S'pore launches blueprint for AI digital transformation

It is expectd to benefit 50,000 small businesses.

Asia Tech X Singapore (ATxSG) 2024 opened its fourth edition with the launch of the Digital Enterprise Blueprint (DEB) that aims to accelerate businesses’ digitalisation through technologies like artificial intelligence (AI).

Launched by Tan Kiat How, senior minister of State for Communications and Information, DEB will “facilitate an environment for experimentation, encourage Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) to harness technology to optimise the way they work, and strengthen digital resilience and cybersecurity across the ecosystem.”

The government said that up to 50,000 SMEs are expected to benefit over the next five years from the new DEB through four focus areas:

• Helping enterprises adopt AI-enabled solutions
• Assisting businesses in scaling faster through cloud-based and integrated solutions
• Enhancing cyber resilience of businesses
• Upskilling workers to make full use of digital capabilities

Singapore Business Federation (SBF), Singapore Computer Society (SCS), SGTech, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google, Microsoft, and Salesforce have expressed their commitment in the rollout of DEB.

The Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) has also worked with sector leaders to develop the Industry Digital Plans (IDPs). AI-enabled solutions will be incorporated in the roadmap to meet the needs of the enterprises.

IMDA expects 15,000 SMEs under the SMEs Go Digital programme will benefit from this over the next two years.

For digitally mature SMEs, IMDA has partnered technology giants to help more than 400 enterprises under its GenAI x Digital Leaders initiative.

SGTech also announced the launch of the Tech Apprenticeship Programme (TAP). This aims to expand the career pathways of at least 300 fresh or mid-career professionals by providing access to industry apprenticeships over the next two and a half years.

Meanwhile, IMDA and the Singapore Academy of Law signed a memorandum of understanding that aims to boost the productivity of the legal sector through GenAI. Under this agreement, GPT-Legal, a new large language model (LLM) contextualised for Singapore’s legal sector, will be co-developed. 

From September 2024, the model will help in generating more than 15,000 summaries of unreported judgments on LawNet, which is used by 75% of Singaporean lawyers.

Tribe and Digital Industry Singapore (DISG) also collaborated with NVIDIA to launch the Ignition AI Accelerator for local and global AI startups. This is a four-month programme that will assist 15 startups in their business and technical needs.

NVIDIA and Tribe will collaborate with EnterpriseSG to offer qualified startups funding through the Startup SG Tech scheme.