Killing the future: Singapore style

Business Times 6 Sep 08;

IN his management talks and briefings, futurist James Canton sometimes plays a game he calls 'Kill the Future'. He explains: 'It is a game of sorts, but it's a serious game. In this game you attempt to kill your (organisation's) future. The purpose is so that we can protect, ensure the viability of, that organisation. But only by looking at the vulnerabilities and risks can we actually do that.'

Understood. OK then, Dr Canton, let's play 'Kill the Future - Singapore'. He thinks for a while, and then weighs in with surprising passion: 'If you want to kill the future of Singapore, the first thing is. . . don't have enough people. That's it. 'And the answer is not just addressing the issue of declining fertility. It's also increasing immigration. I mean, if you can't make 'em, go get 'em. And not just any people - they have to be educated talent. Very important.

'So you have to continually transform the education system, particularly higher education, and make it not just the best in the world but the most relevant based on the mountain tops you want to own. This should be the place where people send people from all over the world to get the highest level of specialised education. What else? Stay where you are on the value chain. (No,) you've got to move up the innovation value chain. Manufacturing of silicon will give way to certain kinds of nano materials. Nano materials, nano bio, these are areas that Singapore wants to develop expertise in, not just wait for clients to say, okay, make these for us.

'(Or) think human health enhancement, longevity medicine. That would be one area that's very important. . . and by the way, there's a lot of people who are interested in that who would be collaborators. (Or) clean tech and alternative energy, and pervasive media and next generation entertainment.

'The third area: don't have sustainable energy, and you kill your future. I think you should strive for self sufficiency. And I think you should be the first place in the world that can be self-sufficient related to energy. Put a stake (in the ground), say, OK, by 2030 we're going to be self-sufficient. And that means you're going to focus on other energy sources that are Singapore-centric. So energy self-sufficiency, I think, will be important.

'The other area: keep thinking about Singapore just as geography. That would kill the future. You ultimately have to invest in thinking of Singapore as a global force. Not force from the point of aggression, but as a global catalyst for creating and attracting opportunities. Those opportunities, by the way, may be transacted someplace else.

'In other words, maybe Singapore is running the next 10 megacities in the world. Maybe Singapore is the repository for all the financial records for the human genome. There may be a whole other way of viewing 'Cloud Singapore', as opposed to thinking: we're somewhat bound by geography. Maybe it's not just about geography, maybe it's about opportunity.

'The last one is quite frankly this whole area of entrepreneurship. Because it's one thing to be good at manufacturing, or good at many things that Singapore is good at. But clearly, developing the next generation of entrepreneurs who know how to monetise innovation, to me is going to be very critical.'