEREMONY OF ROHDE & SCHWARZ ASIA PACIFIC
HEADQUARTERS AT
CHANGIBUSINESSPARK CENTRAL 2 ON FRIDAY, 18 APRIL 2008 AT 11:15AM
Mr Michael
Vohrer
President and CEO, Rohde & Schwarz GmbH & Co
Dr Erich Freund
Chairman
Rohde & Schwarz Asia
Pacific
Mr Lim
Boon Huat
Managing Director Rohde &
Schwarz Systems & Communications Asia Pte Ltd
Distinguished
Guests
Ladies and
Gentlemen
Good
morning
Introduction
It is my great pleasure to
be here today to officiate the opening of the Rohde & Schwarz
Asia Pacific Headquarters in conjunction with its 75th
anniversary
celebrations.
In 1997, Rohde & Schwarz
established its first footprint outside of Germany in Singapore.
From a technical support centre, Rohde & Schwarz has expanded
its activities in Singapore to include Regional Headquarters and
R&D activities.We thank Rohde & Schwarz for its confidence
in
Singapore.
Rohde & Schwarz has a long
history of emphasising innovation and excellence, which are the
values we embrace too.Since your founding in 1933, you have
transformed yourself to become a leading
supplier of solutions in the fields of test and measurement,
broadcasting and radio communications
technology.
Likewise, Singapore is continuing to
reinvent and transform itself to stay ahead of the global
competition. This is also the reason why we are investing heavily
in our R&D
infrastructure.
Singapore – The technology hub of
Asia
Singapore aims to increase our R&D expenditure to 3% of GDP
by 2010, or $7.5 billion per annum, with two-thirds of this being
privately funded research. By doing so, we hope to be an attractive
hub for companies to
base their manufacturing and R&D
centre.
Recently,
Oerlikon a world-leading supplier of equipment for making solar
cells, based in Switzerland, has chosen Singapore as the location
for its Asian hub for manufacturing and R&D. This project is
Oerlikon’s first facility in Asia that will develop, assemble and
test its advanced solar cell
equipment.
On
the public front, A*STAR oversees a 3,000-man research community in
14 research institutions. A*STAR has forged many successful
partnerships with renowned universities and R&D organizations
across 25 countries over the last 5
years.
For
instance, EADS, a global leader in aerospace and defence, has
recently signed a partnership agreement with A*STAR to investigate
and develop research projects in aerospace
technologies.
To encourage more start-up enterprises to
undertake R&D activities, we introduced three broad-based tax
incentives in our national budget this year.Firstly, an R&D
Incentive for Start-Up Enterprises to allow qualifying start-ups to
convert their losses into a cash grant of up to $20,000. Secondly,
an R&D tax allowance of up to 50% of the first $300,000 of
company’s chargeable income. Thirdly, an enhanced deduction of
R&D expenses from 100% to
150%.
Singapore’s
Commitment to Continual Development of Manpower Skills and
Capabilities
R&D operations required
well-trained manpower. As we attract such high-value
projects to Singapore, we continue to invest in developing local
talent to meet industry
requirements.
Last year, we introduced several manpower
initiatives including the Wafer Fabrication Specialist Manpower
Programme, which funds the training of semiconductor engineers in
tertiary institutions; the Precision Engineering Manpower
Initiative, which funds precision engineering training at local
polytechnics and institutes of technical education; and the Clean
Energy Scholarship, which grooms future leaders for the local
sector by sponsoring their postgraduate studies here and abroad. At
$65 million, these three programmes aim to train over 2000 skilled
manpower over the next three
years.
I am therefore delighted to learn
that Rohde & Schwarz has launched an annual scholarship
programme with NanyangTechnologicalUniversity and National
University of Singapore. The programme will fully fund a scholar
from each university to undertake a one-year Masters programme in
Engineering at the Technical
University Munchen,
Germany.
Rohde & Schwarz has also invited students from our
local universities to participate in their annual engineering
competition. The winning team from Singapore would compete in
Munich with their counterparts from Germany in June 2008.
Conclusion
I thank Rohde & Schwarz for your trust and
confidence in Singapore. My heartfelt congratulations again to the
management and staff of Rohde & Schwarz on the opening ceremony
of its Asia Pacific Headquarters and celebrations of 75 years of
success.I wish you many more good years ahead and look forward to a
long and fruitful partnership.
Thank you.