Singapore, like Australia, is one of the world's most prosperous countries. However, the basis for Singapore's prosperity is quite different from that of Australia's and for this reason it provides an interesting and complementary case study. While much of Australia's current affluence flows from its rich endowment of mineral resources, Singapore's success builds on its geographical position, strong trading links and the innovative and entrepreneurial outlook of its government. Singapore provides an example of a country responding in a coherent and strategic way to its natural advantages and its lack of natural resources. An important part of this response has been to develop whole of government approaches to national development that focus on the need to build competitive advantage through innovation. Investment in education has responded to the needs of national development. The outcome has been a high quality but diverse system with specialised institutions using the best pedagogical approaches from around the world, each working to achieve its own clearly defined educational objectives. The purpose of this paper is to explore the role that universities have played in promoting Singapore's economic development and in particular to examine the importance of university business interactions in promoting the flow of information, ideas and technology. (Contains 47 footnotes.)