A Message from Andy Weatherston

April 14, 2022

Today we have the privilege of a guest post from none other than Andrew Weatherston, R&D Senior Vice President, our top R&D leader at the SgIC. He reflects on his time in Singapore:

The last 2 years have been a challenging time to live anywhere in the world and as someone who moved to Singapore in January 2020 I confess to having, on occasions, questioned the sanity in relocating my family across the world in the middle of a pandemic. However, these moments are fleeting and as I take my daily walk through the Botanic Gardens or stop at one of my favourite hawker centres I am reminded of the abundant diversity that is intrinsic to every facet of Singapore life and compelled us to move here in the first place.

While my responsibilities cover all our innovation centres in Asia (Singapore, Beijing, and Kobe) the travel restrictions over the last two years have afforded me opportunities to learn disproportionately about my home base. One of the most exciting aspects of that has been the breadth and diversity of the innovation ecosystem established by the Singapore government to partner with business. As restrictions have eased we recently had the privilege to host Mr Fred Chew, CEO of A*STAR - Agency for Science, Technology and Research, and showcase some of our joint technology programs including some breakthrough molecular modeling to aid consumer health. This week we will host our global Chief R&D Innovation Officer Victor Aguilar and Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB) to see the latest learning from our new-to-the-world innovation portfolio which they have partnered with us to create.

Another benefit of more time in Singapore has been gaining greater familiarity with the work and talents of our SgIC employees. The site is 8 years old next month and we have been able to grow from a handful of people to almost 500 during that time by recruiting extensively from the local colleges and bringing in experienced technologists and managers from our other P&G innovation centres around the world. Singapore’s ability to attract a diversity of experienced talent from across Asia and indeed the globe is one of its key benefits and a core reason for us to house our innovation centre here. They are some remarkable men and women; representing over 25 nationalities and spanning four decades of experience.

Each of them has a story to tell, and we wanted to give a broader audience a peek behind the innovation curtain. So, a year ago, our site leadership made a suggestion to establish a LinkedIn presence. I am a keen supporter.

I hope in reading about their work and accomplishments you will see common themes in their commitment to improve the lives of consumers and to create a more sustainable future. The rallying cry of our innovation employees here in SGIC is #TheFuturemakers and I find them a constant source of inspiration for what the future can be.

I hope that you do too, and maybe some of you will be inspired to join them. Cheers.

#Connect and Develop