New "INSEAD for Impact" executive programme this June in Singapore

- Three-day executive forum-style programme for leaders, high potential executives and teams to deliver real impact

 

INSEAD has launched INSEAD for Impact (IFI), a three-day immersive executive forum-styled programme designed to be practice-led, future-facing and data-driven. It aims to help leaders and strategy teams turn strategic insight into executable action, and aligns with the Asia Campus' 25th anniversary celebrations by exemplifying INSEAD’s legacy of pioneering leadership development in Asia.

At a time when leaders are overwhelmed with disruption, geopolitical uncertainty and competing advice, IFI shifts the focus from understanding what is happening to determining how to make change happen. By combining faculty insight, industry perspectives and collaborative working sessions, the programme enables participants to translate emerging trends into practical strategies and prioritised actions. 

IFI is deliberately structured to move beyond analysis to execution, supporting leaders as they understand the forces reshaping business, develop practical, prioritised plans for change and build the personal and organisational resilience required to sustain execution. 

Sameer Hasija, Dean of Executive Education and Dean of the Asia Campus at INSEAD said: “By combining practice, future-facing perspectives and data-driven rigour in an immersive format–the INSEAD for Impact programme helps organisations move from knowing what must change to actually making change happen.” 

Narayan Pant, Programme Director of IFI and Professor of Management Practice at INSEAD added: “Today’s leaders live in environments that change constantly and unpredictably. Their challenge, then, is to quiet the noise, focus their attention on what really matters, and then act on it. 

"This programme offers leaders focused time and space to understand what matters to them strategically, deploy AI tools that can help them, and practice leadership approaches designed for a new era.” 

The inaugural IFI session will take place from 22–24 June 2026 at the INSEAD Asia Campus in Singapore. Participants can expect:

 Twice-daily plenary sessions led by INSEAD faculty and external thought leaders to analyse key trends and forces 

 Focused working sessions where participants collaborate in smaller groups to develop actionable responses to key trends with relevance to the specific content pillar. 

 Peer benchmarking and exchange, enabling participants to learn from diverse industries and leadership contexts 

Content pillars: 

 Disruption & strategy: Build smart strategies to navigate the inevitable disruptions affecting your business. 

 AI in action: Better leverage AI within your teams to enhance strategic decision-making and build robust processes for your organisation. 

 Leadership development: Develop a practical framework for development for the evolving nature of leadership skills needed to drive change effectively.

Details

Preferential team rates are available.

View the INSEAD for Impact video at https://youtu.be/ZScj3i7ToUo

Visit IFI or contact the programme team at IFI_Contact@insead.edu

Singtel launches TikTok masterclass for SMEs

Singtel has launched a TikTok masterclass – a brand-building and e-commerce enablement programme, aimed at helping small and medium enterprises (SMEs) strengthen their digital presence, connect with customers more effectively, and capture growth opportunities in the digital economy.

Developed in partnership with SIM Academy, the masterclass will equip local enterprises with practical skills to create impactful content, leverage social platforms for business growth, and navigate the opportunities and risks of social commerce. The initiative is supported by SkillsFuture Singapore. Eligible participants from qualifying SMEs can get up to 90% funding for this programme.

Participants will receive hands-on training in content creation, livestream selling, e-commerce activation and cybersecurity – critical capabilities in today’s fast-evolving, mobile-first marketplace. Participants will also benefit from post-workshop support, including engagement with retail merchants to aid e-commerce transition and potential co-marketing opportunities.

Ng Tian Chong, CEO of Singtel Singapore, said, “With Asia’s young, mobile-first population and growing appetite for social commerce, it’s vital that our SMEs are equipped with smarter, faster ways to reach their customers. Singtel is proud to provide SMEs with the digital tools, platforms and training to grow and compete in today’s connected world. Our new TikTok Masterclass is the latest in our series of efforts to help SMEs achieve more in the digital economy."

Ho Seong Kim, CEO of SIM Academy added: “At SIM Academy, we focus on delivering applied, outcome-driven learning through learner-centric course design. The TikTok Masterclass reflects our commitment to equipping businesses with practical skills for their business outcomes in today’s fast-changing digital economy.”

The three-day TikTok Masterclass includes three key components: 

• Training: Learn content creation, TikTok shop setup, and social selling techniques tailored for business growth on social platforms. 

• Application: Gain practical, hands-on experience at Singtel’s TikTok Creator House, located at its 313@Somerset flagship store. Participants will get two hours’ complimentary use of the professional-grade studio to create and livestream content in a simulated selling environment. 

• Cyber awareness: Develop an understanding of cybersecurity best practices for digital marketing and TikTok, to ensure safe and responsible online engagement. 

As of 2023, 82% of SMEs in Singapore had adopted at least one digital solution, with 91% having started their digital journey – leading the Asia Pacific region. Despite this progress, fewer than half report fully successful implementation, underscoring the need for continued guidance and support.

This masterclass is part of Singtel’s commitment to help SMEs digitalise, innovate and grow. In September 2023, Singtel introduced Cyber Elevate to help businesses bolster their cyber resilience, followed by the SPEED programme in April 2025, which supports SMEs in digitalising their operations and aligning them with sustainability goals.

As a SkillsFuture Queen Bee, Singtel plays a pivotal role in enabling enterprises – especially SMEs – to upskill, digitalise and innovate. Its end-to-end solutions – spanning mobility and connectivity, to cybersecurity, Internet of Things (IoT) and collaboration tools – are tailored to evolving business needs, helping SMEs scale sustainably. 

Details

The programme fee is S$3,000 per participant (before GST), with up to 90% funding available for eligible businesses under the Enhanced Training Support for SMEs programme, supported by SkillsFuture Singapore. To qualify, companies must meet the following requirements: 

• Be registered and incorporated in Singapore 

• Have a minimum 30% local shareholding by Singapore citizens or PRs 

• Have an annual sales turnover of not more than S$100 M or employment size of fewer than 200 employees 

Singtel plans to conduct 24 masterclasses over two years, with each class accommodating approximately 15 SMEs. Businesses interested in the programme can register their interest at https://www.singtel.com/business/smb/solutions/tiktok-masterclass

NTUC LearningHub reveals perception gap on learning between leaders and employees

Source: NTUC LearningHub. Infographic on the leadership gap uncovered by recent research.

