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Access to talent is key to Singapore’s biomedical science success

A key component of the success of Singapore’s Biomedical Science initiative will be ensuring the industry has access to the best available talent, Lim Chuan Poh, chairman of A*STAR (the Agency for Science Technology and Research in Singapore), told a breakfast meeting sponsored by life science recruiters, RSA.

He said the bottom line for human capital was to make sure that the necessary scientific workforce was available to the industry, and developing the talent pool would be an important role for A*STAR.

The biomedical science (BMS) industry in Singapore has grown exponentially in the last decade. The first government funded research institute, the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB), was set up a mere 20 years ago; now there are already over ten thousand people employed within the industry.

The Singapore government continues to be an extremely active supporter of this growth. There is a strong awareness that the industry as whole can only continue to grow if the research community in Singapore is seen as a key node for scientific and technological research. At present, it is only possible to create this vibrant research community through a mix of more mature global talent and a pipeline of younger local talent. A*STAR’s approach is both pro-foreign and pro-local. As well as heavily supporting local scholars, A*STAR and its research institutions want to attract the best global R&D talent available.

Martin Painter, manager of RSA Singapore, outlined RSA’s successful track record in the region over the past decade working with major pharmaceutical and bioscience players.

He said RSA had opened its new office in Singapore in February this year to better serve its clients in the region.

RSA is currently actively supporting A*STAR to position the research institutes as part of the world-class research community. It is involved in the search for key appointments at the Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences, under Professor Judith Swain and the new Clinical Imaging Research Centre, part of the Singapore Bioimaging Consortium, under Sir Professor George Radda.

 

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