Government and Industry Come Together to Help Enterprises in Their Digitalisation Journey

Government and Industry Come Together to Help Enterprises in Their Digitalisation Journey

SINGAPORE – 16 Oct 2019: The Singapore Business Federation (“SBF”), FUTR, and the Infocomm Media Development Authority (“IMDA”), have come together to support enterprises’ efforts to digitalise through a two-day event.

On Oct 16, SBF’s third edition of the Future Economy Conference and Exhibition (FECE) explores how technology is changing the way business is conducted, how jobs will change as a result and how there should be stronger linkages between technology adoption, job redesign and worker reskilling.

On Oct 17, IMDA’s SG:D Industry Day will bring together infocomm media companies to collaborate and discover opportunities in the Digital Economy through multiple insight sessions, networking and an exciting morning plenary discussing Services 4.0.

Running concurrently over the two days (Oct 16 and 17), the FUTR Asia Summit, organised by the FUTR Group, is an exhibition and marketplace which will cover the future of retail, marketing and commerce. The three events are held at Suntec City Convention Centre.

Mr S.S. Teo, Chairman of SBF, said, “The challenges facing the Singapore economy today are complex. The global environment has become more uncertain and our companies must also navigate the fast-evolving environment brought on by technological disruption. But with technology advances also comes opportunities and our companies need to embrace and harness digitalisation for growth."

“Through today’s conference, we hope to help our companies see the possibilities, take the leap and embark on their digitalisation journey. But beyond technology, our workers need to be at the heart of any business transformation. The government, together with businesses, unions and workers need to collaborate closely to enable industry transformation so Singapore can stay ahead of the competition.”

Mr Tan Kiat How, Chief Executive, IMDA, said, “This collaboration between IMDA, SBF and FUTR will bring companies in all sectors closer to the tech ecosystem. It aims to help businesses better engage partners, leverage available tools and resources, making every business a digital business.”

Oct 16: Future Economy Conference and Exhibition 2019

Themed “People, Digitalisation & The Future of Jobs”, the third edition of FECE explores how technology is changing the way business is conducted, how jobs will change as a result, and how there should be stronger linkages between technology adoption, job redesign and the upskilling of our workforce.

Graced by Mr Zaqy Mohamad, Minister of State in the Ministry of National Development and Ministry of Manpower, the conference brought together some 800 business owners and leaders to deep dive into the factors driving the successful digital transformation of companies.

In his opening address, Minister of State Mr Zaqy called on the different stakeholders to press on with industry transformation amid changes brought about by technology and a slowdown in our economy and shared some examples on the progress made following the launch of the 23 Industry Transformation Maps (ITMs). He also announced the launch of several initiatives to help propel the digitalisation efforts of companies further. This included:

1. A partnership between SBF and Workforce Singapore to scale the development  of strategic Human Resource (HR) and job redesign capabilities to encourage the adoption of technology solutions by manufacturing enterprises
2. A Digital Acceleration Index self-diagnostic tool to help companies understand where they are in their digital transformation journey and provide actionable insights. Participants will be able to use the free enterprise diagnostic tool to analyse their digital strengths and weakness through a series of questions that covers six building blocks of digital maturity. On completion, participants will receive a comprehensive report with actionable insights. Participants can also use the free enterprise diagnostic tool to assess their improvements over a multi-year period.
3. “Digital Platforms in a Digital Economy”, a white paper by IMDA to help business leaders understand platform business models and the role companies can play in the platform economy. The paper also provides examples of platform strategies to consider for businesses in different categories of industries.

Minister of State Mr Zaqy also witnessed the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between SBF and the Institute of Systems Science at the National University of Singapore (NUS-ISS) to deliver a series of digital competency training courses to SBF members to provide companies with the skills and knowledge required for digital transformation.

The courses include the Digital Competency Training Roadmap, a leadership-level training course to help business owners map out their digitalisation strategy; a SBF-NUS-ISS Professional Diploma in Digitalisation targeted at individuals ready to lead digitalisation projects in the industry and organisations; and the Skills for Transformation Programme which seeks to support enterprises that are keen in embarking on a digital transformation journey and are concerned with developing in-house talent to become change agents for digital transformation.

Notable speakers and panellists from across public and private sectors shared insights on successful digital and business transformations, new business models as well as the need for companies to bring their workforce along in the journey.

This year’s FECE also saw companies participate in five learning journeys to McKinsey’s Digital Capability Center (DCC), IMDA’s PIXEL, Fong’s Engineering, Lam Soon and Singtel’s FutureNow on Oct 15. These learning journeys gave participants first-hand insights on digital showcases as well as the successful adoption of new technologies by these organisations, including how they can apply similar strategies in their respective businesses.

