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Research and innovation
News article20 June 2022Directorate-General for Research and Innovation

DDG Signe Ratso participates in conference on “EU-Singapore research and innovation cooperation: present and future prospects”

Photo from the event
Anne Haglund-Morrissey, Susanne Rentzow-Vasu, Ronny Sondjaja, Signe Ratso, Iwona Piórko Bermig, Teresa Ho, Wanda Preiser, Tim White

On 14 June, Signe Ratso, Deputy Director General of DG RTD of the European Commission, participated in the event “EU-Singapore research and innovation cooperation: present and future prospects”, organised by the EU Delegation to Singapore and Euraxess ASEAN at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore to promote closer cooperation between the EU and Singapore in research & innovation (R&I) under the EU Horizon Europe programme.

DDG Ratso drew attention to the untapped potential to work together with the Singaporean researchers, innovators and research entities across the programme, and in particular in collaborative actions of Horizon Europe, in efforts to jointly tackle global challenges. In Horizon 2020, there were 27 projects with Singaporean participations, 19 of them in researchers’ mobility and training actions and 7 in collaborative research projects in the fields of ICT, AI, biotechnology and energy etc. DDG Ratso also highlighted the possibility of association to Horizon Europe to the third countries who are like-minded R&I strongholds. 

Singapore-based speakers also expressed in favour of stronger cooperation with the EU. Prof Tim White, Vice President of NTU, the second most active Singaporean entity in Horizon 2020, urged to learn from good examples of ongoing projects with several European research entities. As a beneficiary of the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA), Dr Teresa Ho, President of A*STAR Postdoc and Early Career Scientist Society (A*PECSS), underlined the key benefits such as great experience and wider research network and encouraged more young Singaporean researchers to consider MSCA opportunities. From the business side, Dr. Ronny Sondjaja, Vice President of Evonik Asia Pacific, a German multinational with big presence in Singapore, emphasized that Horizon Europe opportunities can help Singaporean SMEs to develop and grow as well as enable exchanges of young talents.

Details

Publication date
20 June 2022
Author
Directorate-General for Research and Innovation