21 June 2012 - Opening Speech by Mr Andrew Khaw, Senior Director, Industry Development Group, Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore at the Smart Mobility@SG 2012 Conference, Marina Bay Sands, Hibiscus 3711-3712 Meeting Rooms
Opening Speech by Mr Andrew Khaw, Senior Director, Industry Development Group, Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore at the Smart Mobility@SG 2012 Conference, 21 June 2012, 9.00am, Marina Bay Sands, Hibiscus 3711-3712 Meeting Rooms
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Good morning
1. Welcome to the Smart Mobility@SG 2012 Conference. This is the third year running that IDA has organised this conference to promote the local mobile industry and for global mobile leaders to share ideas about the future of the mobile industry. We are heartened by the heightened interest over the years and this has reinforced the relevance of the event to the industry.
2. I will share with you three main points today: the bright prospects for enterprise mobility; Singapore's strengths to ride this opportunity; and, the AMPlify initiative to focus our efforts. But before that, let me share a snapshot of our industry today.
Re-structuring Call: Need to Focus on Productivity and Productisation
3. IDA's goal for industry development is the sustained competitiveness of Singapore's infocomm industry. The ability of companies based in Singapore, be they start-ups, infocomm local enterprises or multi-national corporations, to create and capture value in the global ICT industry is a clear indication of our competitiveness. Our work is focused on three development thrusts: firstly, to serve as an innovation catalyst; secondly, to play the role of a market connector; and thirdly, to position Singapore as a hub for talent.
4. We have just completed a stellar year for Singapore's infocomm industry, where total revenue generated grew by 18% to reach S$83 billion, of which export revenue grew from 66 per cent to 71 per cent. Infocomm manpower also grew from 141,300 to 142,900. So, how is the outlook for our ICT industry next? Beyond the economic uncertainty in Europe, let me suggest a few major forces driving our industry - the availability of right-skilled talent for our knowledge-based industry, the need for businesses to "think global network", and, the opportunity to co-innovate with customers.
5. It is against this backdrop and our concern that a large percentage of the 15,000 infocomm enterprises in Singapore are generating not more than $5 million in revenue that IDA recently announced the S$46 million National Infocomm Industry Productivity Roadmap. We believe that ICT companies in the software development, system integration and consultancy sub-segments need and have the opportunity to transit from labour-led business models towards product- or cloud-based models. The roadmap encompasses such support as cost-effective productivity tools, training and mentoring (for product management, global outsourcing management, etc), platforms for co-innovation with lead users as well as targeted assistance for productisation and international market development.
6. I would like to encourage all of you to be acquainted with the roadmap and take advantage of the productivity support.
Enterprise Mobility - Singapore is Well-Placed to Ride this Growth Opportunity
7. Let me next speak about the bright prospects for enterprise mobility. Forrester's 2011 Predictions state that enterprise mobility will attract the largest tech investment and innovation, outpacing even cloud computing. Insight Research forecasts that enterprise mobility products will generate nearly US$40 billion in annual sales for developers by 2016. Such aspects of business as communication, collaboration, sales force automation and ambient sense-making are fuelling the demand for enterprise mobility.
8. The growing use of wireless broadband by enterprises and the highly sophisticated consumer base are two strengths of Singapore to enable us to ride this opportunity. At 150.4 subscriptions per 100 inhabitants, Singapore's mobile population penetration rate is much higher than the 117.8 for developed countries. Enterprise wireless broadband adoption has doubled from 16% in 2009 to 31% in 2010. Wireless@SG has seen the average usage hours per user per month grow from 2.1 in 2006 to 25.2 today, which has fuelled a rapid growth in value-added services such as advertising, location-based services, cashless payments and facility monitoring.
9. Symantec's 2012 State of Mobility survey for Singapore indicates that 77% of the respondents are discussing custom mobile applications, 75% are evaluating corporate "stores" for mobile apps and 54% have made line-of-business apps accessible via mobile devices. It is very encouraging to note that 9 out of 10 of the 75% of businesses that expected to increase efficiency through mobility realised that gain.
AMPlify to focus our efforts
10. IDA launched AMPlify in June 2010 as the initiative to focus Singapore's industry development efforts in the area of mobility. Through the support of leading global players - Google, Microsoft, Nokia and Research In Motion - as AMPlify partners, Singapore developers were offered the opportunity to acquire advanced technical skills to develop apps on the partners' operating platforms and leverage the partners' market channels to scale up market access for their apps and solutions.
