DPM Heng Swee Keat at the SGTech Industry Gala Dinner 2025

SMS Amy Khor, SMS Tan Kiat How, SMS Zaqy Mohamad
SGTech Chairman Mr Nicholas Lee,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good evening. Thank you for inviting me to join you at the SG Tech Industry Gala Dinner.

First, let me congratulate the winners of the inaugural SGTech Impact Awards.

Our theme tonight is “Tech Transforms Life”. Indeed, technology has always been a force of transformation.

SGTechwas founded as the Singapore Federation of the Computer Industry (SFCI) in 1982. The world then was just entering the age of personal computing.

Within a generation, the first Windows PC, the internet, and mobile technology have changed how we live and work.

Your name change – from SFCI, to the Singapore IT Federation (SiTF), then to SGTech in 2018, reflect this transformation.

Now, we are on the cusp of a new age, shaped by new technologies like AI, robotics, automation, biotech, and quantum computing.

SGTech is focusing attention to these areas through your specialised chapters, including AI, quantum computing, cyber security, cloud computing and data centres.

Strengthening the Tech Ecosystem in Singapore Together

SGTech is now a leading trade association for the technology industry, representing over 1,400 local and foreign MNCs, SMEs and startups based in Singapore.

You play a key role of bridging government, businesses, and society to strengthen Singapore’s tech ecosystem.

Take IMDA’s TechSkills Accelerator (TeSA) for instance. I still remember introducing TeSA in my first Budget Speech as Finance Minister in 2016.

The idea was to involve the ICT industry in developing our talent pool. SITF, as you were known back then, and your team led at that time by Shirley, worked hard to rally the support of all stakeholders.

TeSA has been a resounding success, and has helped place over 19,000 locals into tech roles, and upskilled and reskilled around 300,000 individuals.

A testament to the impact we can make by working together!

This ecosystem approach is crucial, as innovation relies on the exchange of knowledge and ideas.

The impact of technology is deeper and faster than ever before, but we must work across sectors, across companies, and across borders to navigate this new age.

I commend SGTech for the two community building initiatives that you are launching tonight.

The SGTech Whatsapp Community will create awareness about the latest tech trends, as well as training and networking opportunities.

The other initiative, TechConnect Asia, which Nicholas announced will help integrate foreign tech companies into our local ecosystem and create synergies.

This dual prong approach – of strengthening the local community, and welcoming new members from abroad – will help us learn from each other and run together.

Congratulations to SGTech!

In the spirit of tonight’s theme, “Tech Transforms Life”, let me spotlight three areas where I believe that tech can transform life for good:

First, to sharpen the competitiveness of our companies, and create good job opportunities for our people.

Second, to help our students and workers, and in fact everyone, learn better, so that they can enjoy longer and more fulfilling careers.

And third, to improve our quality of life and protect the planet.

Competitive companies, Opportunities for workers

Let me start with the economy.

Nicholas did a good job recounting my challenge to SGTech on your 40th birthday.

I am glad to hear that on your 42nd birthday, you have submitted a good report card, including work on the Tech Skill-up Festival, the Gen AI resource guide, and the AI Business skills roadmap.

There are more good examples where SGTech’s programmes are complementing the Government’s digital economy efforts.

For example, SGTech’s Digital Transformation for SMEs (DT-SME) Programme helps connect smaller companies with digital solutions tailored to their needs.

You are also among the Digital Enterprise Blueprint (DEB) partners working with IMDA to facilitate the placement of at least 300 university, polytechnic and ITE apprentices through your network of members.

I thank SGTech and all your members for answering the call to join in Singapore’s digital transformation journey.

Tonight, the SG Tech Digital Transformation Impact Awards will recognise companies which have used technology to improve efficiency and customer experience.

These efforts have built up strong momentum in preparing our companies for a digital and AI-driven economy.

Our top rankings in the IMD World Digital Competitiveness Index, and the Asia Pacific AI Readiness Index, are testament to this.

Importantly, companies both large and small are learning to harness technology.

The proportion of SMEs which have adopted at least one digital solution for general business functions has increased from 53% in 2020, to 84% in 2024. Our next target should be 100%!

More than 11,000 hawkers have also benefited from the Hawkers Go Digital programme, catalysed by our digital CDC Vouchers

Now, we are still at the early stages of the current wave of digital and AI advances, and the Government will provide strong support to help companies adopt these technologies.

For example, companies can adopt off the shelf tools via IMDA's CTO-as-a-service, supported by grants like the Productivity solutions grant (PSG).

The $150 million Enterprise Compute Initiative will also support more sophisticated enterprise AI use case development and deployment.

I look forward to partnering with SGTech to raise awareness and adoption.

The NRF, which I chair, will also double down on investments in applied AI, under our Research, Innovation and Enterprise or RIE 2030 plans. Already we have set aside $120 million for AI for Science initiative.

Advanced AI techniques can be used to discover lighter and stronger materials, accelerate the discovery of new medicines, and improve the flow of people and goods through our air and seaports.

While work is still ongoing, I encourage SGTech members and all of you here to contribute your ideas.

Learning to use tech, and using tech to learn

I have spoken about preparing our companies for the digital and AI-age.

With this transformation, new jobs will replace traditional jobs, which will change. Routine tasks will be replaced by automation, and even tasks requiring critical thinking and creativity will be reshaped.

