Singapore as a Knowledge City

Lit review of the following site. 

Hungry when I look at this. The Macrobiotic meal by Alex :) 

 Singapore as a Knowledge City is an article with the information to 'nominate' Singapore for the Most Admired Knowledge City. 

• Basically, the article argues that Singapore deserved to be awarded because it displays fervour and tenacity in reinventing itself all the time.

The 1980s in Singapore saw a strategic shift towards technology intensive sectors. By the early 1990s, the focus had moved to knowledge intensive companies (Loo et al, 2003). By the late 1990s, the government acknowledged the need to forge an environment conducive to innovation, new discoveries and the creation of new knowledge. It also sought to harness intangibles such as ideas, knowledge and expertise to create and add new value in the knowledge economy (MITA Renaissance City Report, 2000).

I would like to highlight a report commissioned in the 97 called 'The Committee on Singapore's Competitiveness' to address Singapore's competitiveness as a knowledge economy within the next decade.
The Committee on Singapore’s Competitiveness was formed in 1997 to address Singapore’s competitiveness as a knowledge economy within the next decade. Its vision is for Singapore to become an advanced and globally competitive knowledge economy with manufacturing and services as twin engines of growth (Committee on Singapore’s Competitiveness Report, 1998). Singapore continues to attract foreign MNCs, encourage local enterprises to produce high value-added products and provide manufacturing-related and headquarters services to the region. The government also recognises the need to nurture small and medium local enterprises and to build a core of world-class companies with core competencies that can compete in the global economy (Committee on Singapore’s Competitiveness Report, 1998).


In the area of the creative industries
http://www.gov.sg/pol_art.htm

The Competitiveness Report (1998) laid down the following strategies:

• Integrating Singapore into the global economy to leverage international talent, knowledge and technology
• Providing an entrepreneurial environment that tolerates business failures and allows freedom to generate ideas
• Embracing innovation to generate new business and growth
• Grooming world-class local and foreign companies in niche areas
• Positioning Singapore as the premier regional hub to attract foreign multi-national corporations and local enterprises to use Singapore as a production base for high value added products and to provide manufacturing related services for their subsidiaries in the region

The government also recognised the need to attract global creative talent and even add a few bohemians to the mix for a culturally vibrant city. The vision for the 21st century includes a ‘renaissance city’ using culture to reposition its international image and become a global city for the arts (ERC Report, September 2002, p.v). Public policy emphasises human capital, talent, knowledge professionals and the role of cultural and creative endeavours. As such, the economic dividends of culture have become the focus of the state’s economic agenda for the arts and creative industries (Kong, 2000). To a large extent, many aspects of Singapore’s artistic, cultural and social entrepreneurial activities are still ‘bud grafted’ by the government rather than left to the free market and individual choice (Low, 2005, p.129). In that regard, Singapore’s cultural policies are often tailored according to global economic restructuring and reflect the state’s ideology of pragmatism and developmentalism (Kong, 2000).

Apart from its emphasis on a national innovation system in recent years, many efforts have been channelled to enhance the foundations of the knowledge economy through education and entrepreneurship (Toh et al., 2002). For example, the educational system has been restructured in the last decade to foster greater creativity and instil higher order (i.e., analytical, creative and systems) thinking skills in its school children. There is now a substantial reduction in curriculum content and student assessment in favour of team learning, problem solving and process skills acquisition (Loh, 1999). The focus is on developing a broader skills base for the needs and growth of the knowledge economy.