Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong inaugurates Fusionopolis Two building (Source: VNA)Singapore has recently opened the Fusionopolis Two building, an R&D hub and icon of the country’s knowledge economy, which aims at bringing the public and private sectors together to pursue joint research and innovation.
Addressing the opening ceremony, Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said Research and Development (R&D) plays an important role to Singapore’s economy as it helps renew industries and create new markets.
It also helps companies, particularly the small ones, to upgrade productivity, create good jobs for workers, and through new products and services, improve the lives of Singaporeans, said the Prime Minister.
Fusionopolis Two, built at a cost of 450 million SGD (324 million USD), is the second phase of a project to develop the Fusionopolis cluster at Buona Vista, which is intended to nurture research and business activities in such industries as physical sciences and engineering. Its first phase, Fusionopolis One was launched in 2008.
As planned, the building will be home to four research centres under the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR).
The gathering of A*STAR centres is considered a catalyst to boost the cooperation and collaboration among scientists in the public and private sectors.
The A*STAR will collaborate with partners in universities, hospitals, and in the public and private sectors to bring about a similar change in the wider research community in Singapore, the agency’s Chairman Lim Chuan Poh told Singapore-based Vietnam News Agency reporters.
Fusionopolis Two is designed to have a pollutant-free research environment, building shields and basement walls to reduce vibrations./.
