A key instrument as Singapore intentionally navigated towards the global knowledge economy has been the
government Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A* Star), which provides generous funding for research
and aims to attract top scientists and scientific companies. One million foreign nationals with scientific, technical or
managerial skills have been encouraged to work in Singapore in international corporations and in higher education.
Singapore’s three universities, and especially the National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological
University, have research partnerships with leading universities around the world with a focus in selected fields,
including bioinformatics, information sciences and medical technologies.