SINGAPORE - Singapore is looking to work with more like-minded partners to advance artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled manufacturing for a greener and more sustainable future, said Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat.
These partnerships are a “critical enabler” of the Republic’s manufacturing ambitions, noted DPM Heng in a speech on Oct 14.
“Such partnerships allowed us to develop our respective strengths and support one another in navigating some of the difficult adjustments that come with transformation,” he said at the opening ceremony of the Industrial Transformation Asia-Pacific (Itap) 2024 event.
This comes as Singapore remains on track to achieve its goals of increasing manufacturing value-added by 50 per cent between 2020 and 2030, and positioning itself as a critical global node for advanced manufacturing.
At the event at the Singapore Expo, themed “Shaping a Sustainable Future with AI-Powered Manufacturing”, DPM Heng said that the manufacturing sector globally accounts for around one fifth of global carbon emissions, so it is critical that the sector contributes and uses new green and sustainable solutions to boost global efforts to combat climate change.
Another key trend will be the transformative impact of AI on the sector, which accounts for around 20 per cent of the Singapore’s gross domestic product.
In his speech, DPM Heng announced several initiatives and outlined ways local and overseas organisations can collaborate with the local manufacturing ecosystem.
For example, Singapore and its partners have to work together to broaden platforms that translate scientific insights into “practical, innovative and viable” solutions.
To that end, the Advanced Manufacturing Centre of Innovation was launched on Oct 14 by Enterprise Singapore, in collaboration with A*Star’s Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology and four polytechnics – Nanyang, Ngee Ann, Singapore, and Temasek.
The centre aims to support over 800 Singapore companies from the advanced manufacturing sector over next two years, in more than 100 joint innovation projects to generate new revenue streams.
Such projects could include the development of certain chips to advance commercial medical products in the healthcare sector and leveraging real-time machining data to support smart factory projects.