The second Asia Competitiveness Forum was held on 22 and 23 May 2008 at the school. The theme of this year’s forum is on Asia Case Studies. The annual forum series is organised to promote the understanding of competitiveness in the region and build a scholarly network of experts. The two-day event saw 15 researchers from 11 regional institutions sharing their case studies on various countries and clusters with the Institute’s faculty and researchers. Prof Kishore Mahbubani made a special appearance and presented on his latest book: The New Asian Hemisphere: The Irresistible Shift of Global Power to the East.

The book titled, Dynamic Governance – Embedding Culture, Capabilities and Change in Singapore, co-authored by Professors Neo Boon Siong and Geraldine Chen, was launched in the school on 23 July 2007 by Guest of Honour, President S R Nathan.

The publication is the result of a two-year study on the Singapore public service and its transformational role in governance. This book reveals that while good governance, principles and best practices were adopted, the key to its success has been its dynamism in adapting to an uncertain and unpredictable environment. 

The inaugural Asia Competitiveness Forum was held on 24 and 25 May 2007 at the school. This annual forum is organised to promote the understanding of competitiveness in the region and build a scholarly network of experts. The two-day event attracted strong participation from 19 researchers from 15 regional institutions including three local ones.

The series of presentation sessions at the forum showcased the regional participants’ research work that focused primarily on competitiveness issues in their local industry or country. Potential areas for collaboration with the regional group were discussed. This included joint development of country case studies or industry/cluster-based cases and joint executive programmes for the region conducted in Singapore.

The Institute was officially launched on 28 November 2006 by Guest of Honour, Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Minister for Education and 2nd Minister for Finance in the presence of more than 300 distinguished guests. Among the blue-ribbon guest list were senior local government officials, foreign dignitaries and prominent private sector leaders from the region. A highlight of the event was a presentation on Singapore’s competitiveness - “Singapore Competitiveness: A Nation in Transition” by world renowned competitiveness expert, Prof Michael Porter of the Harvard Business School.

A Healthcare Seminar was jointly organised by the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy and Ministry of Health in conjunction with the ACI launch. Prof Porter was the keynote speaker and delivered a presentation entitled “Value-Based Competition in Health Care: Issues for Singapore”. The event was opened by Guest of Honour, Mr Khaw Boon Wan, Minister for Health, who participated in a panel discussion together with Prof Porter and chaired by Prof Tommy Koh.