Industry transformation maps to be set up for over 20 economic sectors in Singapore

MORE than 20 sectors in Singapore will each get bespoke plans tailored to their specific needs to help them raise productivity, invest in skills, drive innovation and promote internationalisation.

These industry transformation maps, as they are called, are part of the new S$4.5 billion Industry Transformation Programme that was first announced by Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat in his Budget speech on March 24.

Collectively, the 20-plus sectors cover more than 80 per cent of Singapore's gross domestic product.

Each economic sector will have a team of officers from government agencies such as the Economic Development Board and SPRING Singapore, who will serve as "cluster champions" to lead the development of growth and transformation roadmaps for each cluster.

Speaking to the media on the sidelines of a visit to precision engineering firm Feinmetall on Monday, Mr Heng said: "We will systematically go through sector by sector, all the different plans. We need to bring everyone together. We have elements of all those plans already, because we've had different efforts in organising the training of staff, we have technology plans, we have plans for raising productivity."

What needs to be done is to integrate those plans better, where the different parts can work together in a more coherent fashion, he added.

"We need to bring industry associations as well as companies, big or small, together. Then, we will have a much better alignment of efforts," said Mr Heng.