Oral History Interview with Ho Kwon Ping: Conceptualising SMU

This is an abridged version of the original interview. Please contact the Library at [email protected] for access to the full version of the transcript and/or audio recording.</p

Knowledge Sources of Innovation in a Small, Open Economy: The Case of Singapore

By tracing the flows of patent citation of prior patents and scientific journal articles, we investigate the sources of knowledge for innovation output in Singapore, a small, highly open economy that has traditionally been significantly dependent on foreign multinational corporations (MNCs). We found that the local production of new knowledge by indigenous Singaporean firms depends disproportionately on technological knowledge produced by MNCs with operational presence in Singapore and scientific knowledge generated by foreign universities. Locally produced new knowledge by indigenous firms and local universities constitute an insignificant, albeit rapidly growing, source for innovation in Singapore.innovation system, patent citation, Singapore, knowledge sources

The Impact of R&D on the Singapore Economy:An Empirical Evaluation

Much of the literature on the impact of R&D on economic performance is founded on the advanced countries, where the intensity of R&D expenditure has been relatively high and stable for many years. In this paper, we provide empirical estimates of the impact of R&D on the economic growth of a Newly Industrialised Economy, Singapore, where R&D expenditure intensity has been low initially, bur rising rapidly in recent years. The Cobb-Douglas based analysis provided empirical evidence that R&D investment in Singapore had a significant impact on its total factor productivity performance in the last 20 years and established a long-term equilibrium relationship between R&D investments and TFP. However, compared to the OECD nations, the impact of R&D investment on economic growth in Singapore is not as strong, as evidenced by lower estimated elasticity values. The long run elasticity of output with respect to R&D was computed to be 8.1% for Singapore compared to long run elasticities of over 10% estimated by other researchers for OECD countries. This suggests that Singapore still has some way to go in catching up with the advanced nations in terms of R&D productivity. This not only means increasing the level of R&D intensity in Singapore but also more efficient exploitation of domestic R&D activity.Economic Growth, R&D Expenditure, Total Factor Productivity

Availability of Financing, Regulatory Business Costs and National Entrepreneurial Propensity

In this paper, we focus on two barriers to entry that may hinder the formation of new firms: capital requirements and regulatory business cost. The contribution of this paper is twofold: we compare the availability of different types of financing sources to address the issue of capital requirement and we utilise a new measure of business cost by constructing a composite index using data from the World Bank’s Doing Business Database. Using cross-sectional data on 37 countries that participated in the 2002 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, we examine the effect of availability of financing and regulatory business costs on the propensity of three different types of entrepreneurial activity:opportunity-driven, necessity driven and high-growth potential new firm formation. The availability of three types of financing sources is analysed: traditional debt financing, venture capital financing, and informal investments. The findings show that only informal investments significantly influence the propensity to be entrepreneurs. Regulatory business costs were found to deter opportunity driven entrepreneurship, but had no impact on other types of entrepreneurial activity.entrepreneurial activity, financing, venture capital, informal investment, business cost

Singapore as an innovative city in East Asia : an explorative study of the perspectives of innovative industries

The city-state of Singapore has achieved rapid economic development in the past by its positioning as an efficient business hub in Asia. To remain competitive in the global knowledge economy, however, Singapore needs to move beyond efficiency by developing a strong"innovative"edge as well. This paper examines the challenges that Singapore faces in seeking to do so through an explorative survey of 40 firms from three innovative sectors: high-tech manufacturing industries, knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS), and creative content industries. Overall, while the survey confirms Singapore's continuing competitive strength in efficiency infrastructure, it also finds a favorable perception of Singapore as an innovative city. Indeed, many of the industry actors indicated that an efficient business infrastructure is a prerequisite for locating their innovative activities in Singapore, suggesting that the relationship between innovation and efficiency is complementary, rather than substitutional. While the study found that intellectual property and its protection are widely recognized by actors in all three sectors, interesting differences exist. In particular, intellectual property protection appears to be of greater concern to the high-tech research and development-intensive manufacturing sector and the creative contents sector than to the KIBS sector. Another interesting difference is that while competition in high-tech innovation tends to be global, competition in creative content tends to have a stronger local or regional dimension. Public policy in East Asia has traditionally emphasized the development of technological innovation capabilities in the manufacturing sector. In light of the findings, public policymakers may need to be more sensitive to the nuanced differences in policies needed to promote the new creative content industries and the associated supporting KIBS.ICT Policy and Strategies,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Economic Theory&Research,Health Economics&Finance,Environmental Economics&Policies