AI-related roles were among the fastest growing job roles in a LinkedIn study release earlier this year.

While the transformation journey may come with challenges, our goal is evergreen. Better jobs and higher wages for our people.

So, my second point is how we can use technology to prepare our students and workers for the future of learning, and the future of jobs and skills.

In the past, learning stops when you get your diploma or your degree, which could sustain your career for decades.

But today, the half-life of skills is shrinking, and in fact the half-life of your skills may be even shorter since you are in the tech sector. I am told that your technical skills are useless after two to five years.

This means that continuous learning is no longer optional—it is essential.

The Government will support all Singaporeans who wish to develop new skills, and explore career opportunities in the tech sector. For instance:

TeSA, which I spoke about earlier, provides training in areas with high demand for talent, such as software engineering, cloud and mobility, and AI and analytics.

IMDA is also working with SkillsFuture Singapore to expand the curriculum for SkillsFuture for the Digital Workplace 2.0, to include AI and Generative content.

Our universities also run many training programmes, including AI Singapore’s apprenticeships, and SUTD’s AI in Design programme.

While we are learning to use tech, we can also use tech to learn better!

In my recent trip to Korea, I was invited by the Education Minister to look at how AI textbooks were being used to help students learn better.

Singapore is similarly embarking on similar initiatives under our EdTech Masterplan 2030.

Working adults can also benefit from tech-enabled learning. For instance, Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) are being used to train our doctors, nurses, pilots, and other skilled professionals.

But, there is more that we can do to push the frontiers to improve how we learn in the age of AI.

NRF has started a workstream called “Human Health and Potential”. It looks at optimising the health and learning aspects of people across their lives.

This research will deepen our understanding of how we can better work alongside technologies such as AI, and help us better design our teaching and training programmes.

NUS has also set up an Artificial Intelligence Centre for Educational Technologies (AICET).

So, I invite SGTech and your members to contribute your research experiences, to enable our students and workers to learn better.

And also study how we could use AI to help our IT professionals stay ahead of AI!

Tech to Improve Lives and Protect the Planet

I have spoken about how we can work together to prepare our companies and our people for the digital and AI age.

Both are important.

But to truly maximise the transformational potential of tech, we must apply this to tackle the shared challenges across the whole world, like climate change and aging populations. That way, not only do you contribute to humanity, you also benefit from new markets globally.

I am heartened that SGTech has been making strides to pursue sustainable growth.

Your Sustainability Steering Committee, led by Shih Hor and Gavin, with Amy as Patron, runs initiatives like e-waste recycling to rally businesses in support of our Green Plan.

The Sustainability Guided Programme, in partnership with Enterprise Singapore, also helps SMEs adopt cost-effective sustainability measuring and carbon reduction practices.

This evening, the SGTech Sustainability Impact Awards will recognise four winners. Congratulations!

Ageing is another area that I believe technology can make a difference. And there is a huge demand for it.

I just came back from Beijing to commemorate Lianhe Zaobao online’s 30th anniversary in China.

By 2030, one in four Singaporeans will be aged 65 or above. Many parts of Asia, including China and Japan, face similar trends. In China alone, there are more than 220 million seniors above 65.

When I was in the Zhong Guan Cun forum, I saw rapid advances in how technology could help us care for our seniors better. For example, through AI-powered fall detection systems, wearable health trackers, and remote telemedicine services.

Embodied AI and automated robotics can also meet some caregiving and companionship needs, and I am glad that we have SGTech members like Techblazer Awards 2023 winner Augmentus are innovating in Singapore.

I am very heartened that the SGTech Smart Nation Co-lab is collaborating with NUS, NUHS, and HDB to apply tech solutions in the Queenstown Health District, to tackle social isolation among our seniors.

Technology will not only allow our seniors to lead more fulfilling lives, they are also an opportunity for tech players in Singapore to thrive in the silver economy.

At the Zhong Guan Cun forum, a common refrain was not to treat ageing as a silver tsunami, but to think of riding the silver economy!

Conclusion

Let me conclude.

I fully agree with our theme tonight that “Tech Transforms Lives”.

I have outlined some aspects of this - sharpening the competitiveness of our companies, preparing our people for jobs of tomorrow, and tackling some of the world’s greatest challenges from climate change to ageing.

In the age of digitalisation, AI and robotics, I trust that Singaporeans will continue to embrace change.

Have the confidence that we can turn this into a strength – and embrace the change. Instead of worrying about tech replacing us, use tech to augment our abilities and make us stronger.

Let us work together to turn our constraints – an ageing population, a shrinking workforce, and increasing global competition – into new strengths and opportunities!

SGTech’s various initiatives today – the SGTech WhatsApp community,

TechConnect Asia, and the SGTech Impact Awards are all excellent building blocks.

So let me once again leave you with a challenge:

To invest in our people – so that every student, worker and entrepreneur, and senior, can thrive in a tech-driven world;

To strengthen our tech ecosystem, to stay at the forefront of technological advancement, and harness technology to improve the quality of life of our people;

And to position Singapore in this age of trade and tech competition as a Global-Asia Node of tech, innovation and enterprise – Where we can be a reliable, trusted, neutral centre, where players from all around the world can come together to develop and test new solutions, and scale them beyond Singapore to serve Asia and the rest of the world.

Thank you very much.