Leaders today are expected to thrive in a dynamic and digitally driven workplace, while cultivating human-centric capabilities and competencies, said NTUC LearningHub. In research conducted by the organisation, over four in five business leaders (11% "very well", 72% "quite well") believe they demonstrate emotional intelligence well, whereas only half of employees believe their leaders possess the skill (2% "very well", 48% "quite well").

According to employees, emotional intelligence (31%) is in fact the top skill they believe their leaders are lacking, followed by effective communication (30%), and people development (30%).

Similarly, the majority of business leaders are confident in their ability to lead effectively and achieve organisational goals (13% "very confident", 73% "quite confident"). However, only half of employees are equally confident in their leaders’ capabilities (3% "very confident", 52% "quite confident").

This disconnect between the two groups is evident in how most business leaders believe they understand their employees’ needs (17% "very well", 72% "quite well") and meet their evolving expectations (11% "very well", 73% "quite well"). Yet, less than half of the employees share the same sentiment, where 46% agree leaders understand their needs “very well” or “quite well”, and 45% agree leaders meet their evolving expectations “very well” or “quite well”.

These are some of the key findings from NTUC LearningHub’s Leadership and Coaching Report, which investigates the essential skills and competencies that future leaders must cultivate. The research also explored the role of coaching in driving individual and organisational growth across all levels and roles.

Based on a survey involving 150 business leaders and 300 full-time working professionals, the report also examines how organisations can develop and sustain strong leadership pipelines by leveraging people-centric approaches and emotional intelligence to build resilient, high-performing teams.

More than nine in ten business leaders (41% "very important", 51% "quite important"), as well as employees (32% "very important", 56% "quite important") view emotional intelligence as important in leadership.

Business leaders cited the ability to communicate more effectively (55%), make better decisions (55%), be more flexible and adaptable to changes (53%), build strong relationships with employees (51%), and motivate employees more effectively (50%) as the top reasons why they perceive emotional intelligence as important for leaders. While employees voiced similar sentiments, they also highlight the ability to better manage and resolve conflicts (65%) and react to challenges or highly pressurising situations calmly (58%) as other key reasons.

The perception divide also shows up in leadership styles where business leaders are most likely to apply democratic leadership (40%), followed by situational leadership (39%), and laissez-faire (hands-off) leadership (31%). Meanwhile, employees ranked situational leadership (44%) as their most preferred leadership style above democratic leadership (43%) and transformational leadership style (41%).

Business leaders have to contend with keeping their teams engaged and motivated (38%) as a consequence, managing relationships with employees (35%), and balancing performance with employee wellbeing (29%) in today’s workplace. This is also accompanied by other challenges cited such as developing future leaders (29%) and adapting to change and uncertainty (28%).

On the other hand, three in five business leaders (60%) acknowledge gaps in their leadership abilities and have identified areas for improvement. However, fewer than half of business leaders (44%) have participated in relevant training to enhance their leadership skills in the past year, with two in five (39%) rarely attending training. Lack of time (48%), high workload (47%), and lack of motivation (31%) are among the top challenges business leaders face when participating in leadership training programmes.

Paradoxically, roughly four in 10 business leaders (38%) express a desire for more frequent training to develop their leadership skills. Three in four business leaders (9% very effective, 67% quite effective) also believe that the leadership training they received was effective in developing their abilities.

Jeremy Ong, CEO, NTUC LearningHub said: “The apparent disconnect between leaders and employees highlights an urgent need for leadership to evolve in tandem with workforce expectations. As leadership expectations broaden beyond formal roles, organisations are looking to cultivate a culture where more employees feel empowered to take initiative, make decisions, and contribute to team direction.

"Technical skills alone are no longer enough today, as a more balanced and human-centric approach towards leadership has become a key competency that will enable leaders to adopt the right leadership approach, connect meaningfully with their team, sustain employee engagement, and ultimately drive organisational success. Therefore, it is important for leaders to continuously improve themselves through learning and development as a strategic imperative to bridge existing skills gaps and nurture future emotionally intelligent and visionary leaders.” Details

Download the Leadership and Coaching Report at www.ntuclearninghub.com/media/research-reports/2025/leadership-coaching

More information about the courses, training, and grants can be found at www.ntuclearninghub.com.

Southeast Asian universities rise in the Times Higher Education university rankings

Tsinghua University in mainland China has topped Times Higher Education’s (THE's) Asia University Rankings 2024, retaining its No. 1 spot for the 6th year in a row. In second place is Peking University, which is 2nd for the 5th year in a row. 

Taking third place is National University of Singapore (NUS), which has also maintained its position for the 5th consecutive year. Besides NUS, Singapore has Nanyang Technological University in the ranking. The university up one place, from 5th to 4th this year. 

Meanwhile, mainland China’s representation in the top 10 has increased to five, up from four last year. The advances come at the expense of Hong Kong universities, with one fewer institution in the top 10 against three last year.

Japanese universities had significantly higher scores in this year’s research quality pillar due to the addition of a new research influence metric. Institutions such as the University of Tokyo moved from 8th last year to 5th, and Kyoto University jumped from 18th last year to 13th.

Top 10 universities in THE’s Asia University Rankings 2024

1 Tsinghua University, mainland China (2023 1st)

2 Peking University, mainland China (2023 2nd)

3 National University of Singapore, Singapore (2023 3rd)

4 Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (2023 5th)

5 The University of Tokyo, Japan (2023 8th)

6 University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong (2023 4th)

7 Shanghai Jiao Tong University, mainland China (2023 tied for 9th)

8 Fudan University, China (2023 tied for 9th)

9 Zhejiang University, China (2023 12th)

10 Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong (2023 6th)

Source: Times Higher Education Asia University Rankings 2024 

Seventeen of Thailand’s 19 universities either moved up or maintained their position in this year’s ranking. The country’s top three institutions are: Chulalongkorn University, which is ranked 117; Mahidol University, ranked 139; and King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi, ranked 192. All rose from 201–250 rankings last year.

