Singapore's Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) has released an industry transformation map (ITM) for the infocomm media sector, which outlines the strategies to prepare Singapore for the digital economy.
Speaking at the launch of the ITM, Minister for Communications and Information Dr Yaacob Ibrahim, said the ITM aims to grow the ICM industry’s value-add by around 6% annually - almost twice as fast as the overall economy.
It is also expected to employ more than 210,000 workers (from approximately 194,000 workers in 2016), and create more than 13,000 new PMET jobs by 2020.
The ICM ITM will prepare Singapore for the digital economy by investing and building capabilities in four frontier technologies - AI and sata analytics; cybersecurity; immersive media and the Internet of Things.
Second, the roadmap aims to strengthen the core of the ICM sector, and prepare the next generation of ICM professionals and companies for future job roles and business opportunities.
The ITM also aims to guide companies and workforce from the other sectors in adopting digital technology to improve productivity and efficiency.
AI Singapore was set up in May 2017 with up to S$150 million fund to catalyse, synergise and boost Singapore's AI capabilities.
IMDA will work with AI Singapore to develop the AI ecosystem and make AI an enabler for growth and jobs, through AI business partnership and apprenticeship programs as well as open AI assets, starting with a National Speech Corpus; and wider availability of AI solutions via SMEs Go Digital.
The availability of manpower with the appropriate skillsets is key to ensure Singapore’s growth in the digital economy. IMDA will partner industry on programs to strengthen the ICM core and prepare Singaporeans for a variety of ICM job roles in other sectors, here and around the world.
In AI for instance, the AI Apprenticeship Program aims to grow the talent pipeline by training 200 professionals over the next three years. This will be achieved via the TechSkills Accelerator (TeSA), a SkillsFuture initiative. IMDA will adopt a similar approach to grow our manpower core in the other identified new growth areas.
First published in Networks Asia