The impact of emerging global trends and the challenges of a knowledge-based economy for Singapore and the region are discussed by distinguished speakers in this year’s Perspectives 2001 Conference:

Economic Trends

• Professor Tan Kong Yam, Head, Department of Business Policy, National University of Singapore (NUS), on the Singapore economy.
  
• Venture capitalist Dr Finian Tan, partner and head, Asia Pacific for Draper Fisher Jurvetson, on the "new economy".
  
• Associate Professor Koh Ai Tee, Department of Economics and Associate Dean, Office of Research and Graduate Studies, NUS, on the challenges of a knowledge-based economy.

International Relations

• Associate Professor Chin Kin Wah, Department of Political Science, NUS, on Singapore’s relations with the world and ASEAN.
  Dr Eric Teo, Council Secretary, Singapore Institute of International Affairs, on trends Singapore foreign policy should consider.

Domestic Politics and Managing Social Cohesion

• Dr N Ganesan, Senior Lecturer in Political Science, NUS, on the complexity and challenges posed in domestic governance.
  
• Mr Zulkifli Baharudin, Nominated Member of Parliament, on the dynamics of civil society.
  
• Mrs Yu-Foo Yee Shoon, Senior Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Community Development and Sports, on the family.
  
• Dr Yap Mui Teng, Senior Research Fellow, Institute of Policy Studies, on the "intergenerational divide".
  
• Ms Pam Hu, Director, E-Lifestyle Marketing, Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore, on how to address the "digital divide".
  
• Mr Michael Gray, a professional accountant and chairman of the Feedback Group on Foreign Talent, on managing the population of foreigners.
  
• Dr Catherine Lim, author, on scenarios of state-society relations in 2007.

Perspectives 2001 is a collection of papers that were presented at a conference in January organised by The Institute of Policy Studies, a public policy think-tank in Singapore. Perspectives endeavours to provide forward-looking insights into developments in the domestic and international environments.

Yap, Mui Teng, ed. 2001 Perspective: 2001. Singapore: Times Academic Press for IPS.

(120 pages, ISBN 981 210 175 6)