Welcome Address by Mr Jonathan Yap, CEO, CapitaLand Development, at the launch of Geneo at 5 Science Park Drive
Mr Gan Kim Yong, Minister for Trade and Industry
Mr Wong Kan Seng, Chairman, CLA Real Estate Holdings
Our partners and colleagues from CapitaLand Ascendas REIT and CapitaLand entities
Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,
Good afternoon and a very warm welcome.
Thank you, Minister, and everyone for making time to join us here today. We are honoured to have you witness the launch of our new life sciences and innovation cluster as we celebrate the 40th anniversary of Singapore Science Park this year.
Looking back at Science Park’s transformation
Science Park was Singapore’s first R&D and technology precinct. It was started in the 1980s to expand the country’s research capabilities, diversify the economy and drive new areas of growth. In its initial years, the park’s focus was on attracting global multinational corporations and research institutes. DNV from Norway was the first company to move in and we are proud that DNV is still operating in the park to this day. Another longstanding tenant is Singapore’s DSO National Laboratories, which moved here in 1989 and subsequently expanded its presence to occupy two buildings.
More companies have joined the Science Park community over the years, drawn to its collaborative, campus-style environment with convenient access to public transport and supporting amenities, as well as proximity to academia, research institutes and teaching hospitals.
Today, Science Park is home to more than 350 Singapore and foreign companies, including multinational corporations, small and medium enterprises and start-ups. In addition to anchoring global companies such as Johnson & Johnson, Merck and Thermo Fisher Scientific, the park has also become the regional launchpad for many homegrown firms including Shopee, Hummingbird Bioscience and Singrow. It is also home to incubators, accelerators and technology centers including NUS Enterprise, ClavystBio and the Smart Urban Co-Innovation Lab.
Future-proofing Science Park through rejuvenation
As the innovations of our tenants make waves locally and internationally, CapitaLand has also been reinventing our real estate offerings and experiences at Science Park to ensure that the precinct continues to support the country’s new R&D focus areas, as well as the workplace needs of innovation-based companies.
As the master developer and park operator, CapitaLand has embarked on a multistage precinct rejuvenation of Science Park since the 2010s. In addition to redeveloping older buildings to meet more sophisticated specifications, we have been elevating our placemaking initiatives to enhance the park’s amenities and community programming. The objectives of our renewal programme are twofold – to ensure the park’s future-readiness and enhance the community’s sense of belonging through making Science Park an all-encompassing R&D and technology precinct with holistic work, live and play elements.
Introducing Geneo and its key highlights
With these objectives in mind, we conceptualised a new cluster comprising three properties with a total of five buildings. We have named the cluster “Geneo”. Inspired by the word “ingenuity” and containing the word “gene”, the name Geneo highlights the cluster’s vision of being the cradle for life sciences and innovation companies.
Totalling about S$1.37 billion in investments, Geneo marks CapitaLand’s first concerted effort to curate the offerings across multiple buildings in Science Park to form a unified cluster. When Geneo is fully operational, the park’s population is expected to increase by about 75 per cent to about 21,000 from the current 12,000.
Geneo scores multiple “firsts” within Science Park, including introducing its first lodging facility – the 250-unit Citadines Science Park Singapore at 7 Science Park Drive. Through a partnership with SP Group, Geneo will also be the first cluster in the park to adopt a distributed district cooling network to reduce carbon emissions and improve energy-efficiency.
Coupled with solar panels and other proactive measures to enhance resource efficiency, the Geneo cluster has set a new benchmark for sustainable buildings in the park. 7 Science Park Drive is the first Science Park property to achieve the BCA Green Mark Platinum Super Low Energy award while the other two properties in the Geneo cluster have obtained the BCA Green Mark Platinum certification. Geneo’s credentials reflect CapitaLand’s continued commitment in revitalising the 40-year-old Science Park and sustaining it as a Green Mark Platinum district.
Geneo will champion workforce wellness with a wide range of fitness and recreational facilities such as a basketball court, a jogging track, a cycling lane, a yoga deck and even a swimming pool. Geneo will also preserve Science Park’s trademark lush urban campus ambience with abundant communal spaces. These include two central gardens and a pair of water features that enhance the park’s biodiversity. In addition, the park community can look forward to more showcase and networking opportunities through the event programming curated by CapitaLand and our ecosystem partners such as NUS Enterprise and ClavystBio.
Acknowledgements
Summing up, Geneo represents CapitaLand’s commitment to push the boundaries to increase the attractiveness of Science Park as the region’s R&D and technology hub. When the project team shared with me the several interpretations of the name Geneo, my favourite was “Gen Neo”, which expresses the cluster’s ambition to foster the next generation of innovators through the very reinvention of real estate offerings and experiences. I am proud of the team for taking on the challenge to redefine the possibilities of science park real estate and living up to Geneo’s brand promise of “Where Ingenuity Comes to Life”.
On behalf of CapitaLand Group, I would like to take this opportunity to extend our appreciation to the government agencies – especially the Building and Construction Authority, Land Transport Authority, National Parks Board, Singapore Land Authority and Urban Redevelopment Authority – for your support in Science Park’s rejuvenation journey.
I would also like to express our appreciation to the park community and partners for taking part in the Art Jam Science Park initiative. Thanks to your generous support, together with donations from CapitaLand Hope Foundation, the philanthropic arm of CapitaLand Group, the park community contributed over S$270,000 to benefit five charity organisations, in support of skills development initiatives for youth with special needs.
Lastly, I would like to once again thank Minister, and everyone present today for joining CapitaLand at this important milestone in Science Park’s journey into the future. We look forward to your continued support for Science Park and Geneo. Thank you and have a wonderful day ahead.