SINGAPORE (June 27): Singapore’s Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) has launched a series of initiatives to spearhead the city-state’s efforts to become a leading digital economy.
The initiatives were announced by Minister for Communications and Information, S Iswaran, at the Innovfest Unbound, an anchor event of the Smart Nation Innovations Week.
First, IMDA and the National Research Foundation (NRF) will set aside $40 million to build an open and inclusive 5G innovation ecosystem.
SINGAPORE (May 3): VUCA – Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous – a term originally coined by the American military to describe what today’s leaders must cope with, has quickly become a way to describe the socio-economic landscape.
Evolving technology, including artificial intelligence and machine learning, is one of the reasons for this move towards increased complexity and volatility. As automation makes many manual and repetitive tasks obsolete, the call for a ‘skills-revolution’ has become louder.
SINGAPORE (April 4): Despite widespread utility of digital services across the globe, a range of basic, self-fulfillment and psychological needs are still failing to be met, suggests a recent survey by Dentsu Aegis Network in partnership with Oxford Economics.
SINGAPORE (Jan 29): Small-medium enterprises (SMEs) in Singapore are more optimistic than ever about their businesses and overall economy coming into 2019, finds a recent study conducted by Australian insurance provider QBE Insurance.
According to the fourth edition of the annual survey of Singapore SMEs, 44% of respondents polled in Nov 2018 were expecting their businesses to pick up over the next 12 months with almost half (47%) saying they intended to internationalise.
39% were also of the opinion that Singapore’s economy will pick up over the same period.
SINGAPORE (Aug 21): DBS and Singtel has reaffirmed their partnership to help local small and medium enterprises (SMEs) digitalise their businesses and keep pace with the technological shifts in the local and global economy.
Through the nationwide 99%SME campaign that helps SMEs expand their business by digitalising their operations, the duo will be enhancing the e-marketplace on the 99%SME portal next month.
The enhanced platform will instantly connect SMEs, especially those without an online presence, to an e-commerce platform hosted on the 99%SME site.
SINGAPORE (Aug 16): International Business Machines (IBM) is joining the Infocomm Media Development Authority’s (IMDA) Company-Led Training programme under its TechSkills Accelerator (TeSA) initiative to roll out their first “New Collar Apprenticeship” initiative outside of the US.
Through the apprenticeships, IBM Singapore intends to also employ and train non-degree holders for infocomm technology (ICT) jobs within the technology industry.
SINGAPORE (July 12): Singaporean workers have the highest expected turnover rate in Asia Pacific, according to a study by enterprise cloud applications provider Workday and global market intelligence firm IDC.
Some 46% of Singaporean employees say they intend to leave their current jobs within 12 months, followed by Malaysia (38%) and Australia (35%).
Japanese workers are most likely in the region to stay in their current roles, with only 23% saying they plan to leave their current jobs within a year.
SINGAPORE (June 19): Singapore has dropped one spot down to second place in the IMD World Digital Competitiveness Rankings 2018.
The US overtook Singapore and rose up to the top spot from third previously.
This year, Sweden came in third, followed by Denmark and Switzerland.
Overall, the World Digital Competitiveness Ranking, which studies 63 economies, saw about 29 countries improve in their level of digital competitiveness this year, while only eight remained in the same position and 26 declined.
SINGAPORE (June 11): In 2017, Europe attracted a record level of foreign direct investment (FDI) with 6,653 projects, according to the 2018 edition of the EY European attractiveness survey.
However, this came on the back of the growth in Europe slowing down for the first time in three years to 10%, after achieving an average growth of 15% during the past three years amid increasing geopolitical concerns.
SINGAPORE (June 5): Singapore has emerged to top The Economist Intelligence Unit’s (The EIU) Technological Readiness Ranking for 2018-22 alongside Australia and Sweden, which are also ranked at No. 1.
The city state has moved up two places from No. 3 on The EIU’s ranking list for 2013-17, preceded by Sweden and Finland at first and second place, respectively.
