Speech By Mr Teo Chee Hean, Deputy Prime Minister And Minister for Defence, at Young Defence Scientists Programme Congress 2011

Students,
Principals and school representatives,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Good Afternoon.

Singapore: Against all Odds, a Culture of InnovationAs a small country faced with enduring geo-strategic limitations such as resources, manpower and space, Singapore's survival and progress is intertwined with our ability to find innovative solutions to overcome these inherent challenges.

This culture and spirit of innovation, to think out of the box and to constantly reinvent ourselves, has also ensured that we survive and remain relevant to the global economy.

A good example is water which is a critical resource for our survival. We are short of water but we have managed by sheer effort, innovation and creativity to turn this adversity into an advantage. By developing companies and technologies we can become world leaders in this area of science.

By exploiting advanced technologies and water treatment techniques to produce potable water, we aim to be self-sufficient in water one day.

Another example is Singapore's Changi Airport which retains its position as the world's leading airport through using new technologies to produce service innovation.

Its latest efforts include introducing the world's first Infrared Internet Access Kiosk, a biometrics-based automated immigration system, and an integrated multi-level baggage security screening system.

Innovation is also key to the building up of the Singapore Armed Forces' (SAF) fighting capabilities.

What the SAF lacks in numbers, it makes up for by leveraging on technology and defence R&D in a way that takes advantage of our small but highly educated population as a force multiplier to enhance its overall effectiveness.

Since the setting-up of what was called the Electronic Test Centre in 1972 - the brainchild of our first Defence Minister the late Dr Goh Keng Swee - our defence technology capabilities have grown into an entire defence ecosystem comprising the Defence Science and Technology Agency (DSTA), DSO National Laboratories, the SAF, our local defence industry such as Singapore Technologies Engineering, and the research institutes of A*STAR and our universities.

Our defence engineers and scientists work at the forefront of defence science and technology where they are constantly challenged to deliver the next scientific breakthrough and transform old way of doing things for the SAF.

In the area of unmanned technology, for instance, the research at DSO is enabling the SAF to become an increasingly sophisticated user of unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs.

Since the development of Singapore's own mini UAVs, DSO's engineers have over the years built up capabilities to design more robust and compact radio frequency modules which allow for better communication and control of the UAV.

The smaller payload allows the UAVs to carry more fuel and remain in the air to gather information for a longer period of time for enhanced battlefield situation awareness.

The resulting reduced load on our soldiers also enhances their mobility and effectiveness on the battlefield. The work that DSO does in UAV's is not confined to the aerial vehicle but also to the information that the UAV sends back. By processing in many clever ways , they are able to derive the maximum amount of information from the data that the UAVs collect.

The Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN), DSTA, DSO National Laboratories and ST Electronics (Info Software Systems) also jointly developed the Comprehensive Maritime Awareness (CMA) system, the first of its kind in the region.

Our engineers developed a secure web-based portal that allows our Navy and local and international agencies to collaborate on a common information-sharing network, while DSTA and DSO engineers designed a flexible yet robust information management engine that allows users to pool information from various sources and to "connect the dots" between real-time and archived data.

This allows users to make sense of the complex maritime domain by identifying trends so that enforcement agencies can counter emerging threats more effectively. Our information fusion centre in Changi Naval Base has now got about ten liaison officers from different countries attached to it, and is linked to maritime information centres all over the world.

Going forward, the 3rd Generation SAF and beyond will be even more technology intensive than before.

Singapore therefore needs to grow a strong community of capable and committed defence engineers and scientists who will continue to push boundaries and exploit technology in new ways to give the SAF that extra edge.

How far we can go will be limited only by the drive, imagination and resourcefulness of our future defence scientists and engineers. Accordingly, the Young Defence Scientists Programme, or YDSP, aims to inspire and bring out the innovator in you.

It goes beyond textbook learning in the different scientific fields of Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics and Computer Science, and seeks to channel your strong interest and passion in these areas into creative and practical solutions for challenging defence problems. Through the YDSP activities, you have been given opportunities to work with our defence scientists and engineers, and to have a glimpse of the infinite possibilities in defence technology. I am happy to learn that two teams of budding young talents have excelled in their research projects and will be presenting their findings today.

The first team of Li Xuan Ji and Kuan Xiang Wen from the NUS High School of Mathematics and Science have devised an algorithm which will help improve the processing speed of software error detection programmes.

Their work has the potential to boost IT security significantly by helping programmers and security analysts find and fix bugs, and guard against possible malicious cyber attacks.

Prakash Prasanth of ACS (Independent) and Chong Bing Shen of River Valley High School form the second team.

They investigated the various factors which affect the tensile strength of braided textile composites.

Their analysis of the micro-structures and tensile properties of these composites could eventually be useful in the design and manufacture of protective equipment such as light armour, helmets and riot shields. I look forward to learning more about their research.

This year, 60 young student mathematicians and physicists will be presented with the YDSP Academic Awards.Another 31 students will also receive the YDSP Scholarships.

My heartiest congratulations to all of you.

I hope that you have all enjoyed the YDSP activities.

It is important that you enjoy what you are doing and are passionate about it. And that's the kind of spirit that we want to see among the best engineers and scientists in the defence ecosystem.

I wish you every success in your studies, and hope that one day, you too will be able to harness leading-edge technology and make a difference to the defence and security of Singapore.

Thank you very much.