Strengthening Singapore’s Scientific Foundations for the Next Decade

OPENING REMARKS BY PROF TAN CHORH CHUAN, CHAIRMAN A*STAR, AT SINGAPORE SCIENTIFIC CONFERENCE (SSC), 9 DEC 2025

Good morning and I would like to add my very warm welcome to our distinguished speakers and delegates, especially those who have travelled from overseas to share your ideas and expertise at this conference.

This year, Singapore marks 60 years of independence. SG60 commemorates the remarkable progress our nation has made over the past 6 decades. Those of us who have lived through this period know first-hand what it means to move so quickly from mudflats to metropolis.

The 2025 Singapore Scientific Conference marks the R&D advances made in Singapore and their contributions to our economy and society. We are coming to the end of the current 5-year research, innovation and enterprise funding tranche, or RIE2025, and we see continued strong progress in our basic research achievements and talent. Industry R&D expenditures have risen significantly, and our tech start-up ecosystem has grown. Our research strengths have made societal impact in many areas - from health to coastal protection against climate change, from responding to the COVID-19 pandemic to improving heat resilience.

Last Friday, Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced the RIE2030 plan with a budget of $37 billion, a 32% increase from the previous 5-year budget. RIE2030 will focus on three key areas:

• Using R&D to advance Singapore’s economic and strategic priorities;
• Further strengthening our talent base and basic research, and
• Building strong capabilities in AI, data and compute to enable cutting-edge research and innovation.
  This last topic is the one I would like to focus on this morning.

Building cutting-edge AI/Data/Compute capabilities

AI, data, and compute are transforming research and its translation. Discoveries that once took years can now be done much more quickly. This acceleration is made possible today because of the convergence of advanced algorithms, data, simulation and powerful compute.

In RIE2030, we aim to build cutting-edge AI, data and compute capabilities. We will do so by doubling down on ongoing efforts, launching new initiatives, and connecting them synergistically.

Let me start with our National AI R&D plan. We will push further on its most crucial goal which is to attract and nurture the diverse types of top talent required for research and application. We will establish three basic AI research centres of excellence and push the application of AI in research and science. A major focus in RIE2030 will applying AI to advance key economic and strategic areas.

On data, we have already built a data framework and system that enables trusted and secure analysis of data across health research and health datasets. In RIE2030, we will enhance this, and also extend the trusted data system to research and innovation areas outside the health sector. We also plan to grow strong new computational capabilities spanning classical high performance, hybrid and quantum computing.

We will bring these AI, data and compute capabilities together synergistically, and with a focus on three aspects:

• First, to build communities where there is close interaction between domain researchers, AI experts, data and computational scientists. This will promote cross-learning across disciplines and spur collaboration.
• Second, to recruit and develop a critical mass of domain experts who can speak and understand the language of AI and compute, and vice versa.
• Third, to have bold, ambitious and exciting research and innovation initiatives that inspire researchers, innovators, companies and agencies to come together to pursue them.

In Singapore, we will be pushing further on all these fronts, and we believe we would be able to create a truly exciting environment and platforms for breakthrough ideas, research and innovation,

A new research institute in A*STAR

The Agency for Science Technology and Research, or A*STAR, is a major pillar in these efforts. A*STAR hosts the National Supercomputing Centre and the National Quantum Office. It also leads or contributes to a large number of programmes involving AI, data and compute. Nevertheless, A*STAR can do even more to contribute to the overarching national vision for AI, data and compute.

A*STAR will therefore be forming a new research institute by bringing together the A*STAR Institute for Infocomm Research (A*STAR I²R) and the A*STAR Institute of High Performance Computing (A*STAR IHPC). This integration brings the full stack of data, AI and compute capabilities under one roof.

The new research institute builds on strong existing capabilities of both institutes — each recognised for excellence in AI, computing, and innovation — and will position A*STAR to take on bigger and bolder challenges. It will also serve as a horizontal platform that supports major national efforts in AI, high-performance computing, hybrid quantum-classical systems, and large-scale digital twins.

The researchers and staff involved are still working on the areas of focus, but it is envisioned that the new institute will develop scalable, efficient and trustworthy intelligent systems with frontier capabilities in areas such as:

• AI for X (where X refers to the key scientific and industry areas selected);
• Compute-efficient architectures, domain-specific AI foundational models
• Applied AI and AI Engineering

By combining AI-native modelling, physics-informed AI and advanced compute (from GPUs to emerging quantum systems) the institute aims to speed up science and engineering research, generate insights within the same day, and validate work designs earlier.

A strong emphasis will be placed on talent — particularly in developing ‘bilingual researchers’ who are fluent in both AI/compute and the scientific or industry domains they support

Closing: A Call to Collaboration

Singapore of course cannot make needle-moving impact in these areas by itself – we would actively look for and work with partners in Singapore and around the world, in academia and industry, to:

• continue advancing foundational AI and quantum computing research.
• co-develop AI systems that are trustworthy, human-centric, and sustainable.
• And test-bed and scale innovations.

The promise is to build a wider networked ecosystem where discoveries reach society faster, where frontier research moves to scalable deployment at speed; and where innovation drives a more sustainable future for Singapore and the world. Thank you.

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About the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR)

The Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) is Singapore's lead public sector R&D agency. Through open innovation, we collaborate with our partners in both the public and private sectors to benefit the economy and society. As a Science and Technology Organisation, A*STAR bridges the gap between academia and industry. Our research creates economic growth and jobs for Singapore, and enhances lives by improving societal outcomes in healthcare, urban living, and sustainability. A*STAR plays a key role in nurturing scientific talent and leaders for the wider research community and industry. A*STAR’s R&D activities span biomedical sciences to physical sciences and engineering, with research entities primarily located in Biopolis and Fusionopolis.