21 November 2018, 13:33
Singapore is recognized as one of the East Asian Tigers for the rapid economic leap to the level of developed countries. Favorable investment climate, competitive environment, leading positions in the economic freedom ratings, highly educated and disciplined population, greatly increased level of welfare — these advantages of the economy turned Singapore into the financial and commercial center of Southeast Asia.
Singapore gained independence from the Federation of Malaysia against the background of chaos and inter-ethnic clashes in 1965, not only without resistance from the latter, but on its own initiative.
The father of Singapore’s current prime minister, Lee Kuan Yew, led the island in 1959–1990. At that time, the island was a small poor territory, importing even drinking water and building sand.
By the time the politician left this post, Singapore had become an entrepreneurial harbor, the traditional leader of the world's leading ratings, one of the Four Asian Tigers, the East Asian Tigers, Asia's Four Little Dragons — along with South Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Lee Kuan Yew admitted that Singapore could not afford to live like the neighboring countries, because it did not have anything to oppose them — the young state needed to change, to figure out how to produce something more valuable than what the neighbors could offer. It is this approach, according to the politician, that made Singaporeans incorruptible, effective, and created conditions in which decent people thrive.
Lee Kuan Yew characterized himself and his comrades as a group of bourgeois English-educated leaders.
An important contribution to prosperity was the formation of a national identity among the fragmented multicultural population.
At various times, government campaigns were aimed at cleanliness of the environment, family planning, possession of Western manners and communication in Putonghua (Chinese language, the language of modern Chinese socio-political, scientific and fiction books) — to create a cohesive and civilized society.
Singapore has 5.64 million inhabitants, of which 1.64 million are non-residents. Every year the country issues citizenship from 15 to 25 thousand people. In terms of ethnic composition, more than 70% are Chinese, 13% are Malays, 9% are Indians, 3% are Eurasians and Asians of various origins. There are four state languages in the country: Chinese, Tamil, Malay and English. Experts agree that the country managed to form a single community of the Singaporean people.
At the present stage, strategic plans suggest that Singapore is turning into a Smart Nation, where citizens lead meaningful and fulfilling lives, digital technologies lead to stronger ties with the community, where there are many opportunities to contribute to a common future.
The country's people start the new era through the Smart Nation government initiative, whose mission is to simplify life with a high population density, introduce innovative technological systems to solve urban problems.
First of all, the program specialists are engaged in solving the problems of housing, health care, and the transport network, for which they turn Singapore into a platform for testing various innovations.
For example, these are smart cars, telemedicine projects and medical robots, sensors that monitor the consumption of electricity and water and help them to optimize, a vacuum waste management system and solar electric panels.
To attract the private sector in 2017, $1.7 billion was allocated to contracts with individuals, small businesses and start-ups to develop applications for Smart Nation. It is about creating technologies in the field of data analysis, as well as infrastructure that will connect sensors to data centers.
As for the order in the media sphere, Lee Kuan Yew positioned them as tools for conveying ideas of national construction, honest reflection of facts and events, but should not conduct political campaigns, including agitations.
For the formation of a healthy population, the theory of pushing was expressed in the Healthy Dining Board Health Promotion program — these are grants for food and beverage vendors who are ready to offer their customers healthier options of familiar dishes.
Singapore's anti-corruption policy is a symbiosis of what is understandable for the implementation of legislation, stringent requirements, inevitability of punishment and significant incentives.
The current Prime Minister stressed that the problem of corruption cannot be solved simply by raising the salaries of officials — the state administration system should be transparent, and the freedom of choice of an official should be limited.
The politician believed that the key to zero tolerance is social education, that is, when someone makes an illegal offer, he should understand that the addressee will report this to the police rather than take the illegal path. According to him, it was this strategy that helped Singapore to defeat the ever-increasing corruption.
In Singapore, in order to fight corruption, decision-making procedures were simplified as much as possible and many licenses were canceled, that is, the principle of clarity of the law was introduced.
Salaries for the public sector were also significantly increased, where ministers began to receive two-thirds of the salaries of the six highest-paid top managers in the private sector, and the remuneration of top officials was tied to the country's development results (complex formulas for calculating bonuses take into account the dynamics of the country in various ratings).
As part of reforming the judiciary, not only were salaries dramatically increased, but the best private lawyers were involved, who then became judges.
