The Leaders in Science Forum is the opening event for the one-north Festival, a five-day public celebration of research, science, and innovation. The forum covers salient tech-policy issues of the day, with an audience this year of over 400 thought leaders, senior executives, scientists, technologists, innovators, policy makers, entrepreneurs and academics.

The theme of this year’s Leaders in Science Forum was “Innovating for a Sustainable Future”. Forum speakers addressed tech-policy innovations required in a fast-changing technology landscape, and also discussed sustainability and its implications on science and society.

Mr Masagos Zulkifli, Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, delivered the opening address, emphasising how Singapore needs to put science and technology at the centre of our sustainability strategy, and how the complexity of the challenges we face demands a multi-sectoral and multi-disciplinary approach to innovation.

He also spoke about Singapore’s move towards a circular economy and the importance of having good scientific talent who can educate and communicate science to the general public, and stoke a passion for sustainability in others, especially in our youth.

In interviews with the media, Professor Alfred Huan, Executive Director of A*STAR’s Urban and Green Tech Office and the Institute of Materials Research and Engineering, reiterated the ways in which science and technology can provide technical answers to the problems of today, for example using technology to sort waste more easily and efficiently, and that the public also had a part to play in embracing sustainability as a way of life.