Everyone has a critical role in journey: Heng Swee Keat

Singapore

IN the future economy, everyone has a critical role to play and everyone has to act as one - this may appear to be a simple point but it gets to the very heart of the future economy.

Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat, who had thought hard on the matter and distilled the essence of it, said everyone has a stake in the future of the economy. Speaking on Wednesday at the opening of a two-day conference on Singapore's future economy, Mr Heng said the critical role comes at four levels.

At the national level, the government, the Singapore Business Federation and unions must work on the conditions of growth and spur partnerships and capability development.

Trade associations and chambers of commerce should lead sector-wide initiatives and and seek shared solutions for companies at the industry level. At the enterprise level, firms must build capabilities and cooperate with one another.

And, at the individual level, Singaporeans should acquire, grow and apply skills at a deep level.

"These four levels are not separate, but interwoven networks," Mr Heng said at the conference hosted by the SBF. "The strengths that we build in each of these networks will complement and invigorate our combined efforts to transform our sectors and wider economy."

Within the networks, he said the SBF and trade associations and chambers of commerce must spearhead initiatives to level up the sectors and create value for all their members.

Mr Heng noted that the logistics sector is already doing its share at the industry level, with homegrown logistics company YCH driving to train more workers than it needs; the excess workers trained will go to other logistics companies.

"We need more of such industry-level collaboration and going digital is a valuable focus area," he said at the conference hosted by the Singapore Business Federation (SBF).

The logistics industry was also the first to launch the Industry Digital Plans (IDPs) on Wednesday. "The Logistics IDP will bring industry leaders together to collaborate on projects to help more companies adopt impactful, interoperable tech solutions," Mr Heng said.

The minister had unveiled the IDPs in this year's Budget under the SME Go Digital Programme to help SMEs acquire digital skills. The ITPs are tailored to each industry and aligned to the goals of its Industry Transformation Maps. They help guide SMEs' deployment of digital technologies at different stages of growth.

More IDPs will be introduced in the coming days. "Such multi-stakeholder collaborations can benefit many companies and uplift the entire sector," Mr Heng said. "We need more industy bodies and leaders to participate and contribute to meaningful collaborations in each of, and across, our industry sectors."

At the national level, the minister sees the SBF rallying the trade associations, chambers of commerce and companies to support the growth of industries and the economy. He noted that the first Issues Committee which SBF formed is on digitalisation. The committee will work with partners to help businesses gain digital expertise and adopt digital technologies.

The SBF on Wednesday also inked a Memorandum of Intent with Infocomm Media Development Authority to cooperate on strategic projects to push digital transformation across the business community.

As for the government, Mr Heng said it would continue to play its part by "maintaining macroeconomic stability, strengthening microeconomic foundations and building deep capabilities" to tackle structural changes in the economy.