Wong Swee Liang is motivated by the work of creating groundbreaking tech solutions to challenges that he foresees would come in the future.
No, he is no clairvoyant who gazes into his crystal ball. Rather, his tool of choice is his inquisitive nature, and his preferred method is in collaborating with others to identify threats and opportunities to homeland security.
Swee Liang is a researcher in the Disruptive Technologies Office (DTO), who cuts his teeth on research in nanotechnology and materials science. Here’s his story…
Q: As a scientist charged with the mission of foreseeing future challenges, what do you find attractive about HTX?
A: Over here, I’ve the chance to create and experiment with groundbreaking tech solutions to sharpen the cutting edge of the Home Team, to solve crimes, save lives, and safeguard public spaces. The job scope is interesting, challenging, and encompasses investigating emerging technologies to uncover their possibilities and threats for our homeland security.
Q: How does the culture of HTX facilitate foresight?
A: The culture here creates a safe and open space to foster innovations. I feel assured that I could experiment with new ideas and concepts without fear of failures, before generating successful outcomes. This gives me the leeway to learn new things and explore new possibilities. That’s something I treasure very much!
Q: How does your work help the Home Team anticipate future threats?
A: Broadly speaking, scientists at HTX are responsible for identifying threats and opportunities that arises from technological disruptions. We aim to face the ever-evolving homeland security threats by boosting the effectiveness and efficiency of the Home Team through rigorous experimentations and technological innovations. In addition, we provide consultation services on emerging technological solutions to the Home Team.
Developing deeper insights through exchange of ideas will definitely lead to sharper foresight.
Q: Can anticipating future threats be a team effort?
A: Such an endeavour requires collaborative efforts and can never be achieved by a single “wise man”. At HTX, we have many scientists and engineers with deep expertise in diverse fields of knowledge – physics, chemical engineering, bio-technology, cybersecurity, systems engineering, quantum computing etc. Our collective capabilities will be factored in scenario planning at the policy level to sharpen foresight.
Q: To have foresight, you need to keep abreast of cutting-edge developments in the field. How does your team stay up to date with the latest scientific findings?
A: During team meetings, we share our latest readings of research publications and share our thoughts on them and their possible impact on our work. Through discussing the scientific implications of these findings, we exchange ideas on their potential applications as well as necessary research and development that we can possibly conduct to advance towards them. This facilitates uncovering of ideas and expanding our knowledge of what’s out there in different emerging science and technology domains.
Q: What are the habits that facilitate foresight?
A: 1. Read widely.
2. Have an open mind to learn and unlearn.
3. Be adventurous to try even if failure can happen.
Q: What could be done to further sharpen HTX’s foresight?
A: To further hone our research insights, we also often engage the best brains in STEM and partner universities, research institutes, as well as commercial entities (such as technology firms and start-ups) in R&D initiatives. Developing deeper insights through exchange of ideas will definitely lead to sharper foresight.