Being RESOURCEful - learning from Mr Chiu Wen Tung, Director, RDD

Ever wondered how Singapore manages to stay competitive economically despite our dearth of natural resoucres? Enter Wen Tung, the RESOURCEful Director of RDD in EDB, to share how Singapore manages to be a leading global player in different industries despite being resource-constrained.

Wen Tung showing division of land use in Singapore

During his hour-long module, Wen Tung shared with participants about how Singapore manages and utilises her scarce resources to ensure success in developing new industries. He gave insights on Singapore's strategies to overcome and work around resources limitations to secure global leadership positions in Electronics, Biomedical Sciences, Transport Engineering and Chemicals. (Additionally, Wen Tung also impressed the participants by quoting acurate facts and figures from memory!)

Wen Tung emphasing proper land planning as the key to success

Wen Tung emphaised the importance of availability of land being a critical prerequisite before developing any industry and highlighted the importance of proper land planning, citing case studies such as Jurong Island as examples. Contestants also participated in a discussion on stretching supply and managing demand of land use in Singapore, giving their views on how Singapore should utilise her precious land. There was also a discussion on Singapore's population hitting the magic number of "6.5 million" within the next 40 years (or even sooner), a controversial issue which garnered many questions from the participants.

Ultimately, Wen Tung highlighted the need for balance when solving these sensitive issues relating to resource allocation and use. He ended his engaging presenation by leaving the participants with 3 key questions to guide them during their discussions:

1. What resources do we need?
2. Is this industry suitable for Singapore in view of resouce contraints?
3. How do we optimize the use of resources?

Time to get resourceful guys!