While most of Indonesia’s 24 universities maintained their position in the ranking there are two notable exceptions. The University of Indonesia jumped up from 251–300 last year to 201–250 this year, and Universitas Gadjah Mada shot up from 401–500 last year to 351–400 in 2024.

Seventy more universities are ranked this year than last, totalling 739 this year. This is a 10.5% increase, from 31 countries/regions, while a further 388 are listed as having reporter status*. Many of the newly-ranked institutions are in west or south Asia.

Phil Baty, Times Higher Education’s Chief Global Affairs Officer said: “We have tracked the impressive rise of China in the global rankings for two decades now, but what we can clearly see now is that the rising tide in Asia is lifting all boats.

“While China’s leading universities now compete at the very top of the world rankings, our data shows a strengthening across Asia, where a healthy competition, more collaboration, more investment in research and university capacity and more internationalisation is driving up performance. It all amounts to hugely positive tectonic shifts in higher education from the west to the wast, with real excellence demonstrated in East Asia and Southeast Asia in particular and well beyond.

“Another significant highlight is the growth of other regional powerhouses including India, Japan and increasingly Thailand, all of which show a continuous improvement in Asian countries’ higher education systems, which must be seen against the backdrop of an increasingly highly competitive higher education environment in the region.”

This is the 12th edition of THE’s the Asia University Rankings. Japan had the most universities in the rankings with 119 entries, followed by India with 91, up from 75 last year. The country’s highest-ranked institution is the Indian Institute of Science at 32nd place, up from 48th. In 3rd place is mainland China with 86 universities. 

Turkey has 75 universities, up from 61 last year. The top two – Koç University and Middle East Technical University – share 69th place, while Istanbul Technical University rose from joint 149th to 92nd. Iran is the fifth-most represented country with 73 universities.

Details

The methodology behind the Asia University Rankings is based on the same framework as the World University Rankings, but the weightings are recalibrated to reflect the priorities of Asian institutions. Check the Asia University Rankings 2024 methodology. THE revised and improved its methodology for its World University Rankings 2024, adding new metrics relating to research quality and patents. The methodological change has highlighted performances from universities in research that were not previously completely visible.

The addition of the new patent metric, part of the industry pillar, allows the transfer of knowledge from academia to industry to be measured. Nineteen Asian universities scored 100 on this metric, with four institutions each from Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea achieving this. 

*Reporter status means that although the institution submitted data, it did not meet THE’s eligibility criteria to receive a ranked position.

Coursera releases list of top courses for Singapore learners in 2021

Coursera, the online learning platform, has found that Singapore learners were particularly enthusiastic about courses that provide high-demand technology and data science skills in 2021. Its annual study of learner trends across Singapore, based on learner choices of over 750,000 registered learners, offers insight into the skills, competencies, and subject-matter most desirable to the local population.

The 10 most popular overall courses in Singapore in 2021
S	Course Name	Partner Name
1	First Step Korean	Yonsei University
2	Machine Learning	Stanford University
3	The Science of Well-Being	Yale University
4	Foundations: Data, Data, Everywhere	Google
5	Programming for Everybody (Getting Started with Python)	University of Michigan
6	Financial Markets	Yale University
7	Introduction to Psychology	Yale University
8	Chinese for Beginners	Peking University
9	Foundations of Project Management	Google
10	Learning How to Learn: Powerful mental tools to help you master tough subjects	Deep Teaching Solutions

Source: Coursera. Introductory Korean, machine learning and wellbeing were the topics that drew the Singapore audience in 2021.

The second-most popular course among Singapore learners in 2021 was Stanford University’s Machine Learning, which Coursera says is perennially popular for those seeking to adapt to a workplace increasingly defined by artificial intelligence (AI)-driven automation.

There was also a rising uptake of courses related to professional certificates, which are designed to prepare learners without a college degree or technology experience for a wide range of high-demand digital jobs. Google’s Foundations: Data, Data, Everywhere and Foundations of Project Management were ranked 4th and 9th respectively in Singapore. The two form part of Google’s Data Analytics and Project Management certificates respectively.

According to the study, Singapore Coursera learners also took courses that appealed to their personal interests. They explored the human brain through courses like Learning How to Learn from Deep Teaching Solutions and Introduction to Psychology from Yale while dipping their toes in Hangeul, the Korean alphabet, with Yonsei University’s First Step Korean.

“It's inspiring to see learners make strong progress on their learning goals even as challenges persisted around the world. This year’s learner trends suggest that Singapore learners are recognising the needs of the digital economy while simultaneously striving to gain control of their mental health," said Raghav Gupta, MD - Asia Pacific, Coursera.

“Singapore learners are preparing themselves for success - seeking ways to build future-proof professional skills, especially across business, technology, and data science. This coming year, we look forward to working together to make online learning even more effective and equitable for learners by delivering new world-class content and tools.”

Cognizant: training curriculums lag behind changing realities

Companies and higher education institutions (HEIs)* are training people for jobs that currently exist, but they need to train them as well for jobs that do not exist as yet.

This was the conclusion from Cognizant's Future of Learning report, based on a global survey of 601 top business executives at leading companies and 262 HEIs. The research aims to uncover insights into the changes these entities are making in their training and educational programmes, and the challenges they face in preparing tomorrow’s workforce.

Findings include:

Preparing the workforce for future jobs is a matter of survival for both businesses and HEIs

The majority of businesses (80%) and HEIs (72%) globally agree it is extremely important to prepare workers and students to work alongside emerging digital technologies. Businesses and HEIs in Singapore estimate that 60% and 55% of their total staff and students, respectively, will be prepared to handle new types of work driven by emerging digital technologies in the next five years. However, a 82% of Singaporean HEIs and 63% of businesses are presently unable to deliver.

