I just finished a week in Singapore serving as an international panelist for A*STAR's Thematic Strategic Research Programme on mobile media. Every time I go to Singapore, I am impressed with how the country manages its research. Singapore has a very good understanding and appreciation of how research can benefit the country and its people, and it invests accordingly.

The government provides significant research funding to universities and research institutes and it has established organizations to manage this investment. It directs research by having calls for proposals on strategic themes such as mobile media. It also has nation-wide strategic initiatives such as Intelligent Nation 2015 and Interactive Digital Media.

The country takes a long term view on research. For example, the A*STAR Science & Engineering Research Council states its objectives as:

• To develop a foundation of high quality research in key disciplines;
• To nurture human capital for research; and
• To promote information dissemination and technology transfer

Singapore continually evolves its approach as it sees what works and what doesn't. It solicits feedback by asking international reviewers to serve on boards and panels to evaluate their work and hold it to the highest quality standards.

Singapore views research as a way to develop technologies that can help the country stay competitive. It actively tries to find ways to transfer technology to industry, building linkages with the global industry. It also encourages and supports its researchers to participate in international standardization efforts.

Singapore very strongly views research as a way to train and develop its people. It explicitly states manpower training as a primary objective. It has established programs to identify its brightest early on and provide them with special development opportunities.

Singapore understands the importance of working globally. It allocates funds to bring international researchers into the country to help develop the in-Singapore researchers. It also has programs to send its researchers to other countries to give them international exposure. Singapore struggles with finding ways to keep researchers in the country, since many of the researchers value international work experience. But the country also has an understanding that it should develop researchers as best as it can and it maintains a goal of having a fraction of them to stay in the country.

It is very respectable how Singapore views and respects research, keeps the long-term benefits in mind, and invests in its research and researchers accordingly!

Singaporeans: Did I get this right? Do you have anything else to add?

All: How does this compare to how other countries manage research?