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2006
> Davos Life Science Opens World's Largest R&D Centre On Tocotrienols In Singapore
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Davos Life Science Opens World's Largest R&D Centre On Tocotrienols In Singapore |
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Speech by Mr Philip Yeo, Chairman for Agency for Science, Technology and Research at the opening ceremony for Davos Life Science Pte Ltd at Biopolis on 10 November 2006, 11:30 am
Dato Seri Lee Oi Hian, Chairman of Davos Life Science Pte Ltd,
Dr Ong Chit Chung, President of Davos Life Science Pte Ltd,
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen
1. Good morning. It gives me great pleasure to join you today for the opening ceremony of Davos Life Science Pte Ltd.
2. Davos conducts both R&D and purification of tocotrienols in Singapore through its subsidiary companies, Centros Life Science and Helix Life Science. Tocotrienols belong to the previously known family of Vitamin E, yet with significantly different properties. Tocotrienols are currently used in a wide variety of products such as health supplements, cosmetics and functional foods. Tocotrienols also have the potential to be developed as an active ingredient for pharmaceutical indications.
3. Davos has established the world’s largest tocotrienol R&D centre in Singapore to develop new applications for this product. In addition, it has also invested in a state-of-the-art tocotrienol production facility in Singapore. This facility, which is the largest production plant for tocotrienols in the world, is able to produce more than 90% of the global demand for natural tocotrienols.
4. I am happy to note that Davos will create a total of 100 high value added jobs for its Singapore operations. This includes R&D, manufacturing and marketing activities.
5. Davos is one of the first Singapore-based health supplements company to have built such a strong global leadership position in its R&D and manufacturing efforts. This investment will be able to leverage on a world-class physical infrastructure, and an outstanding research infrastructure backed by established supporting industries in Singapore. This investment also strongly testify to Singapore's claim as one of the best places to carry out biomedical research and business in Asia.
6. Singapore’s BMS initiative has made good progress since the year 2000. Phase I of the initiative saw the manufacturing output triple to S$18 billion last year from year 2000, with a compounded annual growth rate in excess of 20%. The BMS cluster contributes 5% of Singapore’s GDP today.
7. Phase II of Singapore's BMS initiative will serve to strengthen Singapore's foundation in basic sciences and concurrently add a new focus on the development of capabilities in translational and clinical research, in order to bring discoveries from the "bench" to the "bedside". We have committed more than S$1.4 billion towards building up capabilities in translational research as part of this initiative.
8. With the efforts well underway, I am confident that the BMS sector will continue its robust growth over the next decade. Our goal is to achieve a total manufacturing output of S$25 billion for the BMS cluster by 2015 with an employment of 15,000. Companies such as Davos will play an important role in helping us meet our targets.
Conclusion
9. In closing, I would like to congratulate the management and staff of Davos Life Science on the establishment of your operations in Singapore. You can be assured of the Singapore government’s full support for the smooth start-up and implementation of this strategic investment.
10. Thank you.
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