Businesses are beginning to bear the burden of learning

Skills have become like mobile apps that need frequent upgrades. While 45% of businesses in Singapore currently update their learning content on an annual or biannual basis, 67% of HEIs only update their curriculum every two to six years. Globally, businesses are intent on speeding the pace of curriculum updates, with 75% planning to move to a one- to five-month or even continuous refresh schedule in the next five years. In contrast, only 30% of HEIs plan to increase update frequency, from today’s two- to six-year cycle to an annual one by 2023.

The work ahead means working together

Preparing the current and future workforce for the work ahead cannot take place in a vacuum. Three-quarters of both businesses and HEIs globally view collaboration as critical to successfully managing the transformative and disruptive impact of the new machine age. Singapore businesses appear less keen to collaborate with HEIs as opposed to educators – only 55% of businesses see collaboration as critical compared to 75% of HEIs.

Emerging technologies such as augmented reality/virtual reality (AR/VR) and artificial intelligence (AI) will supercharge learning by focusing on “how to learn” over “what to learn”

New modes of education delivery will emerge, with Netflix-style, on-demand digital assets allowing for anytime, anywhere self-learning. AI-driven learning platforms will personalise learning, and augmented/virtual reality (AR/VR) systems will become mainstream, with a 220% increase in the take-up of the technology by HEIs and businesses globally in in the next five years.

Source: Cognizant study. The top priorities for businesses (left) and HEIs (right) on preparing the workforce for the next five years.

Based on the insights, Cognizant has developed an industry solution for businesses and higher education institutions, which they define as a Future of Learning equation. It requires the following elements of change:

- More accurate skills identification to align with actual workplace needs.

- Overhauling the approach of curriculum and training to be more immersive and personalised.

- An environment supportive of self-learning, with access to multiple content sources like open educational resources.

Ultimately, the speed at which these elements are executed will determine their efficacy in preparing an aptly-skilled workforce, Cognizant said, suggesting that businesses and HEIs will need to engage in more flexible partnerships, quicker responses, different modes of delivery and new combined-skill programmes to reliably prepare people for what comes next.

Details:

Read the Future of Learning report (PDF)

*The term 'institutes of higher learning' (IHL) is often used as well.

SmartUp launches Digital Readiness Experience

Source: SmartUp website.
Screen capture of the SmartUp
platform.

SmartUp, which has a mobile-first knowledge-sharing platform, has launched a Digital Readiness Experience for the workforce featuring microlearning modules on hot tech topics. 

Its Digital Readiness Experience is several weeks long and can be purchased by SmartUp customers for their employees, explained Deborah Tan-Pink, Global Head of Marketing, SmartUp. 

"For the Digital Readiness Experience, what companies are buying is a four- to six-week campaign that aims to transform attitudes and knowledge with the specific purpose of increasing employees’ level of comfort around tech, innovation, and disruption.

"During this campaign, a course of 10-15 microlearning modules will be put into the client’s community for their employees to consume. These courses can be on design thinking, fintech disruption, or Blockchain and cryptocurrency," she said. 

The Digital Readiness Experience includes interactive quizzes and polls to test knowledge retention, practical applications, and lateral thinking. The assessments also help corporate leaders identify blindspots and shifts in mindsets.

Global Head of Talent & Learning at SmartUp Laurence Smith says, “What SmartUp delivers is a broad understanding of digitisation and its implications on work, society and organisations. Employees are taught not only the importance of staying relevant in a digital world, but also how to constantly upgrade their skills.” 

Smith said existing systems, processes and incentives for employees will need to evolve as companies transform digitally. “One of the most important roles of leaders today is to prepare their organisation for disruption by developing a ‘digital mindset’," he said.

“Digital transformation is at the very heart of doing business, and companies need to create the seeds of participation to get the learning process started.”

SmartUp is a microlearning app that allows companies to rework their legacy learning materials into bite-sized cards with videos, images, quizzes and polls. Companies sign up to build private communities where they can populate with their own content or with content from SmartUp.

SmartUp's library is organised by Snapshots, courses of 10-15 microlearning modules each on various topics. The Digital Readiness Experience consists of four to six Snapshots, including the Digital Readiness Snapshot. Customers can purchase a Snapshot on its own for US$3/user.

Details:

Corporates with existing SmartUp communities can purchase the Digital Readiness Experience from US$10/user for a four-week campaign. 

New customers can set up their own SmartUp communities from US$2.50 per month per user. Once the platform is set up, companies can purchase the Digital Readiness Experience and also create their own learning content.

Need help with emerging technologies? SGInnovate is working to offer more of it

Source: SGInnovate. From left: Yeo Hwee Lee, Director, Software & Solution Services, IBM Software Group, IBM Asia Pacific; Wendy Wong, Senior VP, Corporate Governance & Communications Office, GIC; Sam Witteveen, Founder, Red Dragon AI; Steve Leonard, Founding CEO, SGInnovate; Yap Jia Qing, Founder, Nurture.ai; Aziza Sheerin, Regional Director, General Assembly (GA); Scott Jones, MD, Six Kins;  and Tan Tin Wee, CEO, NSCC. 

SGInnovate today announced its Deep Tech Nexus Strategy as a direct result of experiences and insights gained in its first year of operation. The Deep Tech Nexus represents SGInnovate’s commitment to add tangible value to the Singapore deep technology (deep tech) startup ecosystem in two key areas – human capital and investment capital.

Deep tech is about building technology-intensive solutions that are based on advanced scientific research, have high barriers of entry and are essentially difficult to replicate. Examples of deep tech would be using artificial intelligence (AI) or robotics to address issues in areas such as healthcare or transportation.

“SGInnovate was formed in 2016 because we believe Singapore can create globally-relevant deep tech products and companies. Singapore has great strengths in academia and scientific research, but we saw a gap in the critical ‘business-building’ capabilities needed to create a viable deep tech company.