Values, priorities and responses: Comparing English headteachers' and Hong Kong principals' perceptions of their work

This article investigates the perceptions of English headteachers and Hong Kong principals on the kinds of pressures that they believed affected the way they did their job, and in particular the degree to which they felt their governments were affecting their leadership role. The research utilised semi-structured interviews to generate written ‘portraits’ of these individuals, which were then examined to answer questions about current pressures. The findings suggested that (1) there was considerable variation in the manner these individuals responded to key issues; (2) all individuals prioritised local concerns, and particularly with consideration to the children in their care; (3) there was a greater sense of embattlement from the English headteachers and a more critical approach to legislation, than from the Hong Kong principals, though with considerable individual variation in the degree of overt resistance shown; (4) whilst current educational reforms in Hong Kong seemed to favour the development of creativity more than those in England, there was within both national contexts evidence of the damaging effects of the pace and quantity of reforms

Active Galactic Nuclei Feedback in an Elliptical Galaxy with the Most Updated AGN Physics (I): Low-angular Momentum Case

We investigate the effects of AGN feedback on the cosmological evolution of an isolated elliptical galaxy by performing two-dimensional high-resolution hydrodynamical numerical simulations. The inner boundary of the simulation is chosen so that the Bondi radius is resolved. Compared to previous works, the two accretion modes, namely hot and cold, which correspond to different accretion rates and have different radiation and wind outputs, are carefully discriminated and the feedback effects by radiation and wind in each mode are taken into account. The most updated AGN physics, including the descriptions of radiation and wind from the hot accretion flows and wind from cold accretion disks, are adopted. Physical processes like star formation, Type Ia and Type II supernovae are taken into account. We study the AGN light curve, typical AGN lifetime, growth of the black hole mass, AGN duty-cycle, star formation, and the X-ray surface brightness of the galaxy. We compare our simulation results with observations and find general consistency. Comparisons with previous simulation works find significant differences, indicating the importance of AGN physics. The respective roles of radiation and wind feedbacks are examined and it is found that they are different for different problems of interest such as AGN luminosity and star formation. We find that it is hard to neglect any of them, so we suggest to use the names of "cold feedback mode" and "hot feedback mode" to replace the currently used ones.Comment: 25 pages, 14 figures, accepted for publication to ApJ (Revised to match version published in ApJ

Patellar Tendon Morphology in Trans-tibial Amputees Utilizing a Prosthesis with a Patellar-tendon- Bearing Feature

A patellar-tendon-bearing (PTB) bar is a common design feature used in the socket of trans-tibial prostheses to place load on the pressure-tolerant tissue. As the patellar tendon in the residual limb is subjected to the perpendicular compressive force not commonly experienced in normal tendons, it is possible for tendon degeneration to occur over time. The purpose of this study was to compare patellar tendon morphology and neovascularity between the residual and intact limbs in trans-tibial amputees and healthy controls. Fifteen unilateral trans-tibial amputees who utilized a prosthesis with a PTB feature and 15 age- and sex- matched controls participated. Sonography was performed at the proximal, mid-, and distal portions of each patellar tendon. One-way ANOVAs were conducted to compare thickness and collagen fber organization and a chi-square analysis was used to compare the presence of neovascularity between the three tendon groups. Compared to healthy controls, both tendons in the amputees exhibited increased thickness at the mid- and distal portions and a higher degree of collagen fber disorganization. Furthermore, neovascularity was more common in the tendon of the residual limb. Our results suggest that the use of a prosthesis with a PTB feature contributes to morphological changes in bilateral patellar tendons