SINGAPORE will be pumping in over $1 billion for the next phase of its R&D push.

Half of that budget will go towards helping to predict and protect against several big killers like cancer, as well as nature's triple threats of earthquakes, volcanoes, and global warming.

Announcing this on Friday, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said to develop a dynamic economy with a vibrant entrepreneurial sector, Singapore needs to make innovation a pervasive culture.

He was speaking at the closing of a meeting by the Research, Innovation and Enterprise Council, which Mr Lee chairs.

He pointed out that the funding will go into several elements. For example, $350 million will go into the National Framework for Innovation and Enterprise.

The aim is to encourage institutes of higher learning to bring their R & D results from the lab to the market.

And to further strengthen Singapore's research capabilites, two new Research Centres of Excellence will be set up.

The first - a cancer research centre - will focus on experimental therapeutics.

The second is the Earth Observatory of Singapore, which will concentrate on earth science, such as the threat of earthquakes and tsunamis.

According to Mr Lee, another $360 million will go towards setting up the Campus for Research Excellence and Technological Enterprise or Create, for short.

The campus, to be co-located with NUS' University Town, will house research centres from top universities from around the world.