SINGAPORE: Singapore has launched four new initiatives to support companies of all sizes in boosting their capability to implement and scale artificial intelligence (AI), and use the technology to transform their businesses