Oct 17: SG:Digital Industry Day

The third edition of IMDA’s SG:Digital (SG:D) Industry Day brings together leading infocomm companies to gain valuable insight into the priorities in a Digital Economy and to co-create the future with Government. The program will range from deep dives to educational sessions on topics such as e-invoice, going cloud native, Services 4.0, and learning how successful companies have successfully digitalised and grown overseas.

Mr S Iswaran, Minister, Ministry of Communications and Information will be the Guest of Honour for the event.

Oct 16 - 17: FUTR Asia Summit

Focused on fresh thinking and progressive change in the future of retail, marketing and commerce,  FUTR Asia is the annual gathering of brands and retailers across Digital, Marketing, Ecommerce, Retail, Innovation and Customer Experience, that want to stay at the cutting-edge of insights, technologies and solutions.

More than 2000+ participants are expected to convene at FUTR Asia to network, learn, share and explore “what’s next”, understand how to bridge “the gap between now and next”, while carrying forward authentic values with no baggage. 51% of the brands and retailers that attend FUTR Asia are Director-level and above.

“The reason this conference is special is that when you walk in you realise that you are surrounded by the best of the best in the industry… it's decision makers here, they’re people that can sign off and people who will take you seriously,” said past participant, Matthew Olivier-Lovett , Director of Retail, Omnilytics.

At FUTR Asia, participants will hear from over 200 inspiring, cross-industry speakers from Adidas, AirAsia, Changi Airport Group, Coca-Cola, Grab, Lazada, LUXASIA, Luxotica, YouTube, Zalora and more. The highly-curated exhibition will showcase the latest technologies, innovations and solutions in marketing, advertising, retail, payments, e-commerce, social media, video, data, AI, VR & AR, voice, and robotics.

For more information, please visit www.futr.today.

Related Resource

Factsheet on Digital Acceleration Index (187.82KB)

About Singapore Business Federation  (新加坡工商联合总会)

As the apex business chamber, the Singapore Business Federation (SBF) champions the interests of the business community in Singapore in trade, investment and industrial relations. Nationally, SBF acts as the bridge between businesses and government in Singapore to create a conducive business environment. Internationally, SBF represents the business community in bilateral, regional and multilateral fora for the purpose of trade expansion and business networking. For more information, please visit our website: www.sbf.org.sg

About Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA)

The Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) leads Singapore’s digital transformation with infocomm media. To do this, IMDA will develop a dynamic digital economy and a cohesive digital society, driven by an exceptional infocomm media (ICM) ecosystem – by developing talent, strengthening business capabilities, and enhancing Singapore's ICM infrastructure. IMDA also regulates the telecommunications and media sectors to safeguard consumer interests while fostering a pro-business environment, and enhances Singapore’s data protection regime through the Personal Data Protection Commission. For more news and information, visit www.imda.gov.sg or follow IMDA on Facebook IMDAsg and Twitter @IMDAsg.

About FUTR Group

FUTR Group is a global year-round platform covering the future trends shaping retail, marketing and commerce, including Advertising, AR, Artificial Intelligence, Data, Marketing, Mobile, Retail, Robotics, Social, Video, Voice, VR and more.

FUTR Summits (in Asia, Europe and the US) evolves each year to cover the freshest thinking, the most immersive showcases, cutting-edge stories, practical insights and real-time case studies of how the industry is evolving to meet the needs of our ever-changing consumers. The annual gatherings host 2,500 delegates, including 50% of which are brands, retailers and corporates, in London, New York and Singapore, with new locations to be announced for 2020.

FUTR Insights, FUTR Immerse and FUTR Innovate offer year-round touchpoints for those wanting to innovate, remain relevant and keep ahead of the curve in an ever-evolving consumer landscape. www.futr.today

For media clarifications, please contact:

Future Economy Conference and Exhibition

Marc Tan
Tel: 6827 6864 HP: 9800 2375
Email: marc.tan@sbf.org.sg

Irene Kew
Tel: 6827 6845 HP: 91902089
Email: irene.kew@sbf.org.sg

SG:Digital Industry Day

Eugene Neubronner
Tel: 6211 1182
Email: eugene.neubronner@imda.gov.sg

Adrian Chan
Tel: 6211 1510
Email: adrian_km_chan@imda.gov.sg

FUTR Asia Summit

Vincent Yap
Tel: 6389 6620 HP: 9745 4330
Email: vincent@futr.today

Lucy Cuthbert
Tel: 3159 0750
Email: team@futr.global