At a Bangkok Bank-hosted event on Monday evening, Professor Arnoud De Meyer, president of Singapore Management University, said the island state’s government showed total commitment towards innovation.

Moreover, the environment – particularly strong intellectual-property protection and financial facilities – encourages private companies to act quickly when it comes to innovation, while the third element is the country’s goal to be an advanced economy, he said.

“Singapore has chosen to be a high-cost country, so its citizens have a high quality of life. In this regard, there are risks of losing out, so it must be more innovative,” De Meyer said.

“Southeast Asia as a whole needs to move up in the value chain, with rising competition from China, India and even Africa. It needs to avoid the middle-income trap.”

At the event, Science and Technology Minister Pichet Durongkaveroj reiterated Thailand’s political will to improve innovation.

Addressing an audience that included Singaporean executives in Thailand, he said tax incentives were in place to lure R&D activities, while the “Talent Mobility” scheme – which frees researchers from academic work in order to assist private companies – was currently improving the environment for R&D and innovation.

With the overall goal of pushing national R&D spending to 0.8 per cent of gross domestic product this year from 0.48 per cent in 2015, the minister urged the private sector to take the lead.

According to Professor Low Teck Seng, chief executive officer of the Singapore’s National Research Foundation, the city-state has invested hugely and relentlessly in its bid to lead the global innovation stage.

Chaired by the prime minister and having health, education and trade and investment ministers as board members, the NRF was set up in 1990 to be the main vehicle in pursuing this target.

Between 1991, when the “National Technology Plan” was implemented, and 2015, the agency spent 42 billion Singapore dollars (about Bt1.09 trillion at the current exchange rate) on funding strategic initiatives and building up R&D capabilities by nurturing research talent, he said.

Human capital was highlighted during this period, and a network of the top 10 universities in the world with Singapore’s universities and academic organisations was created.

These talents are hooked up with the private business world, through consortia in selected industries such as aerospace, spintronics and medical technology, Low said.

There are schemes where one company can work with a particular university, one university with many companies, and many companies with many universities. Without collaboration, the universities would be left out of the NRF’s funding, the foundation’s CEO explained.

“We encourage all to work together, something that is called value capture in Singapore,” he said.

In January, Singapore’s prime minister, Lee Hsien Loong, unveiled a S$19-billion government plan to support the country’s R&D efforts between this year and 2020, equivalent to 1 per cent of GDP.

This investment is aimed at capitalising on technology the country already has, in order to seek solutions to today’s challenges like water, energy, ageing and mobility – technology that can be offered to cities worldwide.

“Whatever we put in, it should benefit the citizens of Singapore and address where Singapore’s next investment will come from,” Low said, adding, “Clearly, we have a long way to go.”

Singapore was ranked seventh in business school Insead’s latest Global Innovation Index, released in 2015, and first for “innovation input”. However, Low is convinced the country has a lot more to do, given that it was ranked 20th for “innovation output” and 100th for “innovation efficiency”.

“We realise R&D is a key pillar for driving economic growth. We clearly see science and technology is driving the next phase of growth,” he said, noting that the nation’s GDP growth and R&D spending had grown almost in parallel in the past.

“We’re concerned that we won’t invest as much [as required] for the next stage,” he told Monday’s audience.

Impressed with Singapore’s success, Pichet said Thailand was currently in a “soul-searching” process to find its focus.

At the event, Bangkok Bank president Chartsiri Sophonpanich unveiled the bank’s partnership with Singapore Management University to drive innovation in Thailand.

In his speech, he said innovation mattered more to the world amid challenges from urbanisation, globalisation and digitisation.