The 80s saw Singapore embark on what the government called the "Second Industrial Revolution," a move into knowledge-intensive activities such as R&D, engineering design, and computer software services.

EDB co-established institutions of technology with Japan, Germany and France to meet the specialised manpower needs of high-technology industries. These trained Singaporeans for specialised jobs in electronics and engineering. EDB administered the Skills Development Fund to encourage the right kind of manpower training.

The Science Park was set up next to the National University of Singapore to stimulate R&D activities by the private sector. The government also set up the Robot Leasing Scheme to offer low-cost financing and technical consultancy to manufacturers who wanted to automate their operations.

The government adopted a high-wage policy to accelerate the move away from labour-intensive industries and the attraction to high-technology industries. But wage bills swelled as the world slipped into an economic slowdown, and Singapore slid into a recession.

An Economic Committee, led by then Minister for Trade and Industry Mr Lee Hsien Loong, took a long hard look at what was needed to restore Singapore's competitiveness. The Committee's most far-reaching recommendation was the introduction of a flexi-wage system where pay hikes would be relative to a company's profitability.

Another call the Committee made was for EDB to promote all aspects of economic activity. With the new goal of selling Singapore as a Total Business Centre, EDB set out to attract international service corporations in the financial, educational, lifestyle, medical, IT and software sectors.

The EDB identified PC, printed circuit board, and disc drive manufacture as important sunrise industries and worked to attract companies in these areas. As a result, Singapore’s – and South East Asia’s - first silicon wafer manufacture plant opened in the early 1980s. Apple Computer manufactured PCs in Singapore in 1981, and disc drive manufacture began in 1982.

The promotion of local enterprises also became increasingly important. EDB set up the Small Enterprise Bureau in 1986 and shaped a range of assistance schemes to help small local enterprises grow.