“They say ‘change is the only constant’, but change has never come at a faster rate,” said Ibrahim. “Convergence and disruption are transforming the way we operate. Every so often, we see another Airbnb or Uber come along, up-ending the way our economies function.”
Global upheaval
“Across the world, we see greater calls for protectionism,” he said. “I am sure we recognize this reality in our countries. But how do we deal with such upheaval?”
“We can, of course, try to protect our economies and close them off-take the easier path. But history has shown that those who resist change eventually fall behind and end up playing catch-up.”
Digital strategies
“As ministers and policy-makers, we have been looking at the policies to prepare our country, so that we are digitally ready to thrive in the future economy,” said Ibrahim. “The TechSkills Accelerator, or TeSA, we launched last year aims to deepen skills and capabilities. Over 10,000 ICT professionals have gained from TeSA so far.”
“We will be training another 10,000 public servants in data science to improve capabilities in the public service. We are also reaching out to the small medium enterprises. With the SMEs Go Digital program, we want to help our small businesses scale up and boost productivity through technology.”
Culture of experimentation
“We want to encourage a culture of collaborating, sharing and experimenting,” said the Minister. “One way we are doing this is to provide dedicated spaces and tools for people to tinker around with innovative projects, and exchange ideas with others in the community.”
“The PIXEL Lab at the Jurong Regional Library is one such space. Tools and equipment like 3D printers and micro-controllers are available for anyone who wants to play around with them.”
Regulation without stifling innovation
“How do we regulate without stifling innovation? Last year, the Monetary Authority of Singapore, or MAS, launched a regulatory sandbox for financial institutions and FinTech players. The idea is to provide a conducive space where certain regulatory requirements are relaxed for a period of time, to encourage firms to test their solutions. If the experiment fails-and there will be some that do, it does so within a confined space, without major impact on our financial system.”
“Digital is the future, but the future is not only digital,” said Ibrahim. “I believe analogue will remain for some time in many of our countries. We must look into harnessing the benefits of digital to transform older, analogue processes and sectors. This is one way to ensure a more inclusive and equitable distribution of benefits we gain from technology.”