“Over the past year, we have met and worked with hundreds of researchers, founders, corporates and investors. Being so immersed in the deep tech founder community has given us a rich understanding of the specific challenges facing these entrepreneurs. Tackling these challenges gives our second year of operation great clarity and focus – and this has led to our Deep Tech Nexus Strategy,” said Steve Leonard, Founding CEO, SGInnovate.

SGInnovate’s focus areas are in transformational technologies that have horizontal applications to many industries, as well as medtech which will impact the healthcare industry. Two such transformational technologies that now – or soon will – affect most industries include AI and Blockchain. For 2018, SGInnovate will be intensifying its efforts around AI, aligning with AI Singapore (AISG)’s mission to bring together Singapore-based research institutions, AI startups and corporates to enhance and expand Singapore's AI capabilities. SGInnovate will focus its efforts on the AI startups.

SGInnovate’s work in the area of human capital will be pursued in three ways:

- Strengthening individual talent capabilities through a range of deep tech-related learning opportunities, delivered by SGInnovate partners. A series of programmes delivered by industry leaders will be undertaken to help people gain knowledge in working with tools at various competency levels in areas such as machine learning, deep learning and data analytics.  The goal is to have 1,500 people participate in these programmes over the next two years.

- Expanding the deep tech talent network through active engagements locally and internationally to build a network of ambitious and capable people who want to build startups. The goal is to bring 2,000 high-potential talent into contact with high-potential deep tech startups based in Singapore by 2018. 

One of the initiatives being driven by SGInnovate in expanding the deep tech talent network is its Apprenticeship Programme, where a curated pool of students in STEM disciplines from local and overseas institutes of higher learning (IHLs) are placed within a select number of Singapore's promising deep tech startups.

- Boosting deep tech communities through a range of deep tech-related networking events, bringing together researchers, entrepreneurs and investors to share experiences on a wide range of topics. SGInnovate says that these events serve as a way to raise the intellectual debate, as well as pursue opportunities to get more people to know more about important future topics. The goal is to have 15,000 participants taking part in over 150 events throughout 2018 across various community meetups.

SGInnovate’s work in the area of investment capital will be pursued by:

- Investing equity in early-stage deep tech startups. The goal is to make direct investments into at least 20 deep tech startups founded in Singapore in 2018, including investments made at the pre-seed, seed and series A stages. SGInnovate will also be managing a portion of the SG Equity fund, and will be co-investing into deep tech startups alongside private-sector venture capitalists (VCs) including Jungle Ventures, NSI Ventures and Vickers Partners.

- Business-building support, such as helping startups in which it has invested in to grow and scale through activities such as customer sales and talent recruiting, connection to business use cases, technical advisory and more.

- Collaborative spaces where deep tech startups, education events and community events can coexist for mutual benefit. All activities will continue to take place at SGInnovate’s locations at 32 Carpenter Street, which has more than 16,000 sq ft of space, and BASH (which stands for Build Amazing Start-ups Here) at 79 Ayer Rajah Crescent with more than 25,000 sq ft. 

To better serve demand under the Deep Tech Nexus Strategy, BASH will be undergoing renovation works and will be operational again in Q118. Some key features of the revitalised BASH will include more enclosed rooms to allow early-stage companies to have privacy, expanded training areas to house more education programmes in areas relating to AI, and access to AI-tuned computing resources. In addition, there will be a new area dedicated to the companies formed under the Entrepreneur First (EF) Singapore programme. 

  

As part of the Deep Tech Nexus Strategy, SGInnovate has partnered with likeminded industry players and global brands including General Assembly (GA), GIC, IBM, National Supercomputing Centre (NSCC) Singapore, Nurture.ai, NVIDIA, Red Dragon AI and SingularityNET – all of which will play instrumental roles in strengthening the deep tech startup ecosystem in Singapore.

Training more people on AI

SGInnovate will work with NSCC to organise training in AI and high performance computing (HPC). SGInnovate will also be working with Red Dragon AI to organise advanced AI training sessions. Using industry-standard frameworks such as TensorFlow, Keras and PyTorch, students will learn how deep learning is applied to different practical applications including computer vision, natural language and time series information. They will then be applying those skills to make real world AI products and services. At least 100 students will participate in the advanced training sessions over the next year. 

“It’s good to see SGInnovate taking a lead in nurturing AI and the deep tech community in Singapore. Their unique position of being independent from the government and educational institutions has allowed them to see what startups really need and respond quickly. Teaching the Deep Learning Developer Course has allowed us to see that there is a wealth of talent in Singapore that just needs real world training to unlock the ability to make AI products and services," said Sam Witteveen, Founder, Red Dragon AI. 

GA, which offers training and assessments in web development, data science, and digital marketing among other topics, is working with SGInnovate to organise workshops and courses in Python, machine learning and data science, to equip trainees with fundamental programming skills and principles before moving on to more advanced deep learning concepts. 

“Skill sets in data analytics and machine learning are sought after by both startups and large organisations alike,” shared General Assembly’s Regional Director, Aziza Sheerin. "It is critical that Singapore builds talent capabilities in these areas to remain competitive. SGInnovate is launching an exciting initiative focusing on deep learning, and General Assembly looks forward to collaborating with them on workshops and courses to train 250 individuals in Python, machine learning, and data science in 2018.” 

Partnering with NVIDIA Deep Learning Institute (DLI), SGInnovate will be conducting DLI workshops and offering hands-on training for developers, data scientists, and researchers looking to solve the world’s most challenging problems with deep learning. "Deep learning is growing at an accelerated pace and we are delighted to partner SGInnovate in driving AI in Singapore. We hope to help build the talent pool by training 1,000 developers within the next two years,” said Raymond Teh, VP of APAC sales and marketing, NVIDIA. 

SGInnovate is working with IBM on strengthening both talent and communities. The two entities are organising AI training courses for undergraduate students from IT-related academic programmes such as computer science and software engineering. The AI career path aims to prepare an estimated 50 students in applying AI in real life. 

