Philip Yeo, chairman of Economic Development Innovations Singapore, was an integral part of Singapore’s drive to develop its information technology, biomedical, chemical and semiconductor industries in the 1980s.

Yeo entered the civil service in 1970, serving in various roles in the Ministry of Defence, including Permanent Secretary for logistics, technology research and development, and defence industries. He joined the Economic Development Board (EDB) as executive chairman in 1986, and chaired the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*Star) from 2001-2007. He chaired Spring (Standards, Productivity and Innovation for Growth) Singapore from 2007-2018.

Yeo’s key achievements include mapping out Singapore’s first national computerisation plan as founding chairman of the National Computer Board of Singapore in the 1980s; and growing the EDB’s focus to encompass new fields of business such as sciences, chemicals, semiconductors, aerospace and globally exportable services. He also fostered the country’s participation in overseas infrastructure development projects such as the Suzhou-Singapore Industrial Park in China, International Tech Park in Bangalore, India, and Indonesia’s Bintan Industrial Estate and Batam Industrial Park.

Yeo, who is married with two children, is also chairman of Accuron Technologies and Advanced MedTech Holdings.