Debated in Parliament on 25 Sep 2025.
Mr Kenneth Tiong Boon Kiat asked the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade and Industry in respect of joint public-private R&D Corporate Laboratories (CLs) funded under the Research, Innovation and Enterprise (RIE) plans (a) what percentage of jointly-created Intellectual Properties generate (i) zero or (ii) only nominal licensing revenue for the Singapore public entity; and (b) how is the Government ensuring taxpayers secure commensurate returns for such CLs.
Under the research, innovation and enterprise (RIE) plans, the Industry Alignment Fund-Industry Collaboration Projects scheme (IAF-ICP) was established to encourage public sector researchers to pursue research and development in partnership with industry. One of the modalities for such collaborations is through public-private corporate laboratories (CLs), where public sector researchers work alongside the partner companies' researchers. In RIE 2025, about 80% of the CL projects supported under IAF-ICP have licensing revenue expected from jointly-created intellectual properties (IP).
Beyond licensing revenue, such projects seek to foster economic growth through helping the partner companies develop new products and also to train a skilled, industry-ready research workforce. Furthermore, these collaborations build up the track record and credibility of our public research organisations amongst industry players, thereby enhancing the attractiveness of Singapore for corporates to anchor their research and innovation hubs.
For example, the $110 million Wilmar-National University of Singapore CL strengthened Singapore as a leading centre for Asian-centric studies in translational medicine, nutritional sciences, healthy ageing and synthetic biology. It has trained over 70 researchers and PhD students, and also developed IP that has the potential to unlock new markets, with potential licensing revenue of US$25 million.
Another example is Agency for Science, Technology and Research's Institute of Microelectronics' partnership with Applied Materials to establish the Centre of Excellence in Advanced Packaging. Since its inception, in 2011, the Centre has created more than 120 innovation jobs and benefitted at least 60 industry partners in product development. More recently, in 2024, Applied Materials chose Singapore to host its global Equipment and Process Innovation and Commercialisation platform for advanced chip packaging technologies. This enables our workforce and local companies, such as ACE United Technologies and PBA Group, to be at the forefront of technological innovation.
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