IMDA to provide more AI support for SMEs; 800 jobs, training opportunities secured
[SINGAPORE] The Infocomm and Media Development Authority (IMDA) will provide small and medium enterprises (SMEs) more support in the field of artificial intelligence (AI), and create more job opportunities.
In a speech at the Asia Tech X Singapore conference on Tuesday (May 27), Singapore Senior Minister of State for Digital Development and Information Tan Kiat How announced the scale-up of the GenAI x Digital Leaders initiative. The initiative, launched in 2024, has supported 50 GenAI projects with the potential of up to 50 per cent productivity improvements and cost savings of S$300,000 per enterprise.
The minister said the initiative would be scaled up to benefit an additional 1,000 enterprises and support up to 500 projects in the next one year.
For the scale-up of the GenAI x Digital Leaders initiative, IMDA, together with partners Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft, will:
Double the number of tech discovery and deep-dive sessions, and increase one-on-one consultations;
Reduce development costs and deployment time for custom GenAI solutions by 50 per cent with pre-built modules designed for common use cases;
Provide access to technical expertise along with additional resources such as computing power and cloud credits.
More jobs
IMDA is boosting efforts to build the AI talent pipeline in an effort to drive economic growth.
'The digital economy contributes 18 per cent of Singapore GDP, and despite global uncertainty, I expect technology, especially AI, to be able to drive quality economic growth,' said Tan.
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There are currently over 26 AI centres of excellence (COE), which require AI practitioners to run. Grab was the latest to launch an AI COE, creating 50 job opportunities.
The regulator has secured 800 AI-related jobs and training opportunities as Singapore aims to triple the pool of AI practitioners to 15,000. Of these, 400 are with companies such as AWS, Microsoft, Oracle and Singtel. Singaporeans will be hired and trained to take on AI practitioner roles in this collaboration between the companies and IMDA.
IMDA is also partnering AI Singapore (AISG) and companies to launch two new training programmes to create 400 more AI practitioner opportunities. An AI Apprenticeship Programme (Industry) developed in partnership with AI COEs to train locals in AI practitioner roles and the Pinnacle AI Industry Programme design to train existing AI practitioners into model builders.
New partners
Three new partners for the Digital Enterprise Blueprint (DEB) were also announced – Alibaba Cloud, ST Engineering and Prudential Singapore. The initiative, launched in 2024, has seen over 10,000 enterprises benefit from the fostered collaboration between partners in the ecosystem.
Alibaba Cloud will:
Raise the digital capability of up to 3,000 SMEs in cloud technologies and AI;
Provide cloud credits of up to US$1,000 for 800 SMEs and 200 digital solutions providers;
Conduct six AI-related technical training workshops and quarterly technical consultations and a 30-day trial to Alibaba Cloud AI Model Studio
Prudential will:
Develop educational content of up to 10 GenAI explainer videos to help SMEs understand and adopt GenAI tools;
Conduct up to four workshops to help SMEs understand IMDA's pre-approved GenAI solutions
ST Engineering will:
Provide a one-time complimentary cyber threat scanning services for up to 2,000 SMEs through IMDA's CTO-as-a-Service Platform and a cyber threat report with detailed recommendations;
Conduct cybersecurity awareness event for up to 2,000 SMEs on strategies to bolster cyber defence
'Limited resources and lack of in-house cybersecurity expertise make it tough for SMEs to manage risks, underscoring the need for greater support to strengthen their cyber defences,' said Goh Eng Choon, president of cyber, ST Engineering.
The existing DEB partners are Singapore Business Federation, Singapore Computer Society, SGTech, AWS, Google, Microsoft and Salesforce.
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