Helping AI communities grow

Together with SGInnovate, SingularityNET, a decentralised, open marketplace for exchanging AI services, will co-host meetups and provide speakers and technical experts in the areas of Blockchain, smart contracts, AI and robotics to drive discussions and inspire new ideas. In 2018, the target is to reach out to a community of over 2,000 people.

SGInnovate and IBM are also engaging with the AI and deep tech-ecosystem through co-curated and/or co-branded industry events. These events would focus on industry trends, case studies, real-world applications, etc. of AI and deep technologies, including (but not limited to) Blockchain, robotics, machine learning, and medtech. There is a target of 10-12 events in 2018.

Red Dragon AI's co-founders Witteveen and Dr Martin Andrews started the TensorFlow and Deep Learning Meetup group, which has in under a year become Singapore’s biggest active data science community. Google selected both co-founders as only two of fifteen Google Developer Experts for machine learning in the world. With a member count of close to 2,000, Red Dragon AI is looking to organise multiple TensorFlow, PyTorch and deep learning Meetups with SGInnovate in the next year. The target is to reach out to more than 1,000 participants. 

SGInnovate will be working with Nurture.ai, a web-based AI community, to build a strong community of enthusiasts and experts who would be trained in AI. Nurture.ai enables this through organising free study groups using Stanford University's course material on deep neural networks, where participants get to discuss the most cutting-edge AI models covered in the lectures, read the relevant research papers with peers and implement these models as open-source code. 

"With SGInnovate's wide networks in the deep tech space and their portfolio of promising AI startups, the partnership would be a great boost to Nurture.ai's efforts in empowering the AI community in Singapore to implement the most state-of-the-art AI research into well-documented, easily useable code," said Yap Jia Qing, Founder, Nurture.ai. 

Business support

Through the partnership with SingularityNET, startups within the SGInnovate community will get early access to the SingularityNET marketplace, with SingularityNET providing technical guidance to enable them to integrate, monetise and scale their AI technologies.  

“This partnership will create new opportunities for Singapore startups to leverage and cooperate with SingularityNET – and in this way for Singapore to play a leading role in the currently unfolding transition of AI technology to its next stage of development. In the next few years we will see a transition from narrow AI to artificial general intelligence, and from disparate AI tools to a coordinated network of AI functionality. This partnership will help catalyse the involvement of Singapore researchers, developers and companies in this critical transition in AI capability and application,” said Dr Ben Goertzel, Co-Founder & CEO of SingularityNET, and Chief Scientist of Hanson Robotics.

SGInnovate-supported startups and trainees will have access to NSCC's HPC/AI computing resources, which will include those provisioned under the NSCC NVIDIA AI.Platform collaboration (comprising a NVIDIA DGX-1 Volta V100 supercomputer and access to an NVIDIA DGX SATURNV supercomputing platform), as well as NSCC’s existing 1-PetaFLOPS supercomputer, ASPIRE1 (standing for Advanced Supercomputer for Petascale Innovation, Research and Enterprise) that comes with 13 petabytes of high performance storage and global connectivity of up to 100Gbps. 

Furthering AI research

SGInnovate is also a partner to the Global NIPS Paper Implementation Challenge organised by Nurture.ai, which has seen more than 600 applications globally so far and 30+ expert mentors including researchers from the Baidu Silicon Valley AI Lab, Amazon Core Machine Learning Research team, NVIDIA, SAP, Stanford University and several authors of papers accepted at the Conference for Neural Information Processing Systems – the most prestigious AI research conference in the world.  

Source: SGInnovate. The training roadmap for strengthening individual talent capabilities on AI through a range of deep tech-related learning opportunities.

 SGInnovate is co-curating and/or co-branding industry events, with GIC, one of the world’s largest fund management companies. Targeted areas for the events are related to AI, machine learning, data analytics and the deep tech-ecosystem. These events will focus on promoting thought leadership and community building by bringing in subject matter experts to talk about key industry trends, and real-world applications of AI and deep technologies. 

By the end of 2017, SGInnovate will have completed equity investments in 15 deep tech startups, played a part in generating 400 potential-customer leads for early-stage companies and built a network of more than 1,000 technical individuals interested in joining early-stage tech companies. In addition, as part of its deep tech community building efforts, SGInnovate has created and hosted more than 100 events at its premises attracting a total of 9,000 participants.

Leonard added, “SGInnovate is itself a startup and, to echo DPM Tharman’s point when he launched us last year, we will keep prototyping and pivoting in the coming years. Building deep tech companies takes time. We feel good about the impact we have already made, and are looking forward with confidence to the year ahead.”

Tharman Shanmugaratnam is Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) and Coordinating Minister for Economic and Social Policies in the Singapore Cabinet. He is also Chairman of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).

SGInnovate's mission is to enable ambitious and capable individuals and teams to imagine, start, build, and scale globally-relevant technologies. It is a private-limited company wholly owned by the Singapore government.

SIM Global Education organises information sessions around smart city design

SIM Global Education (SIM GE) has organised several information sessions involving industry partners for prospective students of its Master in Design for Smart Cities programme in Singapore, which is offered together with the Strate School of Design from France. 

In Conversation With Yann Follain: Urban Planning and Resilient Cities

2 October, 7pm – 8:30pm 

Follain is Founder of WY‐TO's Singapore practice and Co‐founder of WY‐TO architects, Paris 

In Conversation With Cyrille Schwob: Airbus: Hangar of the Future

24 October, 7pm – 8:30pm 

Schwob is Head, Research & Technology Development Asia Pacific, Airbus Group 

In Conversation With Pablo Viejo: The Future of Sustainable Smart Cities 

28 October, 11am – 12:30pm 

Viejo is CEO, PTGEM, and CTO, V&V Innovations 

In Conversation With Gregory Blokkeel: Smart Cities Mobility Solutions

8 November, 7pm – 8:30pm 

Blokkeel is Head of PSA Peugeot Citroen Innovation Cell @Singapore 

Developed and awarded by Strate School of Design, France, the Master in Design for Smart Cities is a two-year, full-time programme that combines design, humanities, technology and management. Taught through the model of Design Thinking and Design Doing, students are guided to become smart city designers who work with state‐of‐the‐art technologies to address human issues in an innovative way. 

