Singapore is a launchpad, part of Asean’s deep tech and AI advancement: Heng Swee Keat

[SINGAPORE] In an age of technological contestation, Singapore must connect Asia to the world, and the world to Asia, said Heng Swee Keat, chairman of the National Research Foundation, at The Business Times’ 50th anniversary dinner on Thursday (Oct 1) night.

Discussing innovation and Singapore’s role in charting South-east Asia’s next wave of growth at a fireside chat with BT editor Chen Huifen, he spoke about the Republic’s strengths as a launchpad, as well as its contributions in developing Asean’s tech infrastructure and capabilities.

Held at Marina Bay Sands (MBS), the event’s official venue, the dinner saw close to 500 attendees, including leaders from businesses and the government, as well as many of BT’s former editors.

The fireside chat followed speeches by Chen, as well as Minister for Transport and Second Minister for Finance Jeffrey Siow, and MBS chief operating officer Paul Town.

“No multinational, no global companies invest in Singapore to sell to Singapore,” said Heng, noting its small market.

Instead, the city-state’s strength is in being a “good launchpad, good base and good first stop” for Asian companies beginning to go global and global companies that want to take part in Asia’s growth.

Singapore’s clear rule of law has been one of its great strengths, he said. It also has strong intellectual property protections and a range of free trade agreements – probably one of the largest collections in the world.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore has done a good job over the years of steering digital and green finance, and greater volumes of venture capital are entering Singapore. Heng also pointed to the Republic’s strong dispute resolution and tax avoidance capabilities.

“If we are small and agile and friendly to all, we can attract the best people from around the world, best enterprises from around the world, to help to allocate capital productively into the region,” he said.

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Chen also asked how Singapore can partner Asean to build the shared infrastructure and governance needed to benefit from the next wave of artificial intelligence.

Citing Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, Heng described the AI ecosystem as a five-layer cake, comprising energy, chips, infrastructure, models and applications.

For the first layer, Heng raised the example of a collaboration where countries have paved uninhabited islands with solar panels and piped the energy into Singapore for a green data centre. The development of an Asean Power Grid could also uplift the whole bloc, he said.

On chips, he believes that Asean can “stay as neutral as possible” so as to welcome all new companies to set up in the region.

Singapore is a significant chip producer, he pointed out, and its universities are heavily researching technologies in the space, such as those to reduce energy consumption or for quantum computing.

Singapore will also welcome whatever models companies use. It can also be a very good test bed for the use of AI in cities, he said.

As he wrapped up the session, Heng had some words of advice for business leaders.

“Whether you are in manufacturing, whether in services, whether you are in finance or healthcare or even in charity, please take innovation seriously – because you are either transformed or you will be totally disrupted,” he said.