Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has announced a more than $1 billion boost to fund the next phase of R & D activities in Singapore. Close to one-third of the money will go into research to protect against major killers - cancer, as well as nature's triple threat of earthquakes, volcanoes and global warming. The rest is being divided into two areas - grants and schemes to help take good research to market, and a new campus housing the world's top research centres at the former Warren golf course.

Hear Mr Lee's opening remarks delivered at the end of the 3-day Research, Innovation and Enterprise Council (RIEC) meeting. Mr Lee is also Chairman of the RIEC.

In his keynote address at the annual Singapore Tripartism Forum, former Manpower Minister Ng Eng Hen - now Education Minister - reflects on the importance of not 'protecting' workers here through a clampdown on the foreign worker quota and a high wage policy. He also elaborates on the way forward for Singapore's workforce.