11. Mobile analytics, cloud computing, User Interface/User Experience development, payment and advertising were the skill sets that more than 40 developers acquired through AMPlify. EPI Mobile Health Solutions and Clearhub were two winners of the National Infocomm Awards 2010 whose developers were supported under AMPlify. In fact, EPI has successfully secured business deals in Dubai, the Philippines and Thailand, and also won the World Summit Award 2011 in the category of "e-Health & Environment".
AMPlify for Enterprises
12. Today, I am pleased to announce the following enhancements to AMPlify: First, as the focal point for industry development efforts around mobility, its scope is widened to include co-innovation platforms with global lead users; Second, the targeted skill areas will support the anticipated growth of enterprise mobility, and Third, the extension of eligible trainees to fresh graduates and students in institutions of higher learning.
13. On co-innovation platforms with global lead users, IDA will work with our AMPlify partners to create workshops, roundtables and competitions where global lead users in sectors such as government, finance, logistics and healthcare could work with Singapore developers to jointly develop and pilot enterprise mobility projects locally first, and then deploy these products and solutions regionally and globally. UPS, Motorola Healthcare and Citibank Global Transaction Services are a few recent examples of global corporations which have worked with IDA and the Singapore IT industry to jointly develop solutions for their global business challenges. Another recent example is the S$15 million Mobility Solutions Call-for-Collaboration (CFC) for the Retail, Food & Beverage, Hotels and Attractions Sectors, which through IDA's facilitation of discussion between users and developers generated 46 proposals. We announced on Tuesday that 28 proposals benefitting 150 user companies are being implemented. We expect these products and solutions to be highly in demand in the regional and global markets.
14. In terms of skill areas, the emerging and specialised enterprise mobility skills that IDA will co-fund under the Infocomm Leadership and Development (iLEAD) Expanded programme include: Mobile Architecture (e.g. enterprise architecture integration and cloud enablement); Mobile Operations which covers mobile device management and security; In-Memory Computing as well as User Interface and Experience Design.
15. Through the extension of eligible trainees, IDA will help to develop "industry-ready" infocomm graduates through internship opportunities with our MNC partners, as well as fast-track fresh professionals to gain relevant enterprise mobility skill sets through local and overseas attachments and on-the-job training opportunities offered by our partners. These will use the Enhanced Learning in Information Technology (ELITe) and Company-Led Training for Fresh Professionals, or CLT in short, programmes. On the CLT front, earlier this year, Standard Chartered Bank launched its Mobile Venture Fellowship programme, MoVE, supported by IDA, to place 20 promising Singaporean graduates in the Bank's global remote banking unit in Singapore over a period of two years. These MoVErs will be trained in mobility skills for the banking environment to deliver service innovations through the Bank's suite of mobile banking and lifestyle applications.
16. I am delighted to announce HTC, IBM, Motorola, Samsung and SAP as the new technology partners on board AMPlify. All of our partners, including our launch partners, Microsoft and RIM, are very supportive and have dedicated valuable resources to support our developers. Altogether, AMPlify is expected to benefit more than 100 developers and another 150 students in a year's time.
17. Today's AMPlify announcement is a call to the Singapore ICT community to tap on this opportunity to sharpen their mobility skills and capabilities, and to co-create innovative solutions with our MNC partners. It is also an open invitation for other MNC partners to come onboard to leverage Singapore's strengths to build up their developer ecosystem. IDA will continue to step up our engagement of global lead users to share their problem statements and ideas with us, and seek platforms to develop and export made-in-Singapore solutions.
18. Last but not least, besides pushing out industry development initiatives such as AMPlify, IDA also wants to recognise organisations and companies in Singapore which have instilled innovation and creativity to create a competitive advantage. I would like to make a call to all participants here today to consider participating in the National Infocomm Awards 2012 - the industry's highest accolade for infocomm innovation. There are four categories of awards - namely the Most Innovative Use of Infocomm Technology in the Public Sector, Private Sector (General) and Private Sector (SMEs), as well as the Most Innovative Infocomm Product/Service. Nominations will be closing next week on 30 June 2012. I believe many of you here have developed or adopted innovative infocomm products and solutions, and would like encourage all of you to send in your nominations via www.nia.sg today.
19. Once again, on behalf of IDA, let me express our appreciation to our MNC technology partners for participating in the AMPlify collaboration. I wish you and our developers every success as you "amplify" Singapore as a highly competitive and thriving mobile innovation hub.
20. Thank you.
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