27 April 2010 - Speech By RADM(NS) Ronnie Tay, Chief Executive Officer, Infocomm Development Authority Of Singapore, At The Launch Of The Innovation Place, IBM Place 1
Speech By RADM(NS) Ronnie Tay, Chief Executive Officer, Infocomm Development Authority Of Singapore, At The Launch Of The Innovation Place, IBM Place 1, Changi Business Park, 27 April 2010, 11:05am
Ms Teresa Lim, Managing Director, IBM,
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Good morning,
1. I am pleased to be here at this morning's launch of IBM’s Next Generation Innovation Centre, The Innovation Place. In collaborating with IBM on The Innovation Place, IDA hopes to enable more companies to access Next Generation services development environments that will help them to quickly develop, test and deploy innovative and impactful Next Gen services for businesses and consumers.
2. IBM has been an active partner of IDA's infocomm development initiatives. Among other things, it has been IDA's infocomm Local Industry Upgrading Programme and Overseas Development Programme partner since 2001 and 2004 respectively. IBM has also been supportive in IDA's manpower development initiatives such as the National Infocomm Scholarship and the Enhanced Learning in Infocomm Technology or ELITe programme.
Demand for Next Generation Services
3. Today, businesses compete in an increasingly globalised market environment where customers are savvy Internet and technology users. To stay competitive and relevant, companies need to constantly innovate, to develop products and services to meet such sophisticated demand. Infocomm is a strategic tool that companies can use to enable their operations, expand market reach and increase productivity.
4. Technologies such as cloud computing, business analytics, social computing and Software-as-a-Service, open up new business opportunities for companies, allowing them to move upstream to develop innovative Next Generation services for local and global markets.
NGICs' Role
5. In Singapore, we want to foster the creation of innovative services over our key infrastructure such as the Next Gen Nationwide Broadband Network. The Next Gen NBN is expected to create a more vibrant broadband services market by providing an ultra high speed infrastructure for retail service providers to access their customers. With the Next Gen NBN rolled out to all homes and businesses by June 2012, Singapore will have a most advanced network capable of 1Gbps or more. This can provide a significant boost to businesses in Singapore since most businesses increasingly rely on infocomm in various facets of their business - from operations to sales and marketing to customer support.
6. NGICs can play a pivotal role here. They bring end users from the private, people and public sectors to work together with technology and service providers to create Next Generation services that meet end user needs. Through NGICs, MNCs like IBM can work with local companies, sharing their technology expertise and business experience in developing and delivering innovative products and services not only locally but also overseas.
7. By going to an NGIC, companies can better focus on the development and delivery of Next Generation services that meet market needs, and avoid the costs of acquiring or building their own infrastructure or systems.
The Innovation Place NGIC
8. We therefore welcome the establishment of The Innovation Place. The Innovation Place will leverage IBM's global research expertise and extensive experience enabling enterprises to encourage adoption by end users. The Innovation Place is a focal point for Singapore to tap on IBM's worldwide experience and expertise in services innovation and development of Next Gen services for enterprises.
9. IDA's collaboration with IBM will further Singapore's advance into Next Gen services for enterprises, thus driving Singapore upstream towards higher productivity-driven growth. With the high bandwidth and competitive pricing that comes with Next Gen NBN, there is much potential for local service providers to create new and innovative services. The value IBM will bring to the infocomm ecosystem includes IBM's capabilities in a wide range of solutions, domain expertise and industry networks.
Industry Development Initiatives to Support Innovation
10. The Innovation Place will contribute to IDA's efforts to encourage innovation and pilots in the various vertical sectors such as healthcare, education and logistics. For instance, in the SME sector, we believe that infocomm adoption and the innovative use of infocomm can further the growth and development of many of our local companies. To promote that, we launched the SME Infocomm Package under the Infocomm@SME programme in June 2008. Since the launch, more than 3,500 SMEs have established their first web presence. Over 7,000 SME participants have learnt how to harness infocomm technology through the SME Infocomm Resource Centres and more than 100 SMEs have transformed their business using infocomm technology with over $6 million in grants from a joint collaboration between IDA and SPRING Singapore.
11. The Innovation Place will also provide opportunities for our infocomm professionals here to gain exposure and experience in developing cutting edge infocomm applications. One example is in the Service Science, Management and Engineering or SSME field, where the increasing number of T-shaped professionals trained in SSME can now collaborate with global experts in solving real world problems, gaining experience that will benefit Singapore's infocomm sector in the long run. This will help to complement our key infocomm manpower initiatives such as the Enhanced Critical Infocomm Technology Resource Programme, the National Infocomm Competency Framework and scholarships to build our infocomm capabilities.
Conclusion
12. There are indeed new possibilities for Next Gen services that can be created at The Innovation Place. I congratulate IBM on today's launch and I look forward to the many innovations that will come out of it! Thank you.
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