ONCE described by the Singaporean media as “the maverick who goes against the rules”, Mr Philip Yeo, Chairman of SPRING Singapore, which stands for Standards, Productivity and Innovation Board, under the Ministry of Trade and Industry, is charged with overseeing the sustainable development and competitiveness of Singaporean enterprises, as well as coordinate the nurturing of a pro-business environment with the authorities, as the city-state shifts towards an innovation-driven economy.
Recently invited to the country as a keynote speaker for the 29th Confederation of Asean Federation of Engineers Organisation (CAEFO), Mr Yeo spoke with the Bulletin to share in his advice and views for nation-building and future developments.
“The most important thing is to build your own capability. You must invest in your own people, you have to bring your locals onboard but also make sure that the local government is onboard,” said Mr Yeo, who amongst his distinguished list of accomplishments is perhaps best known for being credited with personally sending thousands of young Singaporeans to top universities around the world on government scholarships.
“Planning is important and all that but ultimately it is your own people who must run it. Have confidence in them. Don’t just depend on consultants,” he explained, adding: “They have no commitment; they are not willing to serve because once they finish their work, they are not bound to stay and follow through. It’s the implementation stage of any project where it is the most important and for this, it’s where your young talent comes in and that’s most important.”
Mr Yeo first shot to prominence when he became the Permanent Secretary for Logistics, Technology Research and Development and Defence Industries at the Ministry of Defence, where he helped turn Singapore’s struggling manufacturer of munitions military into a successful international armaments supplier.
He then moved on to become the Chairman of Singapore’s Economic Development Board in 1986, which oversees the city-states vast local and international investments, when Singapore’s focus began to zoom in on new areas of business opportunities and he oversaw the expansion of its aerospace, electronics and semiconductor industries and biomedical sciences, to name a few that has underpinned Singapore’s economic miracle. He has also been a passionate advocate in nurturing Singaporean SMEs and successfully encouraging its local companies to make direct investments abroad. He was also responsible for expanding Singapore’s economic links with strategic partners further afield from the Middle East, Latin America and Russia.
Mr Yeo has also held many other prestigious posts in the Singaporean hierarchy, such as the Special Adviser for Economic Development in the Prime Minister’s Office and Chairman of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research or A*STAR that oversees Singapore’s scientific research, as well as chairing various public and private company boards.
Following his keynote speech, Mr Yeo also shared that he met with his Bruneian counterpart, Dato Paduak Hj Ali Apong, Deputy Minister at the Prime Minister’s Office and Chairman of the Brunei Economic Development Board, as well as the Minister of Energy at the Prime Minister’s Office, the Minister of Development and the Minister of Industry and Primary Resources to share in his ideas and views.
“The legacy that we leave behind is built with the people. I told them that writing reports are easy but it is the action plans where the depth comes.” He then switched to the Singapore blueprint as a perfect example of achieving success. “In Singapore, we do a lot of things ourselves and we learn to make mistakes because in this process, we learn. We train and we invest in our people and we make a lot of sacrifices to build up this depth. You must seek out and develop a cadre of young people who are committed to doing it themselves. They must also have confidence so it is important to find good, interested people and let them grow, especially in a young country. But they must be allowed to make mistakes. That’s where you learn. That is the key.”
Mr Yeo then elaborated this further by holding up his index finger to share in the three keys to making mistakes: “First, you have to admit your mistake. Second, apologise. Third rule, and this is the most important, don’t do it again,” he said with a knowing smile as he gestured with his three digits. “The key is to learn from it and not to repeat it again. If you don’t make allowances for making mistakes, how are you going to learn by yourself? That is why it is very important to find dedicated and committed young people but you must also delegate some authority to them. Otherwise, you will be left with doing everything yourself. That way, everyone learns.”
Speaking about developing SMEs, Mr Yeo noted that “you must provide all kinds of incentives; you have to give them financing”. Pointing out that the last time he was in the Sultanate was in 1983; Mr Yeo reverted once again to the Singaporean example: “You need to build deliberate policies to build that depth and you have to get the government to be pro-active in order to meet the service capacity and delivery time. In fact there’s a lot of ‘hand-holding’.”
He has since extended this hand-holding further beyond the SMEs to the generations of Singaporean scholars. He recounted that during his tenure as the chairman of A*STAR, he set up a scholarship scheme to provide government-funded scholarships for 1,000 “straight A students who could study any subject, except for Law and Economics” each year, who have since specialised in life sciences – molecular biology, biochemistry, medicine, information technology and engineering. Asked why these subjects in particular, Mr Yeo replied with a grin, “Because I never studied Law or Economics.”
Educated as an engineer, from which he moved onto a very successful career as an administrator and pioneering strategist for Singapore’s IT and biomedical sciences, one cannot help but appreciate the patience and personal commitment that he invests in each and every single scholarship student that is chosen.
