The future of Southeast Asia is the future of innovation.
That was the clear message following Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat’s recent visit to SAP’s Berlin offices marking the 60th anniversary of ties between Singapore and Germany.
During the official visit, the delegation took in a tour of the SAP Experience Centre, where Mr. Heng experienced cutting-edge AI innovation, before a range of discussions and insights sessions with Business AI and public sector experts.
Singapore is already at the forefront of digital transformation thanks to strong government initiatives, future-proofing the workforce and strengthening the nation’s competitiveness. And investment continues.
As Mr. Heng noted at the WELT Economic Summit,
“In Singapore, we spend about 1% of GDP on research and innovation … and have committed S$28 billion for the period 2021-25. We are investing in 4 key areas: advanced manufacturing, human health and potential, digitalisation including AI and quantum computing, and sustainability and urban solutions. We are a small city state, but if we succeed the solutions can be exported to thousands of cities around the world.”
This is important given the challenges of deglobalisation, digitalisation, demographics, and decarbonisation Mr. Heng notes Singapore faces.
But there are exciting solutions at hand. I believe a focus on SEA is the key to turbo-charge our future. Let me explain.
Skilling the future
Singapore and Southeast Asia are young, vibrant markets. We are blessed with more than 200 million people aged between 15 and 34, creating a generation of digital natives.
Our nations and our businesses will need them. The skills needed for jobs in Southeast Asia are expected to change by as much as 72% by 2030 with the introduction of new AI innovations.
During the visit I was excited to hear about the progressive and pragmatic approach Singapore is taking to speed up AI adoption across the entire economy.
And SAP is committed to developing AI talent.
Over the past five years, we have collaborated closely with the Singapore Government under the SkillsFuture programme to upskill more than 1,000 mid-career professionals to teach practical and hands-on digital skills.
SAP has also invested in and launched eight free AI foundational courses and plans to introduce certification courses on Business AI later this year. And our SAP Labs in Singapore has hired more than 140 AI engineers who are actively contributing to realizing SAP’s product and technology strategy.
Together with government, we can upskill a generation of Southeast Asians to maximise the enormous opportunities digital and AI hold.
Economic growth through innovation
These opportunities are not only important for business, but for our nations themselves.
Generative AI is expected to add up to US$4.4 trillion to the global economy, while in Singapore it’s estimated if AI-powered products and solutions are adopted it could result in US$147.6 billion of economic benefits.
Today, we’re moving past AI hype to begin looking at practical steps forward to implement AI in real world scenarios.
As the Infocomm Media Development Agency notes, “In 2023, 44% of larger enterprises implemented AI-enabled solutions, more than double the 16.7% in 2018. SMEs also improved their adoption rate, growing from 3.5% in 2018 to 4.2% in 2023.”
Even government is benefiting from this innovation. For example, the Hamburg Ministry of Finance is using generative AI to reduce manual processing of benefits by up to 33,000 hours per year. The NATO Procurement Agency uses AI to identify suppliers and generate contracts in up to 20% less time. And the Serbian Ministry of Finance is using AI to make budget projections and reduce budget projections by €50 million.
Investing in AI for Singapore – and Southeast Asia’s future
Businesses like SAP have an enormous responsibility to enhance research, develop talent, and prepare industries for the holistic adoption of AI solutions.
From a technology perspective, we are ready. We saw more than 130 new AI features launched last year alone, and we have more than 34,000 customers using AI today.
We also have to ensure our use of AI is safe and ethical. SAP is among only six companies worldwide to meet all criteria in the Ethical AI Indicator by the World Benchmarking Alliance.
But we also understand we have to invest in Singapore – and in our wider region.
Since 2019, SAP has committed almost S$300 million to developing Business AI and other deep tech in Singapore, including establishing Southeast Asia’s first SAP Labs in 2022 and Asia’s first innovation centre for experience management (XM) in 2023.
Following a long-standing partnership with the Economic Development Board, that culminated in a recent investment of S$12 million in it the Digital Industry Singapore Innovation Accelerator to boost adoption of Business AI in industry-specific scenarios in Singapore.
SEA is the key to accelerate to innovate across Southeast Asia
As Deputy Prime Minister Heng rightly noted, Singapore and Southeast Asia have incredible strengths and, “By building on these strengths and building new capabilities in digital and green technologies, new competitive strengths will emerge.”
To achieve such opportunities, I believe we must focus at a national and organisational level on skills, economic growth, and artificial intelligence – or SEA.
Through greater collaboration and investment, in Singapore and beyond, public sector and enterprises like SAP can achieve our joint mission of ensuring AI not only benefits businesses, but also empowers Singapore and Southeast Asia to accelerate to innovate in the future.