Signal Singapore's Centre for Strategic Futures sits inside the Prime Minister's Office

Summary

Singapore, a city-state of 733 square kilometers and about 5.9 million people without natural resources or strategic depth, has built one of the world's most sophisticated in-government futures systems. Its roots go back to 1988, when the defense ministry adopted Shell-style scenario planning, and to 1995, when a Scenario Planning Office was set up under the Prime Minister's Office. The Centre for Strategic Futures was formally launched in 2009 as an independent think tank focused on long-term, open-ended issues, and in 2015 it moved into the reorganized Strategy Group of the Prime Minister's Office. It has about ten full-time staff drawn from economics, political science, history, engineering and the arts, and is led by a founding member. Its budget sits within the Prime Minister's Office, with separate allocations for inviting experts, international networks and workshops. The centre marked its fifteenth anniversary in 2024 and is regarded as one of the most closely watched cases in government futures work.