Pitch
As technologies mature they usually decline in price. This familiar process may be derailed by new, mutually reinforcing global trends.
Description
Make life easier/more difficult for Singapore?
More difficult
Describe the change
As the world’s demand for 'high tech' devices, engineered systems and clean technology grows, the resources that make this possible, often called “Technology Metals” (eg. lithium, tantalum, neodymium) are in increasingly high demand. Together they form a new class of commodities which are strategically important to high tech industries. The uneven distribution of these resources may give rise to new fronts for resource politics. Supply constraints may be intensified for economic and political benefit.
The need to reduce greenhouse gases due to climate change has also resulted in environmental costs being factored into economic decisions. This trend supports a higher price floor for more environmentally friendly and technologically advanced devices.These machinery are in turn often made with “technology metals” as they ensure better energy efficiency (due to better heat resistance) and are able to lower energy losses.
These trends add to the feedback loop supporting a spike in prices.
How will this change impact Smart Nation Singapore in 2030?
The success of the smart nation program depends on the ability and roll out infrastructure, devices on a nationwide scale.
The relative costs of new technologies may have been underestimated. The share of capital required to implement a smart nation could be much higher than expected.
An economic opportunity may present it self if Singapore is able to extract and recycle important minerals and metals from machinery and devices for re-use or even export.
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