Site:

Economic Development Board - Singapore
250 North Bridge Rd., #24-00 Raffles City Tower, Singapore 179101

Participants:

Koh Yong Boon, Senior Officer
Yun Kok Siong, Senior Officer

Mission and Strategy

• The Economic Development Board (EDB) was established in 1961 under the Minister of Trade.
• The 1995 mission statement of the EDB is to develop Singapore into a global city with total business capabilities. EDB's original mission was to attract multinational corporations (MNCs) to Singapore for the purpose of achieving full employment, which was achieved in the early 1980s.
• In the mid-1980s, Singapore experienced a recession since their total production costs were too high for the production technology deployed within Singapore. EDB took the lead in establishing plans to diversify the economy and to move up the value chain as labor costs increased. The National Technology Plan (NTP) and Economy Plan (E2000) were thus formulated.
• The goal is to grow in new technology markets that can improve Singapore's long-term standard of living.

Key Elements of Presentation

EDB set up a variety of government organizations to insure that the Economic Growth Process achieved a minimum GDP of 8% per annum with an inflation rate less than 4%. Infrastructure agencies that were spun off from EDB include:

• JTC - Land and factory space available for start-up and small companies.
• DBS Banks - Capital and Financing
• NSTB - National Science Technology Board
• SISIR - Standards, measurements and test
• TDB - Trade encouragement

Key Elements of Tour

Current EDB initiatives include:

• M2000: Target at least 25% of GDP in manufacturing.
• IBH2000: Attract 80 to 100 regional headquarters in Singapore
• PLE2000: Encourage 50 to 70 local enterprises to reach $100 million in sales.
• LIVP: Local industry upgrade program.
• Region2000: Participate in growth of the rest of Asia through direct investments in infrastructure, manufacturing and service
• IDS: Innovative Development Incentive

Key Results

• EDB works closely with NSTB, Ministry of Finance (TEMASEK), and other Singapore agencies to identify strategic markets and to invest as necessary to develop an infrastructure within Singapore to support the new initiatives. The EDB has a $1 billion Cluster Development Fund to invest in key "Clusters of Technology."
• In the wireless technology cluster, EDB is actively working with other government agencies to establish an infrastructure to support the wireless market. The technology infrastructure includes projects to support tantalum capacitors, TFT LCDs, and Li-ion-polymer batteries. A recent investment was made in a new $1.3 billion wafer plant with the capability of generating 0.2 micron geometries.

Conclusions

EDB has set up specific funds for various initiatives. However with Singapore's yearly budget surplus of $10 billion, budgets are not an issue. Basically, EDB targets high-value-added markets that will provide long-term economic benefit. The EDB has been very successful since the mid-1980s in transforming the economy from a labor-based economy into a capital-based economy.