At the media briefing- A*STAR shared its Year-in-Review achievements; and how the momentum in RIE2015 has laid the foundation to set the pace on delivering more impactful outcomes for the RIE2020 framework- and Singapore’s future economy.

Key messages: Manufacturing continues to remain a key focus for Singapore’s Future Economy- and A*STAR is continuing to collaborate with industry to deepen capabilities that include advanced technologies and processes for manufacturing- assembly and maintenance- repair and overhaul applications- and more.

In FY 2016- A*STAR worked on more than 1-700 projects with the industry- of which at least half were related to manufacturing. It also deployed over 200 licences to companies- 60 per cent of which were in the manufacturing sector. The research agency also seconded more than 60 research scientists and engineers to local SMEs- about half to companies in the manufacturing sector. There were 17 spin-offs- and A*STAR also attracted more than $220 million in industry R&D spending.

Companies can look forward to closer public-private engagements with A*STAR in the coming years- as A*STAR continues to step up its outreach through initiatives like its Model Factories- OTR- Tech Access- Tech Depot and more.

• Business Times: A*Star to set up two model plants as test beds for new tech and innovation
• Straits Times: More than half of A*Star's research collaborations last year involved manufacturing sector