National Research Fund Act 2006

National Research Fund
Act 2006

2020 REVISED EDITION

This revised edition incorporates all amendments up to and including 1 December 2021 and comes into operation on 31 December 2021

An Act to establish a National Research Fund and to provide for its proper administration.

[22 August 2006]

PART 1

PRELIMINARY

Short title

1.  This Act is the National Research Fund Act 2006.

General interpretation

2.  In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires —

“Board” means the National Research Foundation Board established under section 9;

“Council” means the Research, Innovation and Enterprise Council established under section 10;

“Fund” means the National Research Fund established under section 4;

“invest” includes entering into a transaction or an arrangement for the protection of investments;

“knowledge” means any knowledge or other information, whether or not the possessor of the knowledge or information has any legally enforceable rights in relation to it;

“property” means any legal or equitable estate or interest (whether present or future and whether vested or contingent) in real or personal property of any description;

“public authority” means any board or authority established by or under any written law to perform or discharge any public function;

“securities” includes shares, inscribed stock, debentures, bonds, debenture stock, notes or any other document creating, evidencing or acknowledging indebtedness.

Meaning of “research and development activities”

3.—(1)  In this Act, “research and development activities” means —

(a) systematic, investigative or experimental activities that involve innovation and are carried on either wholly or partly within Singapore for the purpose of —

(i) increasing or acquiring new knowledge (whether or not that knowledge will have specific practical application); or

(ii) creating new or improved materials, products, devices, processes or services; or

(b) other activities that are carried on either wholly or partly within Singapore for a purpose related to the carrying out of activities of the kind mentioned in paragraph (a) or incidental or conducive to the attainment or furtherance of the purposes mentioned in that paragraph, including —

(i) scientific and technical information services (such as data collection) to support activities of the kind mentioned in paragraph (a);

(ii) building expenditure incurred in the acquisition or construction of a building, or of an extension, alteration or improvement to, or of maintenance of a building used or to be used for in activities of the kind mentioned in paragraph (a);

(iii) training and management of manpower for activities of the kind mentioned in paragraph (a);

(iv) feasibility studies with a view to establishing the strategic direction of any specific research and development activity; and

(v) any other work or services (including patenting, licensing and other activities) necessary to support activities of the kind mentioned in paragraph (a).

(2)  For the purposes of this section, the following activities must not be taken to be systematic, investigative or experimental activities:

(a) market research, market testing or market development, and sale promotion (including consumer survey);

(b) testing and standardisation;

(c) prospecting, exploring or drilling for minerals, petroleum or natural gas for the purpose of discovering deposits, determining more precisely the location of deposits or determining the size or quality of deposits;

(d) the making of cosmetic modifications or stylistic changes to products, processes or production methods;

(e) pre-production activities such as demonstration of commercial viability, tooling-up and trial runs;

(f) routine collection of information, except as part of the research and development process;

(g) preparation for teaching;

(h) routine software development;

(i) legal and administrative aspects of patenting, licensing and other activities, unless mentioned in subsection (1)(b)(v);

(j) activities associated with complying with statutory requirements or standards;

(k) any activity related to the reproduction of a commercial product or process by a physical examination of an existing system or plan, blueprints, detailed specifications or publicly available information.

PART 2

NATIONAL RESEARCH FUND

Establishment of National Research Fund

4.—(1)  A fund called the National Research Fund is established, which must be held, managed and administered as a Government fund.

(2)  There must be paid into the Fund —

(a) all moneys from time to time appropriated from the Consolidated Fund and authorised to be paid into the Fund by this Act or any other written law;

(b) all other revenues of Singapore allocated by any written law to the Fund;

(c) all gifts and donations paid by any person or organisation to the Government for the purposes of the Fund generally;

(d) amounts received by the Board or Government —

(i) from the sale of any property paid for with money from the Fund;

(ii) from the sale of any property produced, or from dealing with patents or other intellectual property rights in respect of inventions made, in the course of any research and development activity paid for with money from the Fund; or

(iii) in respect of any work paid for with money from the Fund;

(e) all investments out of moneys in the Fund authorised to be made by this Act or any other written law and the proceeds of any of those investments, including the net income from those investments; and

(f) all sums received by way of repayment of any loan or advance from the Fund and any interest from that loan or advance.

