The Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) announced Tuesday that industry leaders including Alibaba Cloud, Prudential and ST Engineering have teamed up to accelerate tech adoption including generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) for more than 6,000 enterprises in Singapore.
IMDA said in a statement that new partnerships with industry giants Alibaba Cloud, Prudential and ST Engineering will give more local small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) access to cutting-edge technologies including artificial intelligence (AI), cloud and cyber security.
These new collaborations, in support of the nation’s Digital Enterprise Blueprint (DEB), will equip businesses to accelerate the adoption of frontier technologies and strengthen cyber resilience with advanced AI capabilities.
The country’s Ministry of State for Digital Development and Information also launched two new talent programs that will provide upskilling opportunities and create specialized AI career pathways for locals.
These programs will train AI Practitioners ahead of demand as Singapore ramps up on accelerating GenAI adoption across the enterprise ecosystem, strengthening the nation’s position as a global AI hub.
According to the statement, Singapore’s SME sector continues to show strong digital adoption, with more than 7,200 businesses embracing AI-enabled, integrated and cloud-based solutions in the past year alone.
Building on this momentum, IMDA will be working on three new partnerships designed to strengthen AI adoption and boost cyber resilience across the SME landscape.
It is noted that the partnership with Alibaba Cloud aims to raise cloud and AI capabilities, with up to 3,000 SMEs and digital solution providers will receive support to raise cloud and AI capabilities through the Alibaba Cloud Digital Accelerator Program.
This comprehensive initiative equips businesses with practical cloud experience and technical resources, including support through cloud credits, technical training workshops, expert consultations, and trial access to Alibaba’s Cloud AI Model Studio.
Meanwhile, the partnership with Prudential Singapore is to enhance GenAI adoption.
Under the GenAI Xponential Program, Prudential in partnership with its Talent Engagement Ecosystem partner, Republic Polytechnic, will produce a series of up to 10 GenAI tech explainer videos tailored for SMEs, and conduct up to four workshops to help SMEs learn more about IMDA’s pre-approved GenAI solutions and promote adoption.
The partnership with ST Engineering will launch the SME CyberResilience Program.
This initiative will provide up to 2,000 SMEs with a one-time complimentary cyber threat scanning service through IMDA’s CTO-as-a-Service platform, while equipping them with crucial insights into emerging cyber threats and defence strategies through dedicated awareness events.
The new partnerships are part of the efforts under the DEB to power the next bound of digitalization for enterprises.
Since its launch in May 2024, the DEB has benefitted over 10,000 enterprises under its four key focus areas: empowering enterprises to be smarter, enabling them to scale faster, equipping them to be safer, and upskilling workers to make full use of digital capabilities.
It is noted that many digitally mature SMEs (DMEs) may still face challenges when deploying and sustaining the use of emerging technology like GenAI to meet their complex business needs.
IMDA’s GenAI x Digital Leaders initiative was launched in 2024 with the aim to help DMEs build digital capabilities and overcome these key challenges.
Together with AWS and Microsoft, over 200 enterprises have been equipped with deeper technical understanding of GenAI and gained greater access to tech expertise and advice on deploying GenAI solutions.
According to the statement, a number of these DMEs have since proceeded to work on the development and deployment of customized GenAI solutions.
IMDA is currently supporting 50 DMEs with project implementations that deliver concrete business impact – generating an estimated productivity increase of as high as 50 percent and annual cost savings of up to S$300,000 ($232,772).
Building on this success, IMDA is also strengthening its partnerships with AWS and Microsoft to accelerate frontier technology adoption.
The enhanced initiative aims to reach more than 1,000 enterprises and support up to 500 projects in the coming year.
The expanded collaboration will deliver twice the number of Tech Discovery Workshops and personalized Tech Deep-Dive sessions, while significantly reducing solution development costs and time by half by tapping on the latest technology development tools with pre-built GenAI modules.
DMEs will gain enhanced access to technical expertise, including subject matter experts and model developers, backed by essential resources such as compute power and cloud credits.
This comprehensive support structure will enable DMEs to transform their strategic business needs and objectives into practical GenAI solutions more efficiently and cost effectively, marking a significant step in Singapore’s digital enterprise ecosystem.
It is also noted that the demand for AI talent continues to increase as leading companies set up AI Centers of Excellence (CoEs) and build up their AI teams and activities in Singapore.
To meet this demand, the IMDA is boosting efforts to build Singapore’s AI talent pipeline.
Through the TechSkills Accelerator’s (TeSA) Company-Led Training program, IMDA has secured 400 local AI practitioner roles through collaborations with leading companies such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft, Oracle, and SingTel.
IMDA is also partnering with AI Singapore (AISG) and the industry to launch two new frontier training programs, which will provide another 400 AI Practitioner job and training opportunities for locals.
AI Apprenticeship Program (Industry) (AIAP(I)) has been launched to train more locals to take up job opportunities in AI Practitioner roles.
Pinnacle AI Industry Program (PAIP) has also been launched to uplift local AI Practitioners in frontier companies into expert model builders.
Set to launch in June 2025, the AIAP(I), developed in collaboration with AISG, will equip locals with critical AI, data, and machine learning skills, and the opportunity to hone their skills in real-world projects through a six-month program.
The AIAP(I) aims to train 300 AI practitioners in batches over two years.
Upon completion, trainees will be ready for hiring by AI center of excellences (COEs) and leading companies.
In addition, to build deeper technical expertise such as advanced AI model building and fine-tuning demanded by frontier companies, IMDA has partnered AISG’s SEA-LION team to develop the PAIP.
This initiative is expected to be launched in the second half of 2025.
It is an intensive six-month full-time program that will upskill 100 local AI Practitioners in frontier companies into expert model builders over three years.
AISG has also launched the first Pan-Southeast Asia AI Developer Challenge, which will unite regional developers in building practical AI solutions using AI models like SEA-LION.
This initiative will empower developers to create scalable AI solutions in the region, bringing meaningful impact for Singapore’s society and region, said the statement.