One of his most outstanding hallmarks is his passion in developing people. Over the course of his career he has sent thousands of Singaporeans to top universities around the world on government funded scholarships, where in return after completing their tertiary or post graduate studies, these scholars make a commitment to return and serve the Singapore government for six years. Well-known for personally interviewing each scholarship candidate, Mr Yeo takes great pains to remember every personal detail about their family background and also closely monitors their academic performance. During his regular business trips abroad, he would take the time to meet up with up whichever student is studying at that particular city to find out about their welfare and studies.
“In fact, when they get married, most of them will invite me and I try to attend most of them, if I have the time. And each one I give them ‘ang pow’. You know, a thousand students a year, that’s a lot of ‘ang pow’, you know,” he said through a peal of laughter.
As he continued to leaf through his memories of particular students, noting that most of them chose partners within the scholarship community to marry and settle down, the theme of his prodigiously niche specialty in creating ‘self-sufficient’ or ‘integrated’ communities comes to the fore.
His keynote speech at the 29th CAEFO was on what he calls “the Singaporean blueprint for sustainable engineering” through the development of “self-contained urbanisation”. Industry creates urbanisation, he pointed out, which is “happening everywhere and it is a fact of life”. As Brunei Darussalam is also beginning to fully embark on planning for its future land development, he presented two more successful Singaporean examples – Biopolis and Fusionopolis.
Biopolis was the pioneering model for what would become an innovative blueprint that was emulated in other advanced countries for the designs of future cities – one that is a complete environment for “work, live and play”. Initiated in 2001 and officially launched in October 2003, the first phase of the futuristic city concept ‘Biopolis’ houses research institutes that specialises in genomics, bioinformatics, bioprocessing and bioengineering, which is part of the Singaporean government’s multibillion-dollar investment in biomedicine that is designed to nurture industries in biotechnology and pharmaceutical drugs.
“With the technology available today, investing in the life sciences carries a big potential and even bigger opportunities as we try to improve our life sciences,” explained Mr Yeo. Now in its fourth phase, scheduled to be completed by the end of 2012, Biopolis has attracted some of the biggest names in biology to head its lavishly equipped facilities.
In February 2003, Singapore launched another futuristic concept called Fusionopolis that served as an extension of an information technology hub, in synergy with Biopolis. Described by Nature Magazine during its official opening in October 2008 as: “Part laboratory, part resort and part architectural gem, Fusionopolis is Singapore’s newest mega-science facility … Fusionopolis is the physical science sequel to Biopolis. Housing six institutes … the buildings are meant to spur interdisciplinary research not only among its own institutes but also with Biopolis.”
Explaining what Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong referred to Fusionopolis as “an entire integrated innovation ecosystem”, Mr Yeo highlighted that “for urbanisation, you must first create jobs. From there you can then create an environment for work, with these jobs, a place to live and to live to play”. In fact this ‘live, work, play’ theme is the central theme behind Mr Yeo’s vision for small clusters of self-contained “living cities”. He went on to point out: “With work, you have to ensure that it is economically vibrant. From there, people will want to settle down and live, and you have to ensure that it is environmentally friendly and provides all the amenities from transportation to all these other social amenities. Finally you must also have recreational and entertainment centres for play, which must be socially harmonious. Once you have achieved all three, only then you will get sustainable development.”
This Singaporean blueprint has successfully been transplanted to other parts of the world. “We have been creating urbanisation for neighbouring countries,” said Mr Yeo.
In 1991, Indonesia opened its Batamindo Industrial Park, which is home to 60,000 workers that also work there producing an export value of US$2billion. India followed suite in 1994 by opening up the International Technology Park in Bangalore in 1994 that is home to 27,000 IT personnel. Three such living cities have since been since created in Vietnam, named the Vietnam Singapore Industrial Park at Bac Ninh, Bin Duong and Hai Phong that collectively boasts just under 500 tenants and 100,000 workers that produce an export value of US$7billion. Singapore has also undertaken four similar projects in China – the Tianjin Eco City, the Wuxi Industrial Park, Suzhou Industrial Park and the Guangzhou Knowledge City.
By understanding the mega trends of the day, which are rapid urbanisation, environmental improvement and social management, these future cities “must be sustainable, harmonious, convenient and resource efficient”, said Mr Yeo.
“So you must take care of your young people, take care of how they serve and grow but you must also teach them to stand on their own two feet, through a lot of guidance and support by dedicated and committed mentors.” Asked where the best training ground was, he smiled and replied: “There is no school better than the real world and the real working life. My generation of Singaporeans was lucky because we had good bosses and this is also very important to have understanding and fair-minded bosses. But ultimately, my hope is that the future generations will also have bosses who support them to build and nurture the next generation.”