(3)  The Fund must be regarded as comprising public moneys for the purposes of any other written law.

(4)  For the purposes of subsection (2)(e), the net income from investments is the amount ascertained by adding to, or deducting from, the income received from investments of moneys in the Fund any profit derived or loss sustained (as the case may be) from the realisation of those investments.

Purposes of Fund

5.—(1)  The object of the Fund is to provide for the funding and administration of research and development activities with a view to —

(a) encouraging the development in Singapore of innovative products, processes and services;

(b) increasing investment by the public and private sectors in Singapore in research and development activities that will make Singapore more internationally competitive;

(c) promoting the technological advancement of the public and private sectors in Singapore through a focus on innovation; and

(d) creating an environment that is conducive to increase commercialisation of new processes and product technologies.

(2)  The moneys in the Fund may be withdrawn and applied for all or any of the following purposes only:

(a) to provide financial assistance (including loans and scholarships) to any public authority, enterprise, educational institution or other person (whether in Singapore or elsewhere) undertaking or facilitating research and development activities;

(b) to promote or assist (financially or otherwise) any enterprise engaged in the exploitation of research and development activities undertaken by any public authority, enterprise, educational institution or other person (whether in Singapore or elsewhere), where the enterprise, in the opinion of the Board —

(i) is profitable and efficient or capable of becoming profitable and efficient; and

(ii) has reasonable prospects for profitability, development, expansion, growth or providing viable employment;

(c) the payment of remuneration or allowances payable to persons (other than public officers) engaged to advise the Board or Council in the performance of their respective functions under this Act;

(d) the payment of other expenses incurred by the Board or Council in the performance of their respective functions under this Act, including any remuneration or allowances payable to the members of the Board or Council who are not public officers;

(e) the payment of expenses mentioned in section 6.

(3)  The moneys in the Fund may also be invested in —

(a) any investment authorised under section 7 of the Financial Procedure Act 1966; and

(b) any other investments that the Board thinks fit, not being any stock, bond, fund or security issued by the Government.

Expenses

6.  All expenses incidental to or arising from the administration, investment and management of moneys in the Fund are charged upon and payable out of the Fund.

Withdrawals

7.—(1)  Moneys must not be withdrawn from the Fund unless they are charged upon the Fund or are authorised to be withdrawn or transferred under this Act.

(2)  A payment must not be made out of the Fund unless the payment is authorised by the Board.

PART 3

ADMINISTRATION OF FUND

Responsibility for Fund

8.  The Fund is managed and administered by the Board subject to the direction of the Council.

National Research Foundation Board

9.—(1)  There is established a body called the National Research Foundation Board comprising any number of members that the Minister thinks fit.

(2)  Each member of the Board must be appointed by the Minister and holds office for such period (not exceeding 3 years) as the Minister may in any case determine.

(3)  Subject to subsection (4), the functions and duties of the Board are —

(a) to coordinate research and development activities undertaken or promoted by the Government, public authorities whose objects are similar to the object of the Fund, enterprises, educational institutions or other persons in Singapore, and to facilitate cooperation, communication, collaboration and exchange of ideas and knowledge between them;

(b) to investigate and evaluate the requirement for funding any research and development activity generally or specifically;

(c) to develop policies and plans for research and development activities in Singapore in the national interest;

(d) to approve the payment of money from the Fund;

(e) to advise the Minister on any matter relating to the management and administration of the Fund that the Board considers appropriate or that is referred to the Board by the Minister;

(f) to submit to the Minister for approval, not later than 30 days before the end of each financial year of the Fund, a budget for the Fund in respect of the financial year next following in relation to that Fund;

(g) to submit to the Minister an annual report respecting the Fund not later than 30 days after the end of each financial year in relation to that Fund; and

(h) to exercise such other powers and perform such other functions and duties with respect to the management, operation and administration of the Fund as may be prescribed.

