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SINGAPORE: Seven industry-led alliances formed to create and execute ideas to assist Singapore in its quest to lift the economy out of the COVID-19 crisis have developed solutions including launching autonomous shuttles on the road and creating new seamless shopping experiences to help retail. sector.
The seven groups, called Singapore Partnerships for Joint Action, were established in June under the Stronger Emerging Task Force, a committee announced in April with the purpose of exploring ways to help Singapore’s economy recover from the Singapore pandemic. COVID-19.
The task force is co-chaired by the Minister of National Development, Desmond Lee, and the CEO of PSA International Group, Tan Chong Meng, and includes the heads of several major organizations such as DBS, CapitaLand and Changi Airport Group.
“There is no going back to the old rules that existed before COVID,” Lee said during a press conference on Thursday (November 19) while giving an update on the task force’s movements.
He noted what the task force has identified as the six ways the virus has reshaped the world: a changing global order; rebalancing efficiency and resilience in supply and production chains; accelerate innovation and digital transformation; changes in consumer preferences; a greater focus on environmental and social sustainability, both environmental and social; and acceleration of the consolidation of the industry.
Mr. Lee also pointed to the two key issues underpinning Singapore’s future economy, which the working group has guided throughout its discussions; these are, a Singapore that is connected to the rest of the world and that is based on environmental sustainability and inclusion.
Therefore, the alliances are tasked with analyzing key areas of economic growth: sustainability, enabling safe and innovative experiences for visitors, facilitating smart commerce, digitizing the built environment, digitizing supply chains, robotics and educational technology.
Solutions the alliances have proposed include creating more business-to-business links for shoppers to engage both online and offline, and launching two autonomous transport shuttles by the end of this year, the Ministry of Finance said separately. Commerce and Industry (MTI). Thursday in a press release.
This comes amid the growing popularity of e-commerce and increased demand for personalization and engagement, as well as the need to address the country’s labor shortage, the ministry said.
Other concepts in the works include a carbon market where carbon credits are exchanged and a system for companies to measure, mitigate and offset their carbon footprint.
“By building a carbon hub for Singapore, you can generate economic value, create jobs and further enhance Singapore’s role in commodity trading,” Lee said.
READ: Industry-led groups to develop and execute ideas for post-COVID-19 economic growth in a ‘three-month sprint’
A new alliance focused on medical technology is also being developed to explore the possibility of harnessing in vitro diagnostics for disease preparation, containment and control.
Dr. Loo Choon Yong, member of the medical technology alliance and co-founder of Raffles Medical Group, said the industry had the potential to grow into a $ 100 billion business that would create 4,000 new jobs, of which 2,000 would be at the executive level.
Another alliance on how Singapore could create “mutually beneficial partnerships” with its Southeast Asian counterparts could also be in the works, MTI added.
“The Emerging Stronger Taskforce certainly considers identifying and targeting a number of key markets within ASEAN to be an important task,” said Tan of PSA International.
ALLIANCES TAKEN “QUICK” AND “START UP” APPROACHES
The MTI said the alliances took a “start-up” approach to their work, creating prototypes and at the same time involving more than 600 people from government agencies and trade associations at the same time.
Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat, who announced the task force in April, said during the press conference that such a “quick approach” of testing ideas quickly was the way to go.
Usually in previous committees, they held discussions and published a report before implementing any recommendations, he said.
“Now the pace of change is so fast that in this round, what (they have) done is something that I would say very creative and innovative, which is prototype solutions … and at the same time, look how if these prototypes are successful, this can be scaled across the economy, and even beyond the shores of Singapore, “Heng said.
SINGAPORE’S ABILITY TO WORK “HORIZONTALLY KEY”: HEAD OF DBS
DBS CEO and task force member Piyush Gupta said Singapore’s ability to work “horizontally” would bring long-term rewards for Singapore.
“One of the great opportunities we have in Singapore that sets us apart is to work horizontally between the public sector, the private sector, academia and civil society in ways that large countries find difficult,” he said.
“I think this (alliance) approach really allows us to bring various parts of the system together so that we can really think horizontally rather than vertically. And if we can institutionalize this … I think it has a lot of consequences for Singapore in the long term.”
READ: New economic task force kept small ‘to move with agility’, plans to engage more Singaporeans: Desmond Lee
MTI also announced that the initial working group of 17 members has been expanded to 23.
The task force was previously criticized for its lack of women, minorities and disadvantaged people among its members.
Representatives from 36 nonprofits, social enterprises and arts groups, including former MP nominees Yip Pin Xiu, Anthea Ong and Walter Theseira, signed a letter to the task force in June calling for more diversity to ensure the needs of the vulnerable. groups are addressed.
Opposition MP Sylvia Lim also noted in June that there were not an insufficient number of women, just two then, on the panel in a parliamentary speech during a time when women have had to endure the brunt of the virus, as well as the absence. of the Malaysian members and those of the small and medium enterprises.
In response to the open letter, Lee said in June that the task force would seek input from Singaporeans and stakeholders outside the group.
Lee said Thursday that the task force has engaged more than 250 people from the likes of civil society groups and trade associations in three Stronger Emerging Conversations for the Economy and other engagements.
He rejected claims that the additional members were in response to anti-aircraft fire, saying that the “specific objective” of the task force was to assess the crisis, its opportunities and its risks.
“While we incorporate people’s suggestions that the Stronger Emerging Task Force needs to be more diverse, I believe that we increase our diversity to achieve the results we seek to achieve,” he said.
