Singapore, the Island Nation: An Overview
Speaker: Dr. Chan Soon Keng
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Brief Introduction: history and geography
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The Peoples of Singapore
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Culture and Subcultures
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Educational System
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Housing
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Transportation
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Economy
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Summary
Climate Change and its impact on Sustainability
Speaker: Dr. Tommy S. W. Wong
As the human population continues to grow, while the world's
natural resources are finite, there is already a concern whether
there will be sufficient resources for human survival in the
future. Added to this concern is the human-induced climate
change which will inevitably have a significant effect on human
activities such as food production and on the natural resources
such as water resources. This session will examine the impact of
climate change on human sustainability.
Creativity and Innovation
Speaker: Associate Professor Stephen Lee
In today’s fast-paced, constantly evolving world, the three R’s
of education – Reading, wRiting and aRithmetic – are inadequate
to prepare youngsters for the future. They need to be educated
in cReativity as well. This short course introduces participants
to the notion of creativity and its characteristics, what
fosters and what hinders creativity, the difference between
‘invention’ and ‘innovation’; examples of innovators and
innovations that have changed the lives of many.
Entrepreneurship and Innovation: When East meets West
Speaker: Mr Francis Tay
Entrepreneurship and innovation goes hand in hand like a horse
and carriage. However, the road to being an entrepreneur
is not an easy one. Besides having the right
characteristics, the necessary environment must also be there to
encourage individuals to become entrepreneurs. Innovation,
just like entrepreneurship, is not something that can be simply
turned on when called upon. Innovation begins with a
process that calls for individuals to be creative.
Creativity however, is not necessarily something innate in all
individuals. Research in the area of entrepreneurship
indicates that entrepreneurs are not born and can be made.
Entrepreneurs essentially start businesses to take advantage of
opportunities and innovate in order to continue being
successful. Thus, the potential for anyone to be an
entrepreneur is there, however, only a few will take this route
as a career. Why is this so? Can we train someone to
be innovative? Can we turn the man on the street into an
entrepreneur?
This session will look at the characteristics of an entrepreneur
and the reasons why one would choose to be an entrepreneur.
This session will also look at innovation from an “East vs West”
perspective, e.g. how could would be entrepreneurs find
innovative ideas from trends observed in the West and vice-versa
in the East? For example, how can we see opportunities
from demographic, technological and economic changes? How
can a small country like Singapore potentially be the centre for
innovation?
Sustainable Trends and Mental Model
Speaker: Professor Lim Mong King
1.
The challenge of sustainable development by analysing two
major converging Trends: decline in resource availability and
ecosystems as well as increase in population and consumption.
2.
How these Trends are leading to a decline in the health
and capacity of natural systems worldwide?
3.
“Club of Rome Report” – Introducing the concept of the
Limits to Growth and Earth Carrying Capacity.
4.
Using
the example of Climate Change to explain
the concept of
Planetary Boundaries.
5.
Major global events of in Sustainable Development during
the last three decades.
6.
Triple Bottom Line – a new perspective in business.
7.
We cannot expect to be able to resolve any complex
problem from within the same manner of thinking that created it
in the first place - new mental model required to solve
sustainability issues.
8.
Using systems thinking approach to have a better
understanding of sustainability issues.
9.
What skills do we need to build to become a systems
thinker?
Economic Sustainability
Speaker: Prof Chew Soon Beng
All citizens want a job (J) with good pay. They want to own a
house (H) and enjoy effective healthcare coverage (H).
They want their children to receive good education (E). When
they retire, they want to have money so that they can maintain
the same standard of living as before (R). Of course, all
these basic goods EHHER can be provided by the government such
as in Greece. Public sector employment is large. Healthcare,
education, housing are subsidized and public sector employees
have a pension and the age of retirement is 60. They can
negotiate the age of retirement to be earlier if they can prove
that the health is not very good. The system of relying on the
government to provide EHHER is not sustainable as we can see
that Greece, among other countries, is in trouble now. How to
enjoy the good life and yet it is sustainable is not easy.
The purpose of this session is to show that, in the case of
Singapore, the EHHER described above can be obtained provided
the following conditions are fulfilled; First, there is no free
lunch. Everyone needs to work and save for HHER. The government
must ensure that there will be many job opportunities and is
able to control the price of housing, healthcare, education and
CPI for low income citizens. It is a win-win outcome for all. We
can achieve EHHER (Social Security) without a budget deficit.
Strategic Tools & Methodologies for Sustainability
Speaker: Professor Lim Mong King
1.
How might the trends that threaten sustainable
development affect the industry and our company and how can
we react strategically?
2.
Sustainable development trends can create business
constraints as well as opportunities.
3.
Redesigning our industrial system to be sustainable
requires a shared framework to understand how nature works.
4.
Using the concept of sources and sinks to explain the
impact of our expanding industrial system on the
environment.
5.
New business models and tools are emerging that will
help companies shift to sustainable practices.
6.
Eco-efficiency.
7.
Industrial Ecology.
8.
Life Cycle Analysis.
9.
Design for Environment.
10.
The Natural Step.