(4)  The Board must, in the exercise of its powers and the performance of its functions and duties under this Act, comply with any directives that the Council may issue.

Research, Innovation and Enterprise Council

10.  There is established a body called the Research, Innovation and Enterprise Council comprising any persons from the private sector and public sector that the Minister thinks fit, and whose functions are —

(a) to provide advice and guidance to the Government in the formulation of its policies and laws on all types of research and development activities and innovation in Singapore; and

(b) to lead in the promotion of all aspects of research and development activities and innovation in Singapore, by —

(i) identifying and promoting activities and programmes that will make Singapore more internationally competitive; and

(ii) alerting the public and private sectors to any new business opportunities that arise from the exploitation of results of any research and development activities or innovation.

Accounts to be kept

11.—(1)  The Board must —

(a) cause to be kept proper accounts and records of all transactions and affairs relating to the Fund;

(b) do all things necessary to ensure that payments out of the Fund are properly authorised and correctly made; and

(c) ensure that adequate control is maintained over the assets and receipts of the Fund.

(2)  The Board must appoint a public officer to be an accounting officer of the Fund with responsibility for keeping proper accounts and records in relation to the Fund, and preparing and signing a statement of the Fund’s accounts in respect of each financial year.

Financial statements and audit reports

12.—(1)  The Board must, as soon as practicable after the close of each financial year of the Fund, cause to be prepared and submitted to the Auditor‑General the financial statements and accounts for the Fund relating to that financial year, and the Auditor‑General must then audit or cause an audit of the statements and accounts and report on them.

(2)  The financial year of the Fund is a period of 12 months ending on 31 March in any year.

(3)  The remuneration of the auditor must be paid out of the Fund.

(4)  As soon as the accounts of the Fund and the financial statements have been audited in accordance with this Act, a copy of the audited financial statements, together with a copy of any report made by the auditor, must be submitted to the Board.

(5)  Where the Auditor‑General is not the auditor of the Fund, a copy of the audited financial statements and any report made by the auditor must be forwarded to the Auditor‑General at the same time they are submitted to the Board.

(6)  The Minister must as soon as practicable cause a copy of the audited financial statements of the Fund and the auditor’s report to be presented to Parliament.

Application of Financial Procedure Act 1966

13.  The Financial Procedure Act 1966 applies to the Fund to the extent that it is not inconsistent with any of the provisions of this Act.

PART 4

MISCELLANEOUS

Persons not to reveal trade secrets, etc.

14.—(1)  If a person exercising any function under this Act obtains protected information about the affairs of another person, the person must not disclose that protected information to any other person unless the disclosure —

(a) is made with the written consent of the person to whom the information relates;

(b) is for the purpose of the administration or enforcement of this Act; or

(c) is in compliance with the requirement of any court, tribunal, authority or person having lawful authority to require the production of documents or the answering of questions.

(2)  If any person acts in contravention of subsection (1), the person shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $5,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years or to both.

(3)  For the purpose of this section, the reference to a person disclosing any protected information includes the person permitting any other person to have any access to any record, document or other thing containing that information which is in the person’s possession or under the person’s control by virtue of the person being or having been a member of the Board or Council.

(4)  In this section, “protected information” means information the disclosure of which would or could reasonably be expected to disclose a trade secret or to adversely affect a person in relation to the lawful business affairs of that person.

Forgery of certificates and false information

15.  If any person —

(a) forges or counterfeits any document or certificate required by the Board for the purposes of this Act; or

(b) in relation to any application (whether by the person or on behalf of another) to the Board for its permission, consent or approval, or for any grant or financial assistance, makes (whether orally, electronically, in writing or otherwise) or provides any statement to the Board which is false, and which the person either knows or believes to be false or does not believe to be true,

the person shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $5,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or to both.

