For a start, NRF has identified three areas for focused attention and development:

Biomedical Sciences;

Environmental and Water Technologies; and

Interactive and Digital Media.

However, NRF is not limited to these areas and will consider others, if they meet NRF's strategic objectives.

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The National Research Foundation (NRF) was set up on 1 January 2006 as a department in the Prime Minister's Office. Dr Tony Tan Keng Yam is the Chairman.

The mission of NRF is to coordinate the research activities of different agencies within the larger national framework and to fund strategic R&D initiatives that would generate economic benefits for Singapore. It is also the secretariat for the Research, Innovation and Enterprise Council (RIEC) chaired by the Prime Minister.

NRF's terms of reference are:

To provide secretariat support to the RIEC;

To coordinate the research of different agencies within the larger national framework in order to provide a coherent strategic overview and direction;

To develop policies and plans to implement the following five strategic thrusts for the national R&D agenda:

- To intensify national R&D spending to achieve 3% of GDP by 2010; - To identify and invest in strategic areas of R&D; - To fund a balance of basic and applied research within strategic areas; - To provide resources and support to encourage private sector R&D; and - To strengthen linkages between public and private sector R&D;

To implement national research, innovation and enterprise strategies approved by the RIEC, and to allocate funding to programmes that meet the NRF strategic objectives.

1. Register for a RITA account if you don't already have one. This can be done by clicking on the "Register" link under the "Login" button in the left column of the homepage. Fill in the registration form and an email will be sent to you to activate your account. After activation you can then logon to RITA.

2. Go to the grant call page by clicking on the link in the "Open Calls for Proposals" in the right column of the homepage. This will bring you to a page with the details of the grant call and the guidelines for submitting the proposal. Please read the details and guidelines.

3. If you are logged into the system, you will see a button "Submit a Proposal" in the middle column near the top of the page. Click on the button to launch the e-proposal form. Please fill the form in accordance to the directions in the guidelines. You can save the proposal as draft and continue in another session. You will be able to access your draft proposals in the homepage under "My proposals" when you log in again.

4. Once the proposal is complete, you can preview and then send to the host institution for endorsement. If necessary, the host institution will send the proposal back to you via the RITA for amendments. If everything is in order, the host institution will endorse the proposal and route it to the program manager. This has to be completed before the deadline of the grant call.

5. Once that is done, the submission of your proposal is complete. You can track the progress of your proposal in the homepage under "My proposals" when you log in again.

All proposals will be approved by the NRF Board and, if necessary, by the RIEC, chaired by Prime Minister.

You may not have activated your account yet. RITA would have sent an email to you with an activation link after you have registered. Please click on the link to activate your account. You will then be able to log in with your userid and password.