Mr Peter Ong, Chairman, Enterprise Singapore,
Mr Frederick Chew, Chief Executive Officer, A*STAR,
Professor Hang Chang Chieh, Founding Executive Director, Institute for Engineering Leadership, NUS and former Deputy Chairman of A*STAR
Leaders of our trade associations and SMEs,
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Introduction
1. Good morning and welcome to SME Tech Day 2023. I’m happy to see many SME leaders in the audience for this annual event.
2. As business owners, I am sure you are acutely aware of the role technological innovations play in capturing growth opportunities. It is important to leverage technology to “innovate now” and “impact the future”, which is the theme of this year’s SME Tech Day.
3. Today, I am pleased to share a few new initiatives we are putting in place, to better support our local companies to grow. “ABC”: Accelerate Innovation, Build Talent, and Cultivate Partnerships.
Accelerate Innovation: new Centres of Innovation to support SMEs’ R&D journey
4. First, to accelerate innovation. You may be familiar with Enterprise Singapore’s Centres of Innovation or COIs, which are one-stop innovation hubs that work with SMEs to create new products, services, or solutions in thematic areas such as electronics, energy, environment, and water. We recognise the challenges faced by SMEs to develop their own in-house R&D and innovation capabilities and facilities; hence these COIs offer access to specialised equipment, labs, and training for product and process innovation.
5. I am pleased to announce the enhanced support we are providing for SME innovation through our COIs.
a. The first is the establishment of a new COI for Built Environment – Robotics and Automation @ Temasek Polytechnic and Ngee Ann Polytechnic. Both polytechnics will work together to leverage their existing capabilities, specialised equipment, and tools to help SMEs develop and adopt robotics and automation solutions for the built environment industry.
b. The second is the expansion of support to food manufacturing SMEs through the Food Manufacturing COI. The COI brings together the strengths and complementary capabilities of Singapore Polytechnic, Nanyang Polytechnic, Republic Polytechnic and Temasek Polytechnic. Building on the foundation laid by the Food Innovation and Resource Centre @ Singapore Polytechnic, the Centre offers an expanded suite of innovation resources and expertise for in-demand areas like alternative proteins and sustainability. In addition, the Centre will groom and upskill innovation talent in the food sector through training courses and innovation projects.
6. This will bring the total number of COIs overseen by EnterpriseSG to 12. These two COIs are set to collaborate with more than 800 local enterprises and embark on more than 100 innovation projects with SMEs in the next two years. I hope many of you in the audience will tap on them as well.
Build Talent: Enhancing talent schemes to meet evolving business environment
7. Next, I would like to talk about building talent. A*STAR, with support from EnterpriseSG, has been running the Growing Enterprises through Technology Upgrade, or GET-Up programme, for 20 years now. GET-Up was started by former A*STAR Chairman, Mr Philip Yeo, with former GET-Up Steering Committee Chairman, Professor Hang Chang Chieh in 2003, to help businesses leverage technology upgrading to move up the value chain. The programme consists of a few schemes:
a. Among them is the Operation & Technology Roadmap, or OTR. It helps SMEs review their business operations and technology capabilities, to create roadmaps to meet future challenges and to capture new markets.
b. Another is the Technology for Enterprise Capability Upgrading, or T-Up, which helps local enterprises enhance their technical capabilities through the secondment of scientific and engineering talent from A*STAR.
8. As GET-Up commemorates its 20th anniversary this year, I am happy to share that the programme has assisted over 1,500 local enterprises to innovate, scale, and internationalise. During this period, the T-Up programme has seconded more than 1,000 A*STAR research scientists and engineers to over 1,000 SMEs, providing a broad range of R&D and technology expertise to develop and innovate products and business processes. Today, I am glad that Professor Hang is here to celebrate this milestone with us. Since 2020, A*STAR has also collaborated with the Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT) on a T-Up Integrated Work Study Programme (IWSP), where 25 students have completed attachments at SMEs.
9. One company that has benefitted is Xnergy, a cleantech company that makes wireless chargers and battery management systems for autonomous guided vehicles and robotic applications. Through GET-Up, the company has successfully launched next-generation waterproof and dustproof high-powered universal wireless chargers to expand their customer base internationally and entered new market segments such as logistics and security.
a. Xnergy also benefited through a T-Up-SIT-IWSP project. Sin Shi Kang, a former SIT student, assisted Vincent Chuang, his mentor from A*STAR’s Advanced Remanufacturing and Technology Centre, and led Xnergy's team in the redesign of a universal wireless charger for industrial autonomous robots. Shi Kang also introduced innovative solutions to streamline Xnergy’s manufacturing processes for greater efficiency, including the use of 3D printing for prototype and fixtures testing which the company now uses in its operations. Now a project engineer at Xnergy, Shi Kang offers technical support to the sales team in both pre- and post-sales phases.
10. With rapid changes in the global business and technological environment, our workforce must have the relevant skills to match industry transformations. To achieve this, I’m happy to announce that we are expanding the talent footprint of both the OTR and T-Up schemes.
a. First, A*STAR has signed MOUs with Ngee Ann Polytechnic and Singapore Polytechnic to support the development of innovation capabilities of our local enterprises, by training the Polytechnics’ staff to develop OTRs for local enterprises to help them map out their own innovation roadmap. Additionally, the MOUs also aim to develop Continuing Education and Training programmes on topics such as sustainability and robotics so that the Polytechnics can upskill the local workforce to support Singapore’s Innovation & Enterprise ecosystem.
b. Second, under the same MOUs, a new internship collaboration model will be piloted. Singapore Polytechnic and Ngee Ann Polytechnic students on internship will get the opportunity to participate in T-Up projects with A*STAR’s T-Up partner companies. The students will gain valuable R&D experience under the mentorship of A*STAR’s research scientists. This follows a pilot between local biotech company Allozymes and Singapore Polytechnic since September 2023, and builds on the success of the T-Up-SIT-IWSP model.
c. Third, I’m happy to share that with AI’s increasing prominence, the T-Up initiative was expanded from seconding A*STAR researchers, to also seconding AI Singapore or AISG’s engineers to companies, in order to enhance their AI capabilities. The inaugural AISG T-Up project is with uParcel, Singapore’s biggest homegrown same-day delivery platform. The project will focus on building an AI-driven recommender system for delivery jobs assigned to drivers, as well as an AI-optimised automation system for the delivery process. These systems are expected to reduce the carbon footprint in uParcel’s deliveries by 20 per cent and increase driver productivity by assigning jobs that are relevant and preferred by them.
11. Let me also take this opportunity to congratulate the GET-Up20 Innovation Award Winners, Moveon Technologies and Nanofilm Technologies International, as well as this year’s T-Up Excellence Awards winners - Dr Sarene Koh, Dr Wai Lu-En, Dr Debowski Marcin Antoni and Dr Chew Wee. Their exceptional contributions to the SMEs during their secondments have shown the value of such talent schemes in helping companies to improve their R&D capabilities, develop innovative products, and achieve successful business outcomes.
Cultivate Partnerships between industry, academia, public sector and trade associations
12. Finally, there is great value in Cultivating Partnerships to scale innovation. There is a Chinese saying: “独行快，众行远”. It means, if you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.
13. Consortium-type partnerships can help you innovate at scale. Through the Consortium Operation and Technology Roadmapping programme, also referred to as COTR, A*STAR works with groups of companies within the same sector to co-innovate and develop new solutions that can improve the competitiveness of the sector.
14. One example is A*STAR’s partnership with the Singapore Semiconductor Industry Association to develop four COTR projects. This new partnership will enable companies in the semiconductor industry to address common challenges such as supply chain resilience and sustainability, for the continued growth of the industry.
15. Building such partnerships, between industry, academia, public sector, and trade associations, can help companies to jointly find solutions and innovate at scale.
Conclusion
16. I have shared with you the “ABCs” of innovating now to impact the future. Let us collaborate to spur Singapore’s ecosystem as a global innovation and business hub.
17. Thank you and I wish you an engaging and fruitful SME Tech Day.