Offences by bodies corporate, etc.

16.—(1)  Where an offence under this Act committed by a body corporate is proved —

(a) to have been committed with the consent or connivance of an officer; or

(b) to be attributable to any neglect on the officer’s part,

the officer as well as the body corporate shall be guilty of the offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.

(2)  Where the affairs of a body corporate are managed by its members, subsection (1) applies in relation to the acts and defaults of a member in connection with the member’s functions of management as if the member were a director of the body corporate.

(3)  Where an offence under this Act committed by a partnership is proved —

(a) to have been committed with the consent or connivance of a partner; or

(b) to be attributable to any neglect on the partner’s part,

the partner as well as the partnership shall be guilty of the offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.

(4)  Where an offence under this Act committed by an unincorporated association (other than a partnership) is proved —

(a) to have been committed with the consent or connivance of an officer of the unincorporated association or a member of its governing body; or

(b) to be attributable to any neglect on the part of such an officer or a member,

the officer or member as well as the unincorporated association shall be guilty of the offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.

(5)  In this section —

“body corporate” includes a limited liability partnership within the meaning of section 2(1) of the Limited Liability Partnerships Act 2005;

“officer”  —

(a) in relation to a body corporate, means any director, partner, member of the committee of management, chief executive, manager, secretary or other similar officer of the body corporate and includes any person purporting to act in any such capacity; or

(b) in relation to an unincorporated association (other than a partnership), means the president, the secretary, or any member of the committee of the unincorporated association, or any person holding a position analogous to that of president, secretary or member of a committee and includes any person purporting to act in any such capacity;

“partner” includes a person purporting to act as a partner.

(6)  Regulations may provide for the application of any provision of this section, with any modifications that the Minister considers appropriate, to any body corporate or unincorporated association formed or recognised under the law of a territory outside Singapore.

Disclosure of interests of member of Board or Council

17.—(1)  A member of the Board or Council who has a direct or indirect pecuniary interest in a matter being considered or about to be considered by the Board or Council (as the case may be) being an interest that could conflict with the proper performance of that member’s functions in relation to the consideration of the matter must, as soon as practicable after the relevant facts have come to the knowledge of that member, disclose the nature of that interest at a meeting of the Board or Council, as the case may be.

(2)  A disclosure under subsection (1) must be recorded in the minutes of the meeting of the Board or Council, as the case may be.

Regulations

18.  The Minister may make regulations for carrying out the purposes and provisions of this Act.

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY

National Research Fund Act 2006

 

This Legislative History is a service provided by the Law Revision Commission on a best-efforts basis. It is not part of the Act.
1.	Act 17 of 2006—National Research Fund Act 2006
	Bill	:	10/2006
	First Reading	:	27 February 2006
	Second and Third Readings	:	3 April 2006
	Commencement	:	22 August 2006
2.	2007 Revised Edition—National Research Fund Act (Chapter 201A)
	Operation	:	31 October 2007
3.	2020 Revised Edition—National Research Fund Act 2006
	Operation	:	31 December 2021

Abbreviations

	(updated on 29 August 2022)
G.N.	Gazette Notification
G.N. Sp.	Gazette Notification (Special Supplement)
L.A.	Legislative Assembly
L.N.	Legal Notification (Federal/Malaysian)
M.	Malaya/Malaysia (including Federated Malay States, Malayan Union, Federation of Malaya and Federation of Malaysia)
Parl.	Parliament
S	Subsidiary Legislation
S.I.	Statutory Instrument (United Kingdom)
S (N.S.)	Subsidiary Legislation (New Series)
S.S.G.G.	Straits Settlements Government Gazette
S.S.G.G. (E)	Straits Settlements Government Gazette (Extraordinary)