Guest of honour, Emeritus Professor Kiang Ai Kim, distinguished guests, colleagues and friends, ladies and gentlemen.
Good morning and on behalf of the organizing committee, I warmly welcome you to the fourth Singapore International Chemical Conference. The Singapore National Institute of Chemistry, the Department of Chemistry at the National University of Singapore and the Division of Chemistry and Biological Chemistry of Nanyang Technological University are delighted to host you and this conference.
Singapore International Chemical Conference is a biennial conference dedicated to promoting advances in chemistry. This conference is the fourth in this series of conferences and aims to reflect on the significant scientific developments in molecular synthesis and catalysis and to discuss new ideas and trends in Chemistry as we move into the twenty-first century.
At the previous conferences, SICC-3, we discussed the physical and analytical sciences while at SICC-2, we discussed chemical design and synthesis. They were held in December 2003 and December 2001, respectively. Both were highly successful conferences with more than 500 participants. There will another two conferences coming up, one of them organized by Professor Andy Hor and myself which will be held next year and another conference on fine chemicals and catalysis to be held on 2007 chaired by Prof. Leung Pak Hing of Nanyang Technological University.
In this SICC-4, we have a total of 561 delegates from 38 countries attending this conference and they will be giving 210 oral presentations and 198 posters presentations over these 3 days. I wish all of you a fruitful conference and I am sure that the meeting of minds and free exchange of ideas will make this conference a success. I trust that you will take this opportunity to make new friends, renew friendships and catch up on social and professional happenings.
Chemistry plays an important role in the Singapore’s economy especially in the biomedical industries. This industry contributed to 5.9% of the total GDP of Singapore in 2004. Chemistry related activities in Singapore will continue to grow with the many multi-national companies setting up manufacturing plants as well as R&D centers here. In order to boost the R&D activities as well as manpower training, our government has recently set-up new synthetic labs under the leadership of Professor KC Nicolaou and established a new chemistry department at the Nanyang Technological University
Last but no least, I am also please to inform you that the Singapore government is making the development of R&D a national priority. The Prime Minister will personally chair the Research, Innovation and Enterprise Council (RIEC) to oversee the national drive into R&D. The RIEC would be supported by a newly-established National Research Foundation (NRF). The government would be committing more than $12 billion into R&D for the next 5 years. It is going to an exciting time for researchers in Singapore and will definitely help to increase the amount and quality of chemistry research in Singapore.
Once again, I welcome you to our beautiful city-state of Singapore and together with leading authority from around the world, we will explore the increasingly complex and exciting fields of molecular synthesis and catalysis.
To our guests from overseas, I hope you can also find time to venture into the streets of Singapore and experience this vibrant city of many cultures. I wish all of you a fruitful and enjoyable stay in Singapore.
Thank you.
Prof. Teck - Peng LOH
Chairman, SICC 4
Head, Division of Chemistry and Biological Chemistry
School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences
Nanyang Technological University
Singapore