The programme is project‐based and industry‐centric – students will gain hands‐on experience through industry‐sponsored projects and a mandatory three- to six-month internship. The projects will give students insights into social, economic, systemic and industrial issues.

According to SIM GE, the programme supports careers aligned with Singapore’s vision of a Smart Nation such as head of innovation, designer of experiences, services or intelligent objects and designer of immersive (virtual and augmented) reality.

Under the programme, industry partners - which include car manufacturer PSA Group, virtual reality, augmented reality and collaborative solutions specialist Immersion and 3D simulation provider Dassault Systèmes:

 Provide prospective briefs for industry‐sponsored projects

 Take part in a jury to assess the students’ oral defence for their degree project

 Provide internship positions, lecturers and keynote speakers

 Offer employment to programme graduates

Students will attend classes at SIM GE campus where there is a dedicated Strate computer laboratory furnished with 3D modelling/printing, and virtual and augmented reality equipment and software. Students will also have access to fabrication laboratories off campus which they can use for other techniques of prototyping.

The total programme fee is S$42,800 inclusive of tax. 

Interested?

The inaugural intake of 20 to 24 students is in January 2018. Applicants should have a Bachelor’s degree (2nd upper class honours) or equivalent in design, engineering or science. Local students should apply by 13 December 2017 while international students have a 12 November 2017 deadline. 

Watch the video about the Master in Design for Smart Cities programme

GLG expands Singapore office

GLG (Gerson Lehrman Group), a platform for professional learning, has relocated and expanded its Singapore office. GLG connects thousands of clients to its membership of 500,000 subject-matter experts around the world and across fields for short- and long-term learning engagements.

"Our mission is to transform how the world's top professionals learn and share expertise by creating a variety of one-to-one learning opportunities," said GLG CEO Alexander Saint-Amand. "We are experiencing a rapid rate of expansion of our business in Singapore, among the fastest anywhere in the region. This new office facilitates that growth and helps us accomplish our mission here."

GLG will occupy 6,000 sq ft on the 19th floor of Samsung Hub in Singapore's central business district. The office can accommodate 64 employees.

"Singapore is a crucial hub for us because of its strategic location and its high concentration of industry-leading companies and professionals," said GLG Head of Asia-Pacific and Managing Director Evan Auyang.

"Singapore is an important market for us," added David Anderson, Head of GLG Southeast Asia. "With this new, larger office, we will continue to increase our capacity and focus on providing excellent service to our customers in Singapore, Southeast Asia, and across the Asia-Pacific region."

GLG's new Singapore office features activity-based working, which enhances flexibility by providing different types of private meeting and collaboration spaces, a café, standing tables, and phone booths. The company pioneered this approach with its New York, US office in 2014, and activity-based working is also featured in its Hong Kong hub.

US-headquartered GLG has 1,400 employees in 12 countries. Its Asia Pacific headquarters is in Hong Kong.

BenQ interactive flat panel makes education, collaboration a breeze

BenQ, the global brand in digital light processing (DLP) and interactive displays, is offering a new interactive flat panel (IFP) that combines a 4K Ultra HD whiteboard, annotation, and collaboration solution into a single platform.

With the RP750K, BenQ has created an interactive flat screen display that taps into the dynamic possibilities of classroom or commercial training and collaboration scenarios. A Germ-Resistant Screen protects users, while preinstalled annotation tools encourage participation.

The RP750K Germ-Resistant Screen is infused with a multilayer coating of durable, non-toxic nano-ionic silver. This coating kills most germs that can accumulate on screen surfaces, preventing cross-infection. The ionic silver’s antimicrobial ability remains effective even after thorough cleaning and long periods of use.

The 75" IFP’s health-conscious design features continue with Smart Eye-Care for a smooth and comfortable viewing experience. An embedded motion sensor automatically activates flicker-free and low blue light features when movement is detected near the screen. Daren Low, Senior Product Manager, BenQ Singapore, said the blue light control results in displays which are gentler on the eye while the nano-ionic silver on the glass disrupts the cell division mechanism of most bacteria and viruses. The panel also features an anti-glare treatment to reduce eyestrain and offer more legible content.

The Android-based panel comes with proprietary BenQ software that increases productivity. Instructional tools include the EZWrite 4.0 whiteboard solution with handwriting recognition. EZWrite supports scribbling and will also recognise characters and shapes. Ideal for educational and team-building applications, EZWrite has a stopwatch, scoreboard for multiple teams and support for a buzzer that gives the floor to the 'first responder', said Low.

The InstaQShare collaboration solution allows participants to share information and collaborate on the fly through wireless mirroring between the display and devices. A mobile device may take control of the IFP while the screen can be broadcast to up to 16 other mobile devices, if the network permits it.

“BYOD is quite mature nowadays. It's very practical in a commercial environment,” Low said.

The IFP also supports video recording, Microsoft Office, a floating toolbar, and Data-to-Go, a feature which saves annotations as images and allows the images to be shared for review material. The content can be accessed by QR code, email, or as a hard copy and appears electronically in PDF form.

The stylus accessory, called the NFCPen, works through near field communications (NFC) technology and does not need a battery. Two are included with each IFP. A swipe of the palm will erase what's on the screen.

The RP750K is germ-resistant, eye-friendly and anti-glare.

Interested?

The RP750K costs S$9,999.

Watch the Instavideo of the NFCPen in action

Watch the Instavideo of screen mirroring in action

Read the WorkSmart Asia blog post about BenQ's new digital laser projectors, which were launched at the same time. BenQ also unveiled a world-first 4K UHD LED home cinema projector during the event, the BenQ X12000

Here's why the skills you have are going to help you get one of tomorrow's jobs

Legrand shows how LinkedIn is making breakthroughs connecting present-day skillsets with emerging job requirements.

