During this past week, AI Singapore signed three
Memorandum of Understanding (MOUs), reiterating AI Singapore’s commitment to
pursue research, develop skills and talent, as well as embrace new technologies
in AI-related areas. The three MOUs were signed with the National Trades Union
Congress (NTUC),
Intel
Corporation and PwC Singapore.
AI Singapore [1]
was launched in
May 2017 by the National Research Foundation (NRF) of Singapore with up to
S$150 million in funding to catalyse, synergise and boost Singapore's AI
capabilities.
AI Singapore’s key programmes include fundamental research,
addressing Grand
Challenges and conducting 100 experiments in collaboration with
companies to tackle real-life business problems. It also runs an AI Apprenticeship programme through
a collaboration with the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA).
NTUC
The Labour Movement has been focusing on expanding its
outreach in emerging ICT areas, such as artificial intelligence, cybersecurity,
immersive media and internet of things, to curate relevant programmes that meet
the progression needs of Professionals, Managers, and Executives.
AI Singapore was one of three new ICT associations which
signed a MOU to join the NTUC U
Associate ecosystem on 12 March 2018. The other
two MOUs were signed with (ISC)2
Singapore Chapter and Tech
Singapore Advocates. Through these new partnerships, NTUC can now reach out
to about 40,000 professionals in the ICT sector.
As part of the 2-year MOU signed between AI Singapore and
NTUC, both parties will explore projects of mutual interests in data analytics
and AI for NTUC, undertake visits by engineering staff and collaborators for
discussion; participate in outreach and development activities or events; and
exchange scientific, academic and technical information, if appropriate.
“This partnership with NTUC will allow AI Singapore to reach
a wider ecosystem in Singapore. With NTUC’s U Associate network of 67
associations (representing more than 250,000 members from different
professions), we believe that they will each be impacted by AI in one way or
another. We want to be there to support their adoption and evolution journey as
AI becomes pervasive in their sector,” said Mr Laurence Liew, Director of
Industry Innovation, AI Singapore.
Intel
The 3-year
MOU with Intel aims to provide industry-relevant and skills-based training
to the Singapore AI ecosystem, with a goal of engaging and training around 2000
students and developers over the next three years.
Under the MOU, AI Singapore intends to host free-of-cost
training sessions based on the Intel® AI Academy* suite of content for
students, developers, start-ups and companies. The Intel® AI Academy is an open
initiative offered to academia, professionals, and start-ups worldwide.
Intel will send their world-wide AI experts to co-host some
of these sessions. In addition, AI Singapore will be including the Intel® AI Academy content
as part of its AI Apprenticeship Programme. AI Singapore will also be able to
access or submit relevant publicly available, research papers, whitepapers,
solution briefs, project descriptions and technical content via the Intel®
Developer Zone or affiliated Intel websites.
Participants in Intel ® AI Academy will gain access to
Intel-hosted forums and technical support for their usage of Intel hardware
platforms and software tools for research and projects. The Intel® AI Academy
will assist in organizing meetups, offer event-based training and provide
expert guidance on Intel frameworks and tools to the next generation of AI
professionals.
PwC
AI Singapore has signed a 3-year MOU with PwC Risk Services for
collaboration on AI projects and enhancing digital trust competencies in both
the public and private sector. This will be done through dedicated research
projects related to data analytics; AI research & development; and risk
management and governance to ensure responsible AI adoption. This collaboration
is viewed as pivotal to ensuring trusted digital ecosystems as Singapore
develops as a Smart Nation.
“We are excited to collaborate with PwC to accelerate the
use of AI in the finance, audit and risk markets. The 100Experiments and AI
Apprenticeship Programme, which PwC will participate in, will accelerate the
adoption of AI in these areas and train new AI engineers for PwC and the
Singapore ecosystem,” remarked Mr Laurence Liew.
“As the demand for automation and use of AI increases,
designing in appropriate levels of risk management and governance will be
essential for the trusted application of AI adoption. PwC Singapore advocates
responsible AI adoption and is well positioned to help embed the right level of
risk assessment, controls and governance frameworks to enable organisations to
innovate with confidence. We are glad to be the first professional services
firm to work with AISG in support of Singapore’s AI initiatives in line with
Singapore’s Smart Nation ambitions,” said Greg Unsworth, Digital Business and
Risk Assurance Leader, PwC Singapore.
[1] The initiative is
driven by a government-wide partnership comprising NRF, the Smart Nation and
Digital Government Office (SNDGO), the Economic Development Board (EDB), IMDA,
SGInnovate, and the Integrated Health Information Systems (IHiS). Institutes of
Higher Learning, including National University Singapore (NUS), the Nanyang
Technological University (NTU), Singapore University of Technology and Design
(SUTD) the Singapore Management University (SMU) and public sector research
agency, Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), are also part of
this AI Singapore.
