Mr S Iswaran at DSI’s 20th Anniversary Dinner

Speech by Mr S Iswaran, Minister, Prime Minister’s Office, Second Minister for Home Affairs and Trade & Industry at DSI’s 20th Anniversary Dinner, Thursday, 1 November 2012, at 7pm at Resorts World Sentosa

Distinguished Guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good Evening.

It is my pleasure to join you at this Gala Dinner to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the Data Storage Institute, or DSI.

Singapore’s Journey in Science & Technology

Singapore’s journey in Science and Technology began in the mid-80s when the Government first identified the need for a national technology policy.  This was articulated by the Economic Committee, set up to pull Singapore out of a deep recession that hit the economy in 1985. There was an impetus to re-invent Singapore’s economy in the face of stiff regional competition in traditional manufacturing sectors.

For this reason, the Singapore government began investing significantly in R&D to enable our industries to shift towards higher value added activities. Our R&D investments have more than tripled the value added by our manufacturing sector over the last two decades. In particular, for the Electronics, Infocomms and Media sector, we have seen public R&D expenditure increased from more than $450 million in 2002 to close to $620 million in 2010.[1] More significantly, this has catalysed private R&D expenditure to increase by more than two-fold in the same period, amounting to $2.31 billion in 2010. The data storage industry is one domain within this sector that has leveraged on R&D to undergo a major transformation, and DSI has been a major contributor leading this effort.

DSI – Innovating Through the Years

Established in 1992, DSI, then known as the Magnetics Technology Centre, undertook R&D in storage manufacturing. This was the boom period, where one in two hard disk drives worldwide was produced in Singapore. As the assembly of hard disk drive components moved to more cost competitive countries due to increasing cost pressures, DSI reinvented itself to innovate and develop new capabilities, enabling Singapore to shift towards higher value-added activities such as hard disk drive design and hard media research.  Singapore, in 2009, was manufacturing eight out of 10 high-end enterprise drives and nearly five out of 10 hard disk media.

Today, DSI has become an internationally recognised pioneer in developing storage technologies, being the first non-US organisation to be invited to join the National Storage Industry Consortium[2], and also win the Information Storage Industry Consortium (INSIC) Award[3]. In the two decades since its founding, DSI has played a pivotal role in enabling data storage companies in Singapore to move up the value chain, creating high-value jobs and refining job skills in the process.

Achievements of the Data Storage Sector and Data Storage Institute

Last year, the value add from the data storage industry to Singapore’s GDP was S$1.7 billion. The industry also employs more than 11,000 workers.[4]

These achievements would not be possible without the strong public-private partnerships with industry players. Singapore’s public research institutions like DSI are the bridges that translate scientific research into concrete outcomes for the economy and society. By structuring its research programmes according to industry relevance, and providing companies with access to new knowledge and cutting-edge technologies, DSI’s expertise in storage system and networking technologies has drawn interest from key industry players such as Hitachi, Micron, Nitto Denko, Seiko, and Western Digital, to establish R&D laboratories in Singapore. This has resulted in successful tie-ups in the form of joint laboratories and research collaborations, with both disk drive manufacturers and drive component makers who are keen to co-develop next generation technologies to sustain their competitive edge.

Beyond the big industry players, DSI is also committed to working with local enterprises. For example, Genetron Singapore, a local SME, has licensed one of DSI’s technologies and further developed it into a new measurement instrument for commercialisation in the hard disk drive industry. This has helped the company make the transition from a trader of measurement and testing equipment to having its own product offering. This is one of the many ways that DSI has helped companies ascend the value chain.

The global data storage industry is rapidly evolving. With the emergence of mobile devices, there has been a sharp rise in digital content creation, a call for greater energy efficiency, in view of the high energy consumption in managing the exponential increase in digital data, as well as enhanced consumer appetite for portable and affordable technology gadgets that are robust enough to perform complex tasks. DSI must continue to explore new frontiers in science and technology to cater to the growing demands of consumers and businesses.

Launch of DSI’s “A-Drive”

In that regard, I am pleased to announce today, the launch of the working prototype of DSI’s next generation 5mm hybrid thin drive, otherwise known as the “A-drive”, which is a potential game changer for the global data storage industry. I have been told that the “A-drive” provides seamless integration of storage and data management and offers top-of-the-line features without incurring high costs. As compared to conventional disk drives, hybrid drives will enable higher performance at lower power consumption.

At the Intel Developer Forum in April this year, Intel Corporation had specifically singled out DSI’s proprietary axial field motor that will enable a 2.5 inch form factor, and called on manufacturers of hard disk drives to raise the bar and meet specifications similar to DSI’s, to better standardise ultra-slim devices for tablets and ultrabooks.  DSI is also studying the integration of the “A-drive” into data centres which will enable more efficient data management and shorten operating speeds, leading to greater savings in operating costs.

With the strong demands from PCs, tablets, smart phones and data centres, the global hard disk drive market is likely to grow by 7.7 per cent in 2012, with a forecasted Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 9.6 per cent for the period between 2011-2016, and potential industry revenue of $50 billion by 2016.[5] I am certain that DSI’s trailblazer development will ride on this wave to create greater impact for our R&D effort and reinforce Singapore’s position as Asia’s innovation capital.

Conclusion

On this note, I would like to once again congratulate DSI for charting data storage R&D in Singapore for the last 20 years. 

Today’s gala dinner is a celebration of not just the achievements of DSI but more importantly, the remarkable partnerships the institute has forged with data storage companies both locally and on the global stage. I hope that these collaborations will go a long way to enable DSI to stay at the forefront of innovation as well as ensure the continued growth and competitiveness of the data storage industry in Singapore. Please join me in congratulating DSI on its 20-year milestone in its voyage of innovation and scientific breakthroughs. 

Thank you.

[1] National Survey of R&D in Singapore, 2002 and 2010

[2] The National Storage Industry Consortium based in the US, or now known as the Information Storage Industry Consortium (INSIC), is an international research consortium which brings together the unique capabilities of industry, academia and government organisations in the development of advanced, pre-competitive data storage technologies. There are currently more than 65 members consisting of industry players such as Seagate, HP, IBM, as well as top universities and research organisations from around the world. 

[3] The INSIC Technical Achievement Award is an annual award which recognises outstanding individuals who have contributed to a specific technical achievement in an INSIC Research Programme. 2 of DSI’s researchers have won this award in 2005 and 2009.

[4]  Source: EDB Economic Survey 2011

[5] IDC Forecasts Hard Disk Drive Industry Will Return to Growth After a Difficult 2011