Olivier Legrand, MD, Asia Pacific, LinkedIn, says that many of us may already be partway towards meeting the requirements for the jobs which are most demand in the industry today, only we don't realise it.

In his keynote Job titles are out, skill sets are in during at the Singapore Computer Society's Tech³ Forum, Legrand said that LinkedIn is not just the platform to matchmake job seekers and employers, but also the company that will put members in touch with the right company, the right jobs and the right skills to acquire in order to stay relevant for the future.

Legrand spoke about LinkedIn's drive to offer more value to the approximately 3.3 billion workers and up to 50 million employers globally. against its 500 million members and 7 million active employers today. Some 30,000 schools are currently on the platform as well.

Legrand explained that there is an opportunity to help all stakeholders through analysing the skillsets that each member has and linking those skillsets with the skillsets actually required for new types of jobs. This is a completely different approach to the traditional focus of match-making members and employers by existing job titles. The company has been asking peers to endorse LinkedIn members for various skillsets for some time, and has amassed some 10 billion of these endorsements so far.

"The 10 billion skills endorsements actually shared by our members...allow us to have a unique view to have a skills taxonomy and what kinds of skills are needed to do the jobs," he said.

As an illustration, Legrand pointed to the crying need for data scientists and how few members currently have related job titles today. An analysis of data scientist-related jobs by skillset on LinkedIn reveals a list of skills that existing members may already possess, or possess to a significant degree, he said. Such insights allow employers to reach out to more people by disregarding their existing job titles, for LinkedIn to suggest new skills for the educational industry to offer, and for members to acquire, he said.

LinkedIn will be there every step of the way to empower members to take control of opportunities, he added. "We are investing in algorithms and machine learning to point you in the right direction," he confirmed.

In the case of data scientists, candidates need to have data knowledge, analytical skills and programming capability. There are 84,000 people on LinkedIn with the right job titles, but 576,000 who have at least five of the skillsets that data scientists are known to require. Casting the net further, Legrand said that 10 million individuals on LinkedIn have one or more of the 10 required skills.

"We're able to massively grow the talent pool about eight times through that exercise," he said. "We identified adjacencies in skills that would allow us to potentially invest in reskilling people who already have (what) it takes to be data scientists."

Legrand also shared the skills which are most in demand in Singapore, and noted that they are generally digital-related.

The skillsets most in demand in Singapore are mostly digital.

Legrand emphasised the importance of lifelong learning in a world where work requirements are continually evolving. "It's a reality," he said. "Your career path is not always a straight line. Stay open-minded, flexible and adaptable. The jobs of tomorrow will be different from those of today."

Legrand profiled Wui Liang Heng, Country Head, Singapore @ BankBazaar International, a fintech company focusing on mobile payments, as a prime example of a person who had undergone a mid-career switch because he believes in the new digital era. Heng made the effort to reach out on LinkedIn to people who were or had been in startups, which eventually led him to where he is today.

Legrand encouraged members in their pursuit of lifelong learning to emulate Heng, researching people on LinkedIn  and contacting them. The platform allows members to see what others are reading, liking and sharing in terms of professional content so that they can reach out in a meaningful way.

Legrand also spoke about best practices for creating a LinkedIn profile, using CEO of PerX Technologies Anna Gong's profile as an example. Some tips include:

- Add a summary with keywords, not buzzwords

- Add a photograph - the profile is is 21x more likely to be viewed by others

- Include your current position - the profile is 18x more likely to be viewed as a result

- List relevant skills – those with five or more skills are 17x more likely to be viewed by others

LinkedIn Asia Pacific has 13 offices in nine markets.

Held annually, the Tech³ Forum features luminary speakers and examines hot topics revolving around technology, talents and trends.

IBM sounds alarm over skills gap in India

Source: IBM. Cover for the Upskilling India report.

IBM has announced a study conducted by the IBM Institute for Business Value (IBV) in cooperation with the Economist Intelligence Unit to evaluate India's growing skills challenge and proposed recommendations to bridge the gap.

A majority of Indian executives surveyed in the study said that the quality and quantity of skills in the Indian workforce are at least comparable to those of other countries, and many reported them to be superior. However, only 40% indicated new employees in local labour markets have the requisite job skills.

The IBM study, Upskilling India, derives insights from a survey of academics, corporate-recruiters, and emerging education leaders in India. In addition, the study also analysed results of recent surveys of startup entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and corporate executives.

Key findings:

• Six in 10 (61%) of India's surveyed educators indicate that the higher education system is unable to respond to changing societal needs.
• Seven in 10 of India's venture capitalists indicated that startups cannot find employees with the right skills.
• Only 40% of Indian industry executives said new employees recruited in local labour markets have requisite skills.
• Nearly three quarters (73%) of India's education leaders surveyed say new technologies are disrupting higher education.

"Today's rapidly evolving economic environment makes developing new skills an imperative across job profiles and sectors. At IBM, we believe in providing an environment that fosters new learning and development experiences aided by the power of technology," said DP Singh, VP and Head - HR, IBM India/ South Asia. "We are working with government bodies, academia, corporates, startups and recruitment firms to equip India with a 'job-ready' workforce."

Between 2010 and 2030, India's working population is expected to expand from 750 million to almost 1 billion. Without adequate education and training, such population growth poses increased risk of the emergence of a growing class of the under or unemployed.

The study recommends:

Developing more practical, experience-based education - Rethink higher education curricula by identifying opportunities to infuse experience-based and real-world learning experiences and embracing new teaching technologies and techniques. Higher education institutions should build alliances with industry partners, share learnings and refine strategies.

Embracing technologies that improve educational access, experiences, and outcomes - Assess current capabilities and requirements, experiment with using new technologies and extend capabilities through ecosystem partners.

Build deeper relationships with ecosystem partners - Define and reach consensus with key partners around a common vision for the education ecosystem, with clearly defined commitments from all partners.

Interested?

Read the Upskilling India study

Download the IBM IBV app on an Android or iOS device