The Singapore government will invest S$20 million to boost the country\'s ICT skills, targeting gaps in emerging areas such as cloud computing and green IT.
At the opening ceremony of imbX2009 yesterday, Acting Minister for Information, Communications and The Arts, Lui Tuck Yew, said the government would work with the private sector to offer attachments for up to 1,000 young IT professionals.
The IDA will also run a leadership development program known as iLEAD (infocomm leadership and development program) offering local or overseas attachments or specialized training to ensure the availability of expertise in new growth areas.
Yew said that up to 1,000 graduates would be involved in the two programs.
The announcement follows a S$55 million ICT skills initiative unveiled by the minister in February. "The attachments will help fresh graduates and infocomm professionals gain employment and industry experience in this economic climate," Yew said.
According to the IDA, the number of ICT professionals in Singapore reached 139,000 last year, up 6.6% from 130,400 in 2007.
Hema Ramnani, assistant director for infocomm manpower development said iLEAD aimed to boost skills in application development, cloud computing, green IT, IT security and network engineering.
She said attachments would be found in healthcare, education and other sectors as well as in IT firms.