Speech by Senior Minister of State for Defence, Dr Mohamad Maliki Bin Osman, at the Singapore Amazing Flying Machine Competition Awards Presentation Ceremony

Distinguished guests, 
Teachers, 
Colleagues, 
Parents and Students,        

A very good afternoon. Thank you for having me again, coming back to this really wonderful event. Going through the demonstrations earlier gives me a lot of hope for Singapore's future. I am really very inspired. Over time, people always say that we older folks inspire young people but let me say that to all the young people here, I am truly very inspired by the innovation that is in your minds and the creativity that you came up with. It speaks volumes of the amount of work you have put in, the passion that you have, as well as what works well for us in terms of innovation. As you have heard from the CE of DSO, over the last decade, the Singapore Amazing Flying Machine Competition (SAFMC) has been a catalyst, igniting the imaginations of youths and inspiring many to pursue careers in engineering. I am heartened that participation rates each year have steadily increased. As mentioned earlier, from 800 (participants) when we started 10 years ago to more than double (the participation numbers) at more than 1,600 (participants) over this year. Over the last decade, if we add them up together, over 12,000 have participated in the SAFMC and seen their imaginations take flight. In the competition's 10th anniversary this year, as I mentioned, there are a record number of more than 1,600 participants. To all the participants, you have joined a community of innovators who have the imagination to dream for a better future, a better tomorrow, who have the passion to turn these dreams into innovations and indeed, who want to make a positive impact on the world.

Let your Imagination Take Flight

The SAFMC's motto is to "Let your Imagination Take Flight". This reflects the story of the development of flight. It is the question of "what if?" where we dream of new ideas and futures, and are inspired to create inventions that make these dreams come to life. It is the question of shaping the future without limits.

The ability and confidence to dream is a key quality of those who shape the future. One of the founding fathers of rocketry for example, Robert Hutchings Goddard, embodies this quality. From a very young age, he had a curious mind and passion for experimentation, but his inspiration for rocketry came from an unlikely place, you will never guess – a cherry tree. While on a cherry tree cutting dead branches, Robert was transfixed by the vastness of the sky, and his imagination leapt ahead as he wondered if he could create a device that could go beyond the skies and even into space. By his own admission, this was the moment that spurred him to dedicate his lifetime to pursuing space flight. On 16 March 1926, some 27 years after that definitive day on the cherry tree, Robert successfully launched the first liquid-fuelled rocket. He made his dream a reality, and paved the way for the modern rockets that we have today. So it is okay if your parents ask you to chop branches on the tree, or do anything that seems mundane. For all you will never know, you can get inspiration from there.

I am confident that the participants today share his curiosity and drive to turn dreams into reality. Your presence here today shows that you have already taken your first steps as innovators.

Turning Imagination into Innovation

We need not look far for more examples. Look around you and look around Singapore, and you will find no shortage of imagination taking flight. The modern city state that we have today, that we call home, is safe and successful because our talents dare to imagine and innovate, and have the will and passion to see it through.

Most of you would have been to the Marina Barrage. While it was completed in 2008, its story began way back in 1977, when then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew called for a massive clean-up of the Singapore and Kallang river. At the end of the 10 years that it took to clean up the river, the late Mr Lee broached the idea of damming up the Marina Bay and Kallang Basin to create a large freshwater lake. It was an ambitious dream that required technology and innovation to achieve. We have realised this dream. We have seen now that the Barrage is a popular attraction for locals and tourists. It also serves important functions, as a reservoir for our water supply and at the same time, as a dam to control flooding.

Less visible but just as important are the ideas that support defence and national security. Singapore's success hinges on our ability to defend ourselves and preserve our sovereignty. Singapore's lack of strategic depth and natural resources, coupled with an ageing population, mean that we must leverage technology to maintain a credible defence. This is why the engineers and scientists in the Defence Technology Community, or DTC, work hard to imagine and innovate on solutions to existing, as well as future challenges in our security landscape. 

You see this in how, back in the 1970s for example, the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) first ventured into remotely piloted vehicles to address the manpower challenges that it foresaw, and make the most of technological opportunities. The sharp minds across the DTC have innovated further in this area, over the years. They have built unmanned systems specifically suited for Singapore, such as the Autonomous Underwater Vehicle, the Meredith 400, that is designed to navigate and detect underwater mines in our shallow and muddy waters. They were also the first in Singapore to build an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), the V15, which can take off and land vertically. We were also the first in the world to develop an Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) that can navigate without GPS. Such are innovations that have been created over the years.

