Mr Lee Yi Shyan at the Opening Ceremony of Edwards Lifesciences’ Heart Valve Manufacturing Plant

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.