Opening Address by SMS Janil Puthucheary at the Launch of ASME and ITE's AI Centre of Excellence

Opening Address by Dr Janil Puthucheary, Senior Minister Of State of Digital Development and Information, at the Launch of ASME and ITE's AI Centre of Excellence (SME@AITE) on 14 April 2025

1. Good morning, everybody. Thank you for inviting me to join you here at this event.

2. SMEs are the bedrock and foundation of our economy. They represent almost all the enterprises, and they employ about 70% of our workforce. Their dynamism, resilience, and innovation have been vital in keeping our economy vibrant, creating opportunities for us here in Singapore and for Singaporeans to have access to jobs. This will continue to be so going into the future.

3. Looking around the world, and just looking at my newsfeed every morning, disruption and change are rapidly becoming the norm. Things are changing very rapidly, and this will affect our businesses, how we teach, and our society. But one of the things that we will need to do to cope with this rapidly changing world is to embrace technology. This is true today, and it has been true for several years. How technology is deployed and used in our society and businesses can be a competitive advantage and can turn into just the norm, just as our norms have changed.

4. AI is one example. It was seen as a disruptor not so long ago. It still is, but it is very rapidly becoming about our businesses and society truly understanding AI and its impact on our survival, growth, and competitiveness.

5. AI is not necessarily about complex, futuristic technologies or robotics—things that are in science fiction and in the movies. It is also about leveraging smart tools, improving our productivity, driving innovation—things that many business owners and people within the economy have been talking about. Now, we have the new tools associated with AI to be able to do this across a wide variety of industries, domains, and businesses. It is a general-purpose technology, and just like the internet communications in previous decades, general-purpose technology has an impact across the economy. The value in general-purpose technology comes out when it is applied to industries and domains across the economy, improving business processes, transforming operations, and creating value through new products and services. So, competition between businesses will go beyond price and proximity, and our SMEs will need to be prepared for this.

6. What has happened recently, particularly with generative AI and large-language models, is the democratisation of access to all these tools, including for SMEs. It has brought down the costs and ease with which we access these tools.

7. But navigating the space does continue to have some challenges. Access has certainly improved, and it is much more accessible to SMEs to access AI-based tools. But the adoption of these tools, the digital business processes, the potential transformation in your workflows and services can feel overwhelming and can potentially be a barrier to the sort of changes that SMEs need to undergo.

8. Within the government, we have built up a suite of resources and tools. We call this the CTO-as-a-Service, and we hope to be able to support businesses’ digitalisation and AI adoption. There are over 300 pre-approved solutions. There's grant support available on the CTO-as-a-Service platform, and about 30% of those solutions are already AI-enabled today. We will expect this to grow. In 2024, over 330,000 users accessed resources for our CTO-as-a-Service platform. These helped almost 3,000 SMEs adopt AI-enabled solutions.

9. This year, at our Committee of Supply, the Ministry of Digital Development and Information also announced several tools to help businesses discover where AI may be deployed in their businesses. There's a GenAI Playbook for Enterprises, a practical guide that explains how it can make business more efficient with real world examples and to help make informed decisions whether to build or buy an off-the-shelf solution, and provide an evaluation framework on how to manage associated risks.

10. Last year, we launched the Digital Enterprise Blueprint to uplift our enterprises and upskill our workers in the next phase of our digitalisation journey. As part of that, the government brought together key partners in the ecosystem, such as the trade associations and industries, in providing support to enterprises and workers. Success in these types of efforts require many stakeholders coming together.

11. So, I'm very glad that through ASME and ITE, they are partnering to provide SMEs with access to AI resources, hands-on workshops and implementation strategies. This will help SMES move past conceptualisation into the actual implementation—integrating AI technology into their business operations.

12. Business advisors will be available to guide SMEs through relevant government support programmes such as IMDA’s Gen AI Digital Sandbox, ensuring that SMEs get the necessary assistance and take full advantage of AI solutions. We must do all this and think about how we interface the technologies with our businesses and the processes with our services.

13. But after all of these, any technology is only going to be as powerful as the people who know how to use it. We will need a strong pipeline of technology leaders and workers for our continued push for digitalisation to reap success for all of us. In nurturing the next generation of tech talents, ASME and ITE will also serve as a platform to provide ITE students with hands-on exposure to AI-driven business solutions through internships and industrial attachments. By engaging with SMEs on real-world AI projects, students will gain experience and enhance their career prospects in AI and the digital sectors.

14. So, to all the SMEs, if you haven't started on your digitalisation journey, begin now. If you're already digitalised, such as the people in this room, explore how AI can take your business to the next level. Tap into the available government schemes and the ecosystem resources, such as what we have here at SME@AITE. Invest in people, in our people, and continue to foster a culture of continuous learning. Embrace technologies such as AI, strengthen our collaborative ecosystem, and together, we can ensure that SMEs in Singapore are able to seize new opportunities to grow, innovate and thrive in the face of global competition.

15. Thank you very much.