19 April 2011 - Speech by RADM(NS) Ronnie Tay, Chief Executive Officer, Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore, at the NYP-Microsoft MOU Signing Ceremony and Launch of the NYP-Microsoft Cloud Innovation Centre at Nanyang Polytechnic
Speech by RADM(NS) Ronnie Tay, Chief Executive Officer, Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore, at the NYP-Microsoft MOU Signing Ceremony and Launch of the NYP-Microsoft Cloud Innovation Centre at Nanyang Polytechnic on 19 April 2011.
Mr Kevin Turner, Chief Operating Officer, Microsoft Corporation,
Ms Tracey Fellows, Area Vice President for Asia Pacific, Microsoft Corporation,
Ms Jessica Tan, Managing Director, Microsoft Singapore,
Mr Chan Lee Mun, Principal & CEO of Nanyang Polytechnic,
Partners from the industry and educational institutions,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Good afternoon.
Infocomm Industry is Growing and Thriving
1. Cloud computing has been widely cited by the infocomm industry as the one of the top technologies, both worldwide, and in the Asia Pacific region, at least for the next few years. IDA, similarly, has identified Cloud Computing as key to our "Internet of Knowledge" strategy. With the exponential increase in data and information being created and exchanged over the web, the Internet of Knowledge aims to sharpen the competitiveness of Singapore and grow our economy through the efficient exchange, transmission, storage and processing of information.
2. For example, a key part of the Internet of Knowledge strategy is the "Internet of Services", characterised by mobility, personalisation, location-sensing and productivity. The insights and knowledge can be presented as customer-centric services to end-users. In the Retail sector, insights on consumer spending patterns can be leveraged by businesses to enable targeted marketing, personalised consumer experience, as well as inventory and retail space optimisation. In the area of Healthcare and wellness, provision of patient care can be shifted from hospitals to the homes through mobility, enabling personal mobile health monitoring and advisory services for the consumers. These are just some illustrations of how we can leverage on business analytics and cloud computing to create system-of system solutions and smart consumer-centric services.
3. IDA will continue to work with major cloud service providers, such as Microsoft, to establish their cloud innovation and development centres and data centres for Asia Pacific here in Singapore, for the development of more innovative cloud services. This will enable us to develop Singapore into a global cloud computing hub.
4. A world class digital infrastructure is also fundamental to support such an ecosystem. In Singapore, we have the Next Generation Nationwide Broadband Network which supports broadband speeds of up to one gigabit-per-second and will reach 95 per cent of all buildings by next year; Wireless@SG, which provides free wireless access of speeds up to one megabit per second at more than 7,500 hotspots around the country; and the Singapore Internet Exchange, an open and neutral Internet exchange to increase the efficiency of Internet traffic in Singapore. Such an advanced infrastructure will allow consumers and businesses to access a wide range of cloud services on the Internet conveniently and quickly.
Manpower and Competency Development on Cloud Computing
5. Manpower is another critical building block for developing new industry segments. IDA's recently launched our four-year manpower development roadmap, MDEV 2.0 which aims to develop Singapore's local infocomm workforce for high-end, high-value jobs, to meet the evolving needs of the industry. This roadmap is pertinent as we continue moving towards one of the goals of the Intelligent Nation 2015 masterplan, which is to grow a rich pool of infocomm manpower which is globally competitive.
6. One of the key thrusts within MDEV 2.0 is to develop infocomm students and professionals in new and emerging areas, and that certainly includes cloud computing. At the tertiary level, our long-term goal is to have various cloud computing players collaborating with our institutes of higher learning to offer the full spectrum of cloud curricula. This will help to meet the industry's demand for such professionals.
7. Thereafter, I am encouraged by the proactive efforts taken by Microsoft to introduce cloud curricula in our institutes of higher learning as well as Nanyang Polytechnic's forward looking approach in infusing cloud computing into their diploma programmes. This collaboration is a good start towards achieving this vibrancy in cloud education in Singapore, and help to build a pipeline of infocomm professionals adept in cloud computing technologies. I look forward to seeing more collaborations between cloud service provider and technology industry players and IHLs, as this will surely elevate the level of infocomm education in Singapore and enhance its relevance to industry.
Conclusion
8. On this note, I extend my heartiest congratulations to Microsoft and Nanyang Polytechnic on the signing of the NYP-Microsoft Memorandum of Understanding and the launch of the NYP-Microsoft Cloud Innovation Centre. I wish you all the best in your endeavours.
9. Thank you.
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