The challenges in Singapore NEWater development: Co-evolutionary development for innovation and industry evolution

Co-evolutionary dynamism between innovation and institutional systems by transforming external crises into a springboard for new innovation is crucial for innovation and industry evolution in resource-constrained nations. This has been demonstrated by Japan’s success in overcoming the energy crises in the 1970s and subsequent high-technology miracle in the 1980s. Similar to Japan’s energy security, securing water is crucial for Singapore as approximately a third of the water supply is imported. This study traces the extensive stepwise endeavors Singapore undertook to address this problem. Initial attempts of learning from imported technology lead to the development of indigenous capabilities followed by export acceleration. This in turn has lead to a phenomenon observed and described as co-evolutionary “acclimatization”, which has enabled the nation to successfully substitute 30% of water demand with technology-driven NEWater. This paper demonstrates the challenges faced in developing and disseminating these leading-edge technologies. The final result is “localizing” knowledge and creating local innovation using the knowledge from leading global firms thereby providing mutual benefits to competitors leading to the co-evolution between innovation and institutional systems. This co-evolutionary process provides new insights into innovation and industry emergence, particularly for inducing the economies at the bottom of the pyramid.