The scientists and engineers in DSO National Laboratories have even progressed to unmanned teaming, where unmanned systems use smart sensors to "talk" and coordinate with each other. This allows the V15 to take off and land on a moving UGV, while both platforms continue to identify and track vehicles and humans. This confluence of innovations keeps our soldiers safe, while enhancing the SAF's surveillance and intelligence gathering capabilities.

Start Imagining Today

Imagination requires not just inspiration and passion, but also the right environment. I am proud to say that Singapore is one of the better places for aspiring innovators to see their dreams materialise. In the 2018 Bloomberg Innovation Index, we were ranked third due both to our strong focus on education in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and our commitment to research, development and innovation. 

The corporate world has also noticed this too. Many big corporations are now looking to drive their innovations here in Singapore. Companies like Boeing, MasterCard, and Visa, have already set foot on our shores by establishing innovation hubs and centres here. Leading global companies have also selected Singapore as their location of choice for investments in business and research and development, citing our strong protection of Intellectual Property (IP) rights; with over 60,000 IP registered here in 2016, including trademarks and patents.

As Singapore moves forward and towards becoming an Innovation Hub, many programmes are set in place to help young talents, like yourselves present today, discover and develop deep skills and expertise. One example is the Ministry of Education's Applied Learning Programme. Available in both primary and secondary schools, the programme lets students explore fields such as Robotics, Food Sciences, and the Arts. Such initiatives are further reinforced by events like the SAFMC that serve as launch pads for the passions of young engineers and scientists. 

Singapore is also prepared to support and work with you on your ideas. The growth of our investments in research and innovation are commensurate with our desire to build a knowledge-based economy and society. With SGD 19 billion committed to science and technology under the Research, Innovation, and Enterprise 2020 Plan, you need not worry that great ideas will remain ideas for want of funding. So it is not about funding, it is about your innovation and it is about your ideas taking off and taking flight.

This conducive environment is ripe for talented minds to flourish in. A number of past participants in the SAFMC, such as Joshua Chao Jang En and Mr Tay Yiming, have gone on to pursue careers in science and engineering. After taking part in SAFMC in 2011 and 2012, and winning a number of prizes, Joshua went on to join DSO National Laboratories where he came full circle by serving as the SAFMC Category C Technical Deputy Chairperson and Category D Technical Chairperson in 2013 and 2014 respectively. He is now in the UAV industry, as the Head of Engineering at Avetics Global Pte Ltd. For Yiming, in 2013, he conducted the Semi-Autonomous Drone workshop for SAFMC participants when he was part of the NTU Aerospace Society. The next year, he participated in and won prizes at SAFMC 2014. Today, he puts his skills to good use as an Airforce Engineer with the Republic of Singapore Air Force. Joshua and Yiming are both charting meaningful careers, turning their dreams into reality. I believe that all of you here will similarly turn your dreams into reality. So I believe that all of you here will similarly turn your dreams into reality.

Closing

Indeed, looking at the spectacular array of flying machines here today and through the demonstrations that we saw earlier, I want you to consider what possibilities lie ahead as you continue to allow your imagination to take flight. Ten years ago when the SAFMC started, drones were the cutting edge of technologies. Today, drones are a well-known technology that any hobbyist can purchase online. Many of you here have created drones with amazing capabilities that few would have imagined a decade ago. Imagine how much further you will go, in the next ten years and beyond. 

Before I end, I have a few words for the parents and teachers who are here today. Your contribution (and) your effort in creating an environment that is conducive for your children to continue to explore and expand their innovations is something that we fully appreciate. Without a conducive environment in school and at home, I think the minds of our young people can easily be blocked. So my congratulations to all of you also, for being an important partner in this journey that we create creative minds and allow them to expand beyond their horizons that they can see today. 

Let me conclude by quoting Robert Goddard, who summed the path from imagination to innovation and reality well when he said that: "It has often proved true that the dream of yesterday is the hope of today and the reality of tomorrow". To all of you here today, I look forward to the reality of tomorrow that you will shape.

Thank you, and congratulations to every one of you.