The oldest son of the founder of Singapore. Born February 10, 1952. Graduated with honors from a Catholic school in Singapore, the mathematics department of Trinity College in Cambridge (graduated with 50% more top scores than the next student — there was no such gap in the entire history of the faculty) and earned a Master of Public Administration at Harvard. He speaks four languages, at the request of his father studied the Russian language and culture — Lee Kuan Yew considered it important to develop cooperation with Russia and its Far Eastern territories.
About the politician it is written that he has received high positions not as a result of his father’s influence — in every field he strived and achieved high results himself.
Lee Hsien Loong took an army training course at a command and staff college in Fort Leavenworth (USA), and his career in military ended in 1984 as an army brigade general, the youngest in the history of the Singapore army.
In 1984, he became a deputy from the People’s Action Party, and then in different years led the youth wing of the party and was its secretary general.
The People’s Action Party has been in power since Singapore gained independence. In September 2015, regular parliamentary elections were held in the country, at which the PAP traditionally won, receiving 83 out of 89 seats in parliament.
In the civil service, he served as Minister of Commerce and Industry, Second Minister of Defense, Deputy Prime Minister, where he oversaw the Ministry of Commerce and Defense, Chairman of the Monetary and Financial Department of Singapore during the 1998 regional financial crisis, and Minister of Finance, where he managed the crisis situation in the country’s economy and worked out a program for financial market liberalization.
World Competitiveness Ranking
In October 2018, Singapore became the second of 140 countries, behind the United States and overtaking Germany, in the Global Competitiveness Ranking by the World Economic Forum. Singapore has traditionally shown the best results in the subindexes — the first places in infrastructure, health care, and the consumer market.
Kazakhstan in this ranking is on the 59th place with the best result in the subindexes — 37th place in business dynamism.
Doing Business and Entrepreneurship
In the Ease of Doing Business, Singapore ranked 2nd out of 190, giving way to New Zealand and overtaking Denmark.
The best subindexes — first place for securing contracts, the worst — 45th place in International Trade.
Kazakhstan in this rating has risen from 36th to 28th place. The best subindex — first place for the Protection of Minority Investors, the worst — the same as that of Singapore, that is, International Trade, but 100th place.
At the current stage, Singapore voiced the call — the country, being a leader in entrepreneurship in terms of regulation, is waiting for deeper international integration, as well as openness of the entrepreneurs themselves.
The Prime Minister at the November ASEAN Business and Investment Summit complained that business does not always support opening up domestic markets to foreign competition. And this is despite the fact that ASEAN members have become more developed precisely because of the deepening of economic ties.
Examples of the benefits of deep connections in ASEAN are all sorts of transactions, and the ASEAN Single Window principle for traders to reduce their costs and speed up cargo clearance, and an agreement to facilitate cross-border e-commerce.
So, although the regional bloc has reduced tariffs, but non-tariff measures and barriers have increased. For example, in the agro-industrial complex it is product labeling, halal product certification, pre-market product registration, and import and export certification.
The Singapore authorities are promoting the promise that reducing regulatory measures is not only beneficial for foreign competitors — unilateral reforms in some ASEAN countries are good for local businesses.
For example, trade facilitation and customs improvement can help smaller and medium-sized enterprises in the region to benefit from e-commerce and export.
Singapore, together with Australia and Japan, is promoting new rules of electronic commerce in the WTO, which ensure its openness and reliability.
Economic Growth: Benefits and Risks
According to the Singapore Ministry of Commerce and Industry, for the first three quarters of 2018, the Singapore economy increased by 3.8% compared to the same period 2017, which is the best nine-month indicator since 2013. This explains why the Singapore financial regulator (Monetary Authority of Singapore) believes that largely evolved.
October 12, the Singapore authorities, for the second time in a year, moderately tightened monetary policy, announcing the Singapore dollar price rise.
The Central Bank of Singapore does not use a key rate increase to control its monetary policy; instead, it changes exchange rates.
However, if we talk only about the results of the third quarter, then the economy grew by 2.6% on an annualized basis, and this is slower compared to the fourth quarter indicator of 4.1%.
The manufacturing sector showed 4.5%, also slowing down from 10.6%. The construction sector declined by 3.1% altogether, only slowing down the decline compared with minus 4.2% in the previous quarter.
A fifth of GDP is provided by the production base, which is a significant share for a city better known for tourism and the service industry.
That is why, while remaining an attractive place for advanced production in areas such as IT and biomedicine, Singapore is struggling to sustain industry growth.
