Fostering sustainable innovation in Singapore

Most Singapore businesses today recognise that sustainability is no longer a ‘nice-to-have’, but an absolute necessity in paving the way for the future. Many companies also view sustainability as a critical element in driving growth in new markets.

91 percent of CEOs report that they will use new technologies to address sustainability over the next five years. However, most CEOs recognise that there is a gap between ambition and implementation.

Pulling back the focus from businesses to Singapore, the government has put in place a number of green initiatives.

The BCA Green Mark Scheme and the Singapore Standard for Green Data Centres push for energy-efficient buildings, while the Green Plan 2012 and Sustainable Singapore Blueprint map out plans for Singapore’s sustainable development. However, as with businesses, Singapore needs the buy-in of its stakeholders to accelerate its progress on sustainability.

Engagement across multiple levels is needed before active citizenry materialises. Academia is the first sensible place to start. As incubators of transformation, universities can foster change through sustainable processes such as ecological design and sustainable documentation.

By developing higher studies in sustainability, a university will also signal the importance for society to seriously drive environmental engagement.

The role of schools cannot be overlooked in a country’s quest for sustainability. Upon education, children can be active, passionate advocates. A consistent, comprehensive outreach programme targeting schoolchildren sets the pace for the next generation, as do hands-on, quotidian initiatives such as recycling and energy conservation that instil lifestyle changes.

NGOs are a vital element in reaching out to the community. Partnering with NGOs – which usually enjoy a high level of public trust – the government can connect with the public to drive action from the ground level up.

The case for sustainable innovation in businesses and Singapore today has never been stronger. “Sustainable innovation” is a creative approach to developing products and services that benefit the health and safety of people, the environment and the economy, while fostering a self-perpetuating climate of innovation.

3D technology is a key enabler of growth, providing a ‘safe space’ for ideas to be shaped into reality while anticipating environmental and social impact. In the virtual environment, specifics from how much raw materials must be harvested, to how the product will be decommissioned or disposed of by the consumer can be defined at the design phase.

Sustainable innovation is not circumscribed to the manufacturing sector. It enables architects in Shanghai, for example, to test the strength of concrete structures virtually, making China's towering new skyscrapers safer and more earthquake-resistant.

In Paris, elite SWAT teams train for high-risk missions in virtual environments before emergencies occur, increasing safety for the public and the police.

Singapore can take intellectual leadership in sustainable innovation in the region by employing simulation while seeking solutions to its own urgent challenges. The country’s small size and lack of natural resources, considered in a traditional economy to be negative factors for growth, is negated by its mature technological landscape and inordinate amount of high-level expertise. The city state can spearhead initiatives that benefit businesses, and society at large.

One of the biggest challenges of a growing population is to curb the generation of waste. Here, Singapore faces a great challenge as recycling still in its infancy in the region.

Singapore’s budding industrial designers are trained to focus on sustainability in design. The Packaging Council of Singapore is making headway in educating the industry on the need for sustainable solutions.

This recognises that a significant contribution needs to be made higher up the supply chain, and that the onus of recycling falls on manufacturers and product designers as much as the consumer.

Above the various recycling processes already in place, Singapore can also explore and champion new processes for reusing and reducing.

As the world looks to renewable energy sources, Singapore is exploring solar and hydro-electric power. Singapore is in a unique position regionally to develop new technologies virtually that can be scaled and exported.

Simulation helps to develop solutions in material science, product development, biotechnology, life sciences as well as areas that may at first seem unlikely – such as city management, health care and terrorism response. In being creative and harnessing the power of technology, Singapore is well poised to grow its intellectual leadership in the region, and foster innovation in knowledge-based strategies for sustainability.