Associate Professor Lim Tit Meng,
Chief Executive, Science Centre Singapore,

Dr Lim Khiang Wee,
Executive Director, A*STAR Graduate Academy,

Distinguished Guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Students and children.

1          I am really happy to be here, this is my second time at X-periment!. As Prof Lim had said, I love supporting Science Centre because I think they are doing a very meaningful and wonderful job in bringing science to our younger people and students. This collaboration between A*STAR, its institutes and agencies, with the Science Centre is particularly meaningful because it provides a time and an opportunity for our researchers and scientists to bring and introduce science to our young people. We are investing a lot in our research and development, and I think it is important for our young people to understand how that impacts them, how that will affect the economy of Singapore going forward, and change the future of Singapore. I think it is a good time for our scientists to explain that to our young people and to convince them that there is a bright future ahead of them. I am very happy to be supporting events organised by the Science Centre and I hope that with the various activities and events, you will help convince parents to incorporate science into their daily activities with their children. We hope to overtake eating and shopping as a national sport here.

2          Started in 2001 as the National Science Month, the Singapore Science Festival has since grown into Singapore’s largest science event and an annual fixture in our national calendar. The festival not only aims to raise greater awareness of Science in our lives, and foster creativity in our people, it also gives us an opportunity to celebrate the achievements of local innovators - both past and present, who have undeniably bettered the quality of our lives with their work.

3          One of the major global issues facing us today is the sustainability of our living environment. The world is becoming more dense and urbanised. This is the first time in human history that we have more people living in the cities than the rural areas. And that will change the way the world is organised. Cities will become the future and you will find a congregation of people offering us tremendous opportunities in terms of the social services. The schools, the clinics, the hospitals allow us to provide good social support and services to people more conveniently and more accessibly than before. But that opportunity also creates challenges and therefore you have the demand on our infrastructure such as our provision of fresh water, our waste management capabilities and so on and so forth. So this is a very interesting time, both from the scientists’ perspective and also from the governments’ perspective, the urban planners’ perspectives and for thought leaders, to really think about what urbanisation and intensification of the cities mean to us as human beings, on how to organise ourselves and how to provide visible solutions to improve the lives of people.

4          Take water for instance. Because we have always been short of water in Singapore, we place a lot of emphasis on research and technology in the water industry. Today, we have successfully converted this shortage into a strategic opportunity for our companies, who are now sought for their services and technologies for water recycling and desalination.

5          Dengue is another example. The dengue fever is not only a problem in Singapore, where we see about 5,000 cases of dengue each year, but also worldwide and in cities located in the tropics, where people live in closer proximity with one another, the environment also makes it easier for the dengue virus to be transmitted easily. Recently, a team of scientists from the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School and the DSO National Laboratories discovered a human antibody that kills the dengue virus in two hours. If clinical trials are successful, Singapore could see the world’s first cure for the dengue virus.

6          In line with our continued emphasis on innovation and creativity, the theme for this year’s Science Festival is “Create New Possibilities”. The Singapore Science Festival 2012 aims to challenge and inspire us to look at things differently, seek new discoveries and achieve breakthroughs. More than sixty events island-wide will be open to the public over the next three weeks. Highlights include the STAR Lecture, which Prof Lim had just talked about. Another is the Pop!sticks National Day Domino, which will feature Singapore’s attempt to achieve a new record on setting off the longest chain of ice-popsicle sticks, weaved into a high-tension mesh that will rapidly unravel in domino-chain-like fashion. I am really excited about this and I look forward to the 8th of August.

7          Today, we are also here to launch X-periment!, an exhibition which seeks to bring R&D out of the labs to the public. Those of you here today will be able to see interesting innovations and experiments by local researchers from 21 research institutes, public agencies and tertiary institutions. Some of these include the Genome Institute of Singapore’s exhibition on developing lipids in algae into fuel, and the Temasek Polytechnic’s Fuel Cell Personal Shuttle Commuter – a bicycle which uses hydrogen gas to produce clean energy. What is amazing about this bicycle is that it can travel continuously over a distance of about 150 kilometres, equivalent to the length of three Singapores. I strongly encourage all of you to take a walk around and I will definitely do it myself.

8          As we continue to bring in novel scientific events through the Singapore Science Festival, I cannot over-emphasise the need for Singapore to continue to build capabilities and develop its talents in R&D and innovation. This is critical for the longer term competitiveness of our economy and also vital in tackling major multi-faceted challenges that will grow even bigger in future, such as an aging population, the possibility of pandemics, cyber security, and environmental sustainability.

9          In closing, I would like to thank everyone involved in the organisation of this year’s Singapore Science Festival, for putting together a series of exciting events, performances and activities. The public-private-people collaboration is crucial to promoting awareness of Science and driving R&D in Singapore, and we are honoured to have your support. Let us all continue to be inquisitive about Science and allow ourselves to be inspired by what it can do for us. This Science Festival provides us a wonderful opportunity to do so and let’s enjoy ourselves and immerse in Science.

          Thank you and have a wonderful afternoon.