Singapore is very attractive due to the simplicity of doing business, the reputation of a convenient place to live and incentives — from tax incentives to step-by-step support for investors, including from the Economic Development Board.
In 2017, in a regular application for attracting foreign companies, Singapore proposed a reduction in corporate tax to 5% of the income from intellectual property obtained as a result of Research and Development.
As a result, Singapore is a regional base of advanced production and research and development for major companies, including Philips, GlaxoSmithKline, ABB and Siemens.
Singapore's Research Environment: Symbiosis and Translation
Against the background of new challenges and the need to retain the status of leader, the government strenuously continues its policy, where human capital, research and innovation are the cornerstones.
Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat said that in the Asian part of the world technological changes will be very significant, and Singapore should better understand the growing middle class and demographic changes, “look after” talents, plan ahead, invest in strategic technologies and services.
The minister is convinced that Singapore should have a long-term perspective for investment and be ready for changes that can occur in 5-10 years. The government should look beyond strategies that have been prepared based on consultations and long-term plans.
Research, Innovation and Enterprise 2020 Plan
In 2016, Singapore allocated $19 billion for the next five-year Research, Innovation and Entrepreneurship - 2020. The plan to connect scientific, inventive, business environment by a multitude of threads with financing, joint projects, incentives, personnel, skills, etc.
The new plan has the four main strategic directions, formulated on the basis of the previous plan’s progress.
These are also four strategic technology areas, where funding is a priority, and where Singapore has competitive advantages and / or important national needs.
The development of technological capabilities that will support the growth and competitiveness of Singaporean manufacturing and engineering.
Creating a leading center for public health and the creation of economic benefits through brilliant research and their adaptation.
Development of a sustainable and convenient city for life with the help of integrated solutions for Singapore itself and the whole world.
Development of digital innovation opportunities to meet national priorities, increase productivity, support key services, create sustainable economic areas and jobs.
Activities in these areas will be supported by three cross-cutting programs to ensure excellent science, strong human resources and commercialization.
Creating a significant base of opportunities and flow of ideas that can fuel research, give new ideas, leading to the next phase of growth.
Creating a strong research and innovation community.
Formation of the core of innovative entrepreneurship, which will stimulate commercialization and economic competitiveness.
As a result, the RIE2020 covers all areas of digital technology to offer innovative solutions for tomorrow.
Science and Research: Interconnections and Adaptation
In the QS World University Rankings-2019, the National University of Singapore ranked 11th, and Nanyang Technological University of Singapore — 12th compared to 22nd and 39th places in the 2016 ranking. The number of PhDs received in the country increased from 7,522 in 2011 to 7,850 in 2015, the number of scientists and engineers in the total labor force is also constantly raising.
The growth of Singaporean universities as leading research institutes is the result of special attention paid to best practices and a strong research infrastructure. The country's universities were able to form a powerful department of world-class scientists, as well as attract outstanding Singaporean scientists back to their homes, giving them the opportunity to continue their work in a dynamic research environment and instruct the next generation of researches.
Singapore Research Centers of Excellence have formed strong teams around their state-of-the-art research areas and are now considered among the best centers in their respective fields.
Singapore has also established international contacts in R & D — 15 research programs between local universities and 10 largest foreign institutions within the Campus for Research Excellence and Technological Enterprise.
Since 2015, CREATE Laboratories have made more than 2,350 publications in leading academic journals and have worked with more than 100 companies. Research results also led to the emergence of eight side companies.
The Agency for Science, Technology and Research, A *STAR includes more than 20 research institutes covering a range from basic to applied research in various fields, including biomedical engineering, biochemistry, molecular biology and genetics, chemistry and physics.
A *STAR partners with leading global research centers, such as the Japanese Institute for Physical and Chemical Research (Rikagaku Kenkyūjyo, RIKEN), the Southampton Marine and Maritime Institute. In terms of inventions for 2012–2016, the agency entered the top 10 best innovators in oncology research in Asia according to Clarivate Analytics.
Comparing its research with industrial demand, A *STAR was able to use its expertise in semiconductor research and development to create collaborative laboratories with industry partners such as Applied Materials, Inc., Dai Nippon Printing Co. and Nikon.
Biopolis supports the growth of the pharmaceutical industry by working with 30 leading pharmaceutical companies from around the world, including Chugai Pharmaceutical Co. and Novartis International AG.
The A *STAR cluster in food and consumer products has led to the creation of over a thousand R & D jobs in collaboration with companies such as Nestle, Danone and P & G.
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