1. Good afternoon.

 

2. Somebody asked me earlier if I had created a startup or worked in the private sector before. Yes – I was in a startup before, called Marketplace, many years before computers were ubiquitous. It failed, because it was an idea way before its time, and the platforms were not there.

 

3. Many of you might know the startup, Carousell. Carousell’s Founder, Siu Rui, is a good friend of mine, and we met each other in the early days of Facebook. Now, he has Carousell Campus, at launchpad@one-north. We have two launchpads, one at Jurong and one at one-north. Whenever I speak to Siu Rui, I always said I could have been like Carousell. However, the phone was not as powerful then, and we did not have the platforms. But now, you have an incredible series of platforms that every single one of you has access to.

 

4. Did you know that Singapore is one of the places where a lot of the Graphic Processing Units (GPUs) are being bought? About 15 per cent of NVIDIA’s revenue comes from Singapore. If you think about the platforms and tools that you currently have, you have a variety. GPUs, AI, machine learning on GPUs will get even more ubiquitous. As you build your models using Generative AI, for example, you have more platforms now than I had, and more platforms than what Carousell had.

 

5. Secondly, I hope that you take advantage of the ecosystem in Singapore. Earlier, I shared with some friends from Canada and Texas that we have about 4,500 startups, 40 unicorns, and 240 or so incubators and accelerators here in Singapore. It is an ecosystem, but it is not just an ecosystem in technology.

 

6. For example, manufacturing makes up 22 per cent of Singapore’s GDP. We are manufacturing general goods, but increasingly, about 7 per cent of all semiconductors produced in the world are produced in Singapore. About 11 to 12 per cent of semiconductor manufacturing equipment is produced in Singapore. If you think about the whole chain, although we  do not have TSMC or ASML, Singapore, because of its location and what is happening geopolitically, is becoming increasingly important. The ecosystem is not just about technology, manufacturing, financial services, maritime, but also agrifood technology, fintech, e-commerce, water technology, construction technology, and the likes. For example, if you need financing for your startups, we have accelerators and incubators. If you pull everything together, at the heart of the fastest-growing region in the world, which is Asia, I think you have an opportunity to succeed.

 

7. Thirdly, we need all of you. The best ideas do not come from GenAI. When you use technology, you also take away something which makes us human, such as creativity. That is why all of you are here and we are investing so much in this, with you and for you. Come up with your ideas, do not be afraid to fail, and tap on platforms that are readily and widely available to you. Make use of the innovative ecosystem that we continue to build. From the Government, we have a variety of platforms to help you.

 

8. When we talk about ecosystem, we have launchpads in one-north and Jurong; we also have facilities like Mapletree. We also have programmes from the Government. StartupSG, established by Enterprise Singapore, helps you look for networking and mentorship opportunities, as well as provides you with funding and equity. Globally, we also have over 20 Global Innovation Alliances (GIA), to connect top innovative cities together. Last October, we launched the GIA in New York. If you are interested, they will connect with you, together with EnterpriseSG, and see if you can penetrate the market.

 

9. Whether you are in Singapore and you want to build a startup with the platforms that I talked about in the ecosystem, or you want to go overseas, we got your back. We just need your ideas.

 

10. Congratulations to the team who organised UNICON. Thank you to Kwong Meng and Mapletree too, and I wish all of you an incredibly fruitful conference.