Mr S Iswaran at the Launch of the Medtech Manufacturing Consortium, 13 Oct 09

OPENING REMARKS BY MR S ISWARAN, SENIOR MINISTER OF STATE FOR TRADE & INDUSTRY AND EDUCATION, AT THE LAUNCH OF THE MEDTECH MANUFACTURING CONSORTIUM ON TUESDAY, 13 OCTOBER, 1030 HRS AT SIMTECH AUDITORIUM

Dr Lim Ser Yong, Executive Director, Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology

Ladies and Gentlemen

Good morning,

Introduction

It is my pleasure to be here this morning to launch the MedTech Manufacturing Consortium spearheaded by the Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology (SIMTech), a research institute of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR).

The MedTech Manufacturing Consortium aims to accelerate growth of the medical technology industry in Singapore. It helps local manufacturers venturing into the medical technology sector to address business needs and overcome technical, market, regulatory and certification challenges. I am pleased to note the strong support and relentless efforts of four government agencies namely EDB, IE Singapore, SPRING Singapore, WDA, as well as two industry associations namely, the Singapore Precision Engineering and Tooling Association (SPETA) and Biomedical Engineering Society (BES) towards this cause.

Growing the Medical Technology Industry in Singapore

The medical technology industry is a new area of growth in the burgeoning biomedical sciences sector in Singapore. It provides an excellent opportunity for the local electronics and precision industries to diversify and expand their businesses. The medical technology industry doubled its manufacturing output from $1.5 billion in 2000 to about $3 billion in 2008. Over the same period, its manpower base also doubled from about 4,000 to more than 8,000 last year. By 2015, the medical technology industry targets to achieve $5 billion in manufacturing output.

Today, Singapore is a global leader in medical technology manufacturing.We account for 10 per cent of the world’s supply of contact lens, half of the world’s thermal cyclers, and more than 50 per cent of the world’s microarray. Just last week, leading global company, Medtronic, opened Asia’s first pacemaker and leads manufacturing facility in Singapore. Medtronic joins more than 25 leading global medical technology companies that have invested in commercial-scale manufacturing plants in Singapore. In addition to manufacturing, leading companies have also set up R&D centres in Singapore to further the innovation drive in Asia. They include PerkinElmer, Hill-Rom and Siemens Medical Instruments. 3M joins our base of medical technology R&D centres when it opened its drug delivery system R&D centre here last week.

The newly formed MedTech Consortium will play an instrumental role to equip participants with the necessary skills-set, knowledge, industry network and technical consultancy.

The Medtech Consortium and Industry: partnering for success

Bringing the various government agencies and industry associations together, the broad challenges faced by the local manufacturing industry are tackled holistically. Members of the MedTech Consortium are also able to access a spectrum of support, available through government agencies, to develop technical competency and business networks. They can tap on A*STAR’s R&D resources and infrastructure, the vibrant medtech eco-system created by EDB, skills and technology transfer framework and incentives from WDA, SPRING Singapore’s technology innovation schemes and export promotion of Made-in-Singapore medical products through IE Singapore. In fact, over the next five years, the industry, SIMTech and WDA will spend $10million on technology and manpower development.

WDA, in collaboration with SIMTech, developed the Precision Engineering Workforce Skills Qualifications (PE WSQ) Graduate Diploma Programme to groom a pool of skilled workers for the industry. This programme aims to equip both existing and new engineers and technicians in the medical technology manufacturing industry with the knowledge and skills in the latest medical device regulations and manufacturing technology. To ensure that the programme is affordable and accessible, WDA will provide funding of up to 90 per cent of the course fees plus absentee payroll support.

The MedTech Manufacturing Consortium is innovative in many aspects. Firstly, it is truly MedTech Singapore Inc, involving government agencies, industry partners, associations, research institutes and academia. Secondly, the business-technology synergy enables members to leverage on the best capabilities and ready-to-market technologies from A*STAR research institutes. Various areas have already been identified for collaboration to enable members to develop medical technology manufacturing capabilities.

With such support, it comes as no surprise that the MedTech Consortium has garnered the interest of 26 organisations. They range from medical technology MNCs to local enterprises, in the industry value chain, and medical academia.Consortium members, ranging from technology providers, product manufacturers to end-users, will benefit from the network as they tap on each other’s strengths to develop strategic direction and technology roadmaps to grow the medical technology industry.

What is notable about the Consortium is that there are 13 SME participants making up 50 per cent of the total membership. This trend clearly demonstrates that SMEs are stepping up efforts to equip themselves with new skills and to innovate for progress.

Members of the consortium can tap on A*STAR’s research institutes in the biomedical sciences, physical sciences and engineering to access a rich pool of scientific resources and expertise to carry out leading-edge R&D in Singapore. There are many success stories from the partnership with the A*STAR research institutes, and companies have received global recognition for their innovative research and medical devices.

Medical Technology Innovation in Singapore

One such instance is SIMTech’s collaboration with Bio-Scaffold International, a Singapore-based biotechnology company. It resulted in the development of a new technology for processing scaffolds using FDA-approved biopolymers. The accolades for the product reflect Singapore's world-class R&D standards which is growing in competitiveness vis a vis industry players in USA, Japan and India.

Conclusion

To capitalise on the growing medical technology industry, I encourage manufacturing companies to join the MedTech Manufacturing Consortium to gain a foothold in this thriving sector. Many local enterprises such as Beyonics Technology, CEI Contract Manufacturing and First Engineering are leveraging on their experience, up-to-date medical technology manufacturing capabilities and well-established production networks in the region to develop products for the medical technology industry. I urge you to take advantage of the level of support and network provided by the Consortium to take your business further and stay ahead of the competition.

It is now my pleasure to formally launch the MedTech Manufacturing Consortium.Thank you.