SINGAPORE: Singapore needs more technology talent and a newly announced work pass hopes to help the country attract “highly accomplished” individuals in this field, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said on Tuesday night., launched last week by the Economic Development Board, is targeted at “the movers and shakers of the tech world”.
The Government is building up its own IT engineering capabilities through the Government Technology Agency of Singapore , while developing the entire tech eco-system and digital industry.“Many major tech companies are now based here and they are doing engineering work, not just sales and marketing,” he said, citing tech giants like Google, Facebook and Amazon. This has created a vibrant industry cluster and good jobs for Singaporeans, he added.
The Prime Minister noted a growing pipeline of talent in the local universities and polytechnics. Companies also bring in foreign talent, including experienced professionals at the mid-to senior-levels which Singapore lacks. “And the Singaporeans on their part have to be able to understand that this is how new jobs and more jobs will be created in Singapore, and have to feel assured that they will be fairly treated and not be discriminated against,” he said.
She added that some have said Singapore may be different from other major tech hubs in terms of its sociopolitical culture, stance on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer issues, as well as a workplace culture that remains hierarchical. On workplace culture, Mr Lee said this depends on individual companies. Existing organisations may find it difficult to change, although some have set up “skunk works” to develop different styles of working. Singapore also wants to develop new organisations with “fresh cultures” and these are under way.
“So these things shift but we have to give them time to shift and I think it is unwise to force it because there will be a push back and you will end up with polarisation,” said Mr Lee.In his keynote speech, the Prime Minister also touched on the role of technology in the country’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
When it comes to contact tracing, technology enabled the development of various solutions such as Bluetooth-based tool TraceTogether, national check-in system SafeEntry and databases like VISION, which integrates existing databases to speed up contact tracing and issue quarantine orders promptly.