Dr Kog Yue Choong, Deputy Chairman, NUS Council
Distinguished guests
Members of the NUS community

1. Introduction

We have just witnessed the launching of NUS's new corporate identity. Our new identity signifies vigor, vitality, energy, optimism and boldness. It embodies three hallmarks of a global knowledge enterprise - creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship. Indeed, the new corporate identity captures NUS's vision.

Let me take you back in time. In my Inaugural Address last year, I set out a vision for NUS to become a boundaryless organization and a global knowledge enterprise. An enterprise has stakeholders. All of you here today - students, alumni, faculty and staff - are stakeholders of this enterprise. The local and international standing of this university affects all of you as well as your present and future careers. As the stock value of this enterprise rises, so will the value of your affiliation to NUS, whatever form it takes. Thus, every one of us has a role to play in helping NUS realize its vision.

Courage and bold vision make nations great. Take Singapore, for example. Just over three decades ago, Singapore started as a third-world economy. Today, Singapore has become a first-world economy and can boast of world-class airport and airline, a world-class seaport and soon, world-class financial institutions and business enterprises. Singapore is what it is today because of foresight and boldness of vision. We live in a time of great promise. To realize our promise, NUS too, must have the boldness of vision.

2. NUS Report Card

In my Inaugural Address, I spoke of promoting an environment for knowledge to grow and ferment. We must nurture the imagination and ignite the passion to learn, innovate and create knowledge. Now, I like to speak of our progress made over the last twelve months towards becoming a global knowledge enterprise.

2.1 International Standing

I am delighted to report on some of NUS's achievements. In the year 2000, NUS was ranked third in academic standing among the leading multidisciplinary universities in Asia and Australia and an overall fifth place by Asiaweek. In addition, our MBA program continues to enjoy high ranking in surveys conducted by Asia, Inc, Asiaweek and the Financial Times of London. Our Law Faculty won the 2001 Jessup International Law Moot Court for the fourth time and is the only law school to have achieved several wins.

Research output in the Science Citation Index increased by 4% in the year 2000 to reach about 2300 papers published in international journals. There is also an increase in number of papers appearing in the top quality journals. This high level of research output places NUS within the top two universities in Australia, the top ten universities in UK, and the top sixty universities in USA. Similarly, the research output in the Social Science Citation Index increased by 8% in the year 2000 to reach about 210 papers published in international journals. NUS has made it to the prestigious league of Extensive Doctoral/Research Universities by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions.

2.2 Education Innovations

NUS can take pride in having pioneered new approaches to education which have received international recognition. The University Scholars Program, formed through the merger of the Core Curriculum Program and the Talent Development Program, is pioneering new modes of learning and discovery. The Scholars Program draws the brightest students from different faculties into an environment that catalyzes their intellectual passion and stretches them to their utmost. The Scholars Program also aims to nurture a pool of brilliant students by developing their potential for leadership and intellectual excellence. This innovative program can be a magnet for attracting top foreign talent - faculty and students - to NUS.

In parallel, NUS has developed General Education Modules (GEMs in short). Through GEMs, students in all faculties will enjoy access to richer educational experiences that cut across the boundaries of subject specializations. GEMs expose students to bodies of knowledge as well as modes of inquiry in disciplines other than those offered in their own faculty. GEMs will empower our students with breadth of knowledge as well as critical and creative thinking skills for independent life-long learning and inquiry.

NUS has completed a comprehensive review of the Life Sciences curriculum. A cross-disciplinary approach has been adopted for education and research in Life Sciences at the undergraduate and graduate levels. A basic module or two is now part of many degree programs, including Engineering and Computing. These modules provide an understanding of an area where knowledge is expanding at an exponential rate and whose applications will have an important impact upon the lives of the present and coming generations.

New multidisciplinary programs are being offered at NUS. One example is the Information and Communications Management (ICM) Program conducted jointly by the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences and the School of Computing. Students have taken to this course enthusiastically. They have been quick to see that this program will equip them with broad skills relevant to the knowledge-driven global economy.

Another example is the Design Technology Institute (or DTI). DTI will train engineers who can marry technology with aesthetics. In an age of affluence, high value-add comes from developing and marketing emotional products that enhance self-image. For engineers to be effective, their designs must play to the human senses and emotions. While the Faculty of Engineering is one of the key players in this program, I have asked the School of Design and Environment to join in this endeavor.

2.3 Spawning New Knowledge Areas

NUS has built a strong intellectual foundation for the spawning of new knowledge areas. I like to highlight two such areas.

In the humanities and social sciences, we have set up a university-level Institute for Asian Research (or IAR in short). IAR will promote NUS as a center of excellence in Asian research, focusing on cultural and social changes in Asia as Asia emerges as a global powerhouse. This institute will adopt a cross-disciplinary approach and leverage upon the intellectual strengths in the Faculties of Arts & Social Sciences, Business Administration and Law.

The Institute for Mathematical Sciences (or IMS) is another initiative which builds upon NUS's strength in niche areas. IMS will provide a platform for local researchers and top international experts in mathematical sciences to interact and collaborate. Modeled after successful mathematical institutes in Europe and North America, IMS aims to build up mathematical research capabilities as well as train promising mathematical scientists. The Institute will focus not only on mathematics but also on multidisciplinary applications of mathematics.

2.4 Going Into Life Sciences

Today, we stand at the frontier of a life science revolution that promises to unravel the mystery of life, and to extend both the longevity and quality of life with far-reaching consequences.

I am pleased that NUS has launched the Office of Life Sciences. This Office will spearhead basic and translational research in an interdisciplinary environment and build up critical effort levels in targeted areas. To achieve this, the Office has been charged with the following:

• coordinate all NUS educational and research initiatives related to the Life Sciences and build up cross-disciplinary research through leveraging expertise residing in faculties of Medicine, Dentistry, Science, Engineering and Computing;
• promote symbiotic relationships with national research institutes, the Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS), the Institute of Molecular Agrobiology (IMA), the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB), Bioinformatics Institute (BII), Institute for Materials Research and Engineering (IMRE) and the Bioprocessing Technology Center (BTC);
• foster partnerships with hospitals including Johns Hopkins, National University Hospital to provide platforms for scientists and clinicians to execute translational research at its best and bring discoveries from the laboratories to the patients; and
• develop university-level effort with Faculties of Law, Arts and Social Sciences to evaluate the implications of life sciences on the ethical, legal and social fabric of our country.

The Office of Life Sciences has also put in place a Young Scientist Award Program to identify, groom and nurture the best and brightest. This program will fund these promising scientists for a period of three years to carry out interdisciplinary research of high impact in the Life Sciences.

2.5 Strategic Collaborations

NUS has entered into several strategic collaborations and let me highlight two.

We continue to expand our global classroom. The Singapore-MIT Alliance (SMA), an innovative global engineering education and research initiative between Singapore and MIT, has grown from strength to strength. This year, two new programs have been added, bringing the total to five; NUS hosts four of the five programs. The students enrolled in the SMA are top students from all across Asia and the extraordinary talent they bring with them enriches NUS's intellectual climate. SMA has set a new paradigm in its extensive use of state-of-the-art distance learning via an Internet2 connection that brings graduate students from MIT and Singapore together in one virtual classroom.

NUS is also contributing to national development and defense. NUS's Temasek Laboratories collaborates with Defence Science and Technology Agency to develop defense technology R&D capability. Temasek Labs will conduct cutting-edge research in critical areas of science and technology, such as aerodynamics, electromagnetics, electromagnetic materials and information security. In addition, it will train research scientists and engineers to undertake advanced defense R & D.

2.6 NUS Reaching to the Region and Beyond

In the past year, NUS has successfully organised and hosted several international conferences covering key disciplinary areas. I like to highlight two conferences.

This July, NUS, together with the Institute of Materials Research and Engineering, hosted the International Conference on Materials for Advanced Technologies (or ICMAT 2001). Advanced materials are enablers for all four pillars of Singapore's manufacturing economy: electronics, chemicals, engineering and the life sciences. The conference brought together more than 1400 members of the international scientific and materials research community. This multidisciplinary forum provided a valuable platform for our research scientists and engineers to learn first-hand some of the new directions in materials research as well as share and exchange ideas with some of the best minds in the field.

ICMAT 2001 attracted four Nobel laureates to Singapore. This is a first. In addition to conducting plenary sessions in their areas of specialization, the Nobel laureates also gave public lectures to our students and the public.

NUS also recently hosted the second of the International Conference series on Fundamental Sciences covering biological and chemical sciences. Biology and chemistry, the interface between them as well as the related sciences, constitute the disciplinary core of the life sciences. This conference attracted about 350 local and international scientists including eminent researchers.

Through the conferences' public lectures sponsored by NUS, we have continued to play a vital role in inspiring Singapore's young and firing their imaginations to take a deeper interest in science and technology. We have also reached out to a wider community to win public and private support for our intellectual and scientific endeavors.

3. NUS Going Global

3.1 The Global Eco-System

People have asked me, "Why do we need to globalize? Why go through all this pain? Haven't we done enough already?" "Well," I tell them, "the world has changed and Singapore has to change too."

Let me tell you a story. During my years in North America, I did quite a lot of sport fishing. I started out fishing in streams and ponds in the Adirondack Mountains. I sat on the bank and used a simple hook and line to fish for trout. Trout were easy to catch and handle. They had no scales, and I could grab them with my bare hands and easily remove the hooks from their mouths.

Then I moved up-market to lake fishing. My fishing companions and I fished in lakes joined to the St. Lawrence River, the major seaway to the Atlantic Ocean. We had a boat and better equipment. Lake fish are a tougher breed. They always put up a good fight before they can finally be pulled in.

From lake fishing, I ventured into ocean fishing. Fishing in the Atlantic Ocean off Cape Cod was a completely different game. We went out in a trawler and were given heavier equipment. On my first trip, I caught this one particular fish - it was a small fish, smaller than the typical fish I had so often caught in the lakes. But what a fierce fight it put up before I could pull it in! It was no more than 20 cm long and no heavier than half a kilo. I was disappointed - all that effort for a tiny fish! I stuck my finger into its mouth to dislodge the hook, something I had done hundreds of times before. This time, I yelled in pain. The fish had bitten right through my glove and into my right index finger. Blood oozed out. In my pain, I lost my grip on the fish and it fell back into the ocean.

I went to the trawler captain for some first-aid. Looking at my punctured, bleeding finger, he said, "You must be a first-timer at ocean fishing. Today we have encountered a school of bluefish. Pound for pound, they are stronger and fiercer than fish in ponds and lakes. They have sharp teeth and are voracious eaters. You should have used pliers to dislodge the hook. You're lucky you didn't catch a bigger bluefish or you would have had lost your finger. In fact, many a fisherman has lost a finger or two."

So what did I learn? Ocean fish have adapted to survive in a tough environment. To eat quickly and swim swiftly away from the bigger fish, they have developed streamlined bodies, hard scales, powerful muscles, and sharp teeth.

3.2 NUS in the Global Eco-System

Why am I telling you this story? This story centers on the reality of survival in a competitive eco-system. We can ill afford to create little ponds and live like little fish in isolated bodies of water. Little ponds comfortably sustain non-competitive life forms that grow fat and complacent. We must not allow this state to develop. Instead, we must connect all our little ponds to create a lake and adapt to a larger and more complex environment. We will then be ready to connect our lake eco-system to the vast ocean of eco-systems - to run against real competition.

In other words, we have to see NUS as a living and permeable eco-system of small and large ponds. We have to remove boundaries between departments and faculties to form dynamic inter-disciplinary groups, to push educational reform, and to create distinctive research strengths. But the eco-system that I speak of is more than just education and research. This eco-system encompasses culture, mindsets, strategies, practices and metrics of the whole organization.

The global eco-system has created intense competition for talent, ideas and capital. They flow quickly, unimpeded by boundaries. Furthermore, education and research have become a fast-moving growth industry. There are no barriers or boundaries against entry into this industry. And this industry attracts big, voracious fish and will draw even more. As you know, Singapore is expanding its higher education sector. More and more foreign universities will set up campuses here. The big fish are already here and they are swimming in our waters.

In his scientific masterpiece, "The Origin of Species," Charles Darwin said: "It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change."

In the global eco-system, these words are compelling. To survive, NUS has to respond to change. To become stronger and leaner to swim in this vast ocean, NUS has to strive for global academic and entrepreneurial excellence.

4. NUS Enterprise

4.1 Developing One University, Two Systems

Academic excellence and creative enterprise must now be the dual roles of NUS, and there should be synergy between the two. For this, a fundamental paradigm shift is needed.

Today, I am pleased to announce the formation of NUS Enterprise. NUS Enterprise will be our Free Enterprise Zone. This will be a zone where innovation and creativity are freed from traditional rules, allowing greater flexibility and faster response. The NUS Enterprise will be a platform to push the boundaries of best entrepreneur practices and to launch major innovations.

In effect, NUS will become one university, two systems. One system supports academic programs. This academic-scholarship oriented system remains the mainstay of NUS. The other, the NUS Enterprise, supports creative entrepreneurship. The two-system paradigm will allow each to excel in their respective domains.

NUS Enterprise will be a fast-paced conduit for the University to recruit practice-oriented professors drawn from the movers and shakers of industry. With their firsthand knowledge and experience in dynamic enterprises, these experts can offer an array of entrepreneurship courses to NUS students. These courses are aimed at developing students' entrepreneurial skills and igniting their entrepreneurial passion.

The two-system paradigm also promotes a holistic approach to research. Experience in leading North American universities show that strong research programs often encompass fundamental study, application development and adaptation for commercial exploitation. In turn, the processes of application development and commercial exploitation can pose new questions that form the basis for initiating new research efforts. These synergistic processes will strengthen our research culture.

NUS Enterprise will report directly to the Vice-Chancellor's Office, and I will oversee the recruitment of its senior leadership.

4.2 NUS College in Silicon Valley

To launch NUS Enterprise, we have set up NUS College in Silicon Valley. This College targets students who demonstrate both academic ability and entrepreneurial drive. These students will be immersed in the competitive corporate culture and entrepreneurial environment in Silicon Valley as well as provided with quality educational experiences. The aim is for these students to develop into enterprising, resourceful, independent self-starters and eventually blossom into successful entrepreneurs.

Students in the NUS College in Silicon Valley will be placed on a special fast-track combined Bachelor's and Master's program. They will spend a year in Silicon Valley where they will be full-time interns with technology companies and part-time students at a university in Silicon Valley. By combining academic study and corporate exposure, our students will be engaged in a total learning experience that is both intellectual and entrepreneurial.

NUS and Stanford have entered into an agreement that takes effect in January 2002. This agreement allows our students in the NUS College in Silicon Valley to enroll in entrepreneurship courses offered to regular Stanford students. The agreement also provides for joint course development and research collaboration in technopreneurship.

Beyond Silicon Valley, NUS will look into establishing similar colleges in other entrepreneurial hubs, possibly Boston and Shanghai. Eventually, NUS Enterprise will comprise a network of colleges in major entrepreneurial hubs of the world.

To soar to new heights, we have to be bold. Yes, NUS Enterprise is a bold venture. But we are not risk averse. NUS Enterprise is a calculated risk to fuel the entrepreneurial drive. With this Enterprise in place, I am optimistic that within ten years, NUS would have planted the seeds for ten "Creative Technologies". It is our hope that, one of them will grow to the size and reach of Singapore Airlines.

5. Looking Ahead - Promise and Peril

We are stakeholders of an organization at a time of great promise as well as peril.

Why do I say that this is a time of great promise? Because the knowledge-driven global economy revolves around talents, ideas and capital and Singapore can be a player. But we must change and move quickly. Recalling what Darwin said, it is not the strongest of the species that survives, but the one most responsive to change. Herein lies our promise. Our country is committed to developing a knowledge hub that will support Singapore's industries and services. But this has to be accomplished within a relatively narrow window of time. Can NUS adapt fast enough to play a critical role in helping Singapore build its knowledge hub?

We also live in a time of peril. The global marketplace has voracious, sharp-toothed fish adapted to compete fiercely for talent, ideas and capital. In this competition, Singapore has natural handicaps. The established knowledge hubs of the world are found in the Northern Hemisphere - North America, Europe and North East Asia. They have critical numbers in talent, vibrant research culture and synergistic partnerships between universities and industries. Increasingly, disproportionately large shares of talent, ideas and capital are flowing to these hubs. In competing with these hubs, Singapore does not have a clear advantage. Therefore, we have to strive harder, go the extra mile to outrun the competition.

But before we can even think of outrunning the competition, we have to know how the game is played internationally? For example, if we want to play soccer like how the rest of the world plays, we cannot build half-sized soccer fields. We know Changi Airport does not operate with half-sized runways. To go that extra mile, we need to create the requisite infrastructure and supporting systems that come up to and even surpass international standards for knowledge hubs.

This leads me to the next question. What does it take for Singapore to sustain a knowledge hub? Before I answer this, let me quote from our Senior Minister who spoke of Singapore's promise, peril and shared destiny.

In his memoirs "From Third World to First, the Singapore Story 1965 to 2000," Senior Minister said: "The future [of Singapore] is as full of promise as it is fraught with uncertainty ... That we have succeeded in the last three decades does not ensure our doing so in the future."

On another occasion, Senior Minister also said, "It takes a shared destiny to create a nation."

We know that a shared destiny is the outcome of the collective and cumulative efforts of the whole community to shape society and country. A shared destiny also speaks of people's hopes and aspirations for the future and pulling together through promise and peril.

NUS and Singapore have a shared destiny. NUS will rise and fall with Singapore. Others may come and go with the weather, but NUS is here to stay. We will share Singapore's triumphs and tribulations.

I believe NUS is an organization with great potential. Now, I ask each and every one of us to pull together to help Singapore create a knowledge hub for a better tomorrow. Let me put this challenge before you - that we move together with boldness to make NUS a critical player for Singapore's knowledge hub.

In closing, let me leave this question for you to ponder: What will be the opportunity cost of not developing NUS into a global knowledge enterprise that will support Singapore's aspiration to become a knowledge hub?

Thank you.