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Embargoed until after deliveryPlease check against deliveryOPENING REMARKS BY MR S ISWARAN, SENIOR MINISTEROF STATE FOR TRADE & INDUSTRY AND EDUCATION, ATTHE LAUNCH OF THE MEDTECH MANUFACTURINGCONSORTIUM ON TUESDAY, 13 OCTOBER, 1030 HRS ATSIMTECH AUDITORIUMDr Lim Ser Yong, Executive Director, Singapore Institute ofManufacturing TechnologyLadies and GentlemenGood morning,1

Introduction1 It is my pleasure to be here this morning to launch theMedTech Manufacturing Consortium spearheaded by theSingapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology (SIMTech), aresearch institute of the Agency for Science, Technology andResearch (A*STAR).2

2 The MedTech Manufacturing Consortium aims to accelerategrowth of the medical technology industry in Singapore. It helpslocal manufacturers venturing into the medical technology sectorto address business needs and overcome technical, market,regulatory and certification challenges. I am pleased to note thestrong support and relentless efforts of four government agenciesnamely EDB, IE Singapore, SPRING Singapore, WDA, as well astwo industry associations namely, the Singapore PrecisionEngineering and Tooling Association (SPETA) and BiomedicalEngineering Society (BES) towards this cause.3

Growing the Medical Technology Industry in Singapore3 The medical technology industry is a new area of growth inthe burgeoning biomedical sciences sector in Singapore.Itprovides an excellent opportunity for the local electronics andprecision industries to diversify and expand their businesses. Themedical technology industry doubled its manufacturing outputfrom $1.5 billion in 2000 to about $3 billion in 2008. Over thesame period, its manpower base also doubled from about 4,000to more than 8,000 last year. By 2015, the medical technologyindustry targets to achieve $5 billion in manufacturing output.4

4 Today, Singapore is a global leader in medical technologymanufacturing. We account for 10 per cent of the world’s supplyof contact lens, half of the world’s thermal cyclers, and more than50 per cent of the world’s microarray. Just last week, leadingglobal company, Medtronic, opened Asia’s first pacemaker andleads manufacturing facility in Singapore. Medtronic joins morethan 25 leading global medical technology companies that haveinvested in commercial-scale manufacturing plants in Singapore.In addition to manufacturing, leading companies have also set upR&D centres in Singapore to further the innovation drive in Asia.They include PerkinElmer, Hill-Rom and Siemens MedicalInstruments. 3M joins our base of medical technology R&Dcentres when it opened its drug delivery system R&D centre herelast week.5 The newly formed MedTech Consortium will play aninstrumental role to equip participants with the necessary skillsset,knowledge, industry network and technical consultancy.5

The Medtech Consortium and Industry: partnering forsuccess6 Bringing the various government agencies and industryassociations together, the broad challenges faced by the localmanufacturing industry are tackled holistically. Members of theMedTech Consortium are also able to access a spectrum ofsupport, available through government agencies, to developtechnical competency and business networks. They can tap onA*STAR’s R&D resources and infrastructure, the vibrant medtecheco-system created by EDB, skills and technology transferframework and incentives from WDA, SPRING Singapore’stechnology innovation schemes and export promotion of Made-in-Singapore medical products through IE Singapore. In fact, overthe next five years, the industry, SIMTech and WDA will spend$10million on technology and manpower development.6

7 WDA, in collaboration with SIMTech, developed thePrecision Engineering Workforce Skills Qualifications (PE WSQ)Graduate Diploma Programme to groom a pool of skilled workersfor the industry. This programme aims to equip both existing andnew engineers and technicians in the medical technologymanufacturing industry with the knowledge and skills in the latestmedical device regulations and manufacturing technology. Toensure that the programme is affordable and accessible, WDA willprovide funding of up to 90 per cent of the course fees plusabsentee payroll support.7

8 The MedTech Manufacturing Consortium is innovative inmany aspects. Firstly, it is truly MedTech Singapore Inc, involvinggovernment agencies, industry partners, associations, researchinstitutes and academia. Secondly, the business-technologysynergy enables members to leverage on the best capabilitiesand ready-to-market technologies from A*STAR researchinstitutes. Various areas have already been identified forcollaboration to enable members to develop medical technologymanufacturing capabilities.8

9 With such support, it comes as no surprise that theMedTech Consortium has garnered the interest of 26organisations. They range from medical technology MNCs tolocal enterprises, in the industry value chain, and medicalacademia.Consortium members, ranging from technologyproviders, product manufacturers to end-users, will benefit fromthe network as they tap on each other’s strengths to developstrategic direction and technology roadmaps to grow the medicaltechnology industry.10 What is notable about the Consortium is that there are 13SME participants making up 50 per cent of the total membership.This trend clearly demonstrates that SMEs are stepping up effortsto equip themselves with new skills and to innovate for progress.9

11 Members of the consortium can tap on A*STAR’s researchinstitutes in the biomedical sciences, physical sciences andengineering to access a rich pool of scientific resources andexpertise to carry out leading-edge R&D in Singapore. There aremany success stories from the partnership with the A*STARresearch institutes, and companies have received globalrecognition for their innovative research and medical devices.Medical Technology Innovation in Singapore12 One such instance is SIMTech’s collaboration with Bio-Scaffold International, a Singapore-based biotechnologycompany. It resulted in the development of a new technology forprocessing scaffolds using FDA-approved biopolymers.Theaccolades for the product reflect Singapore's world-class R&Dstandards which is growing in competitiveness vis a vis industryplayers in USA, Japan and India.10

Conclusion13 To capitalise on the growing medical technology industry, Iencourage manufacturing companies to join the MedTechManufacturing Consortium to gain a foothold in this thrivingsector. Many local enterprises such as Beyonics Technology,CEI Contract Manufacturing and First Engineering are leveragingon their experience, up-to-date medical technology manufacturingcapabilities and well-established production networks in theregion to develop products for the medical technology industry. Iurge you to take advantage of the level of support and networkprovided by the Consortium to take your business further and stayahead of the competition.14 It is now my pleasure to formally launch the MedTechManufacturing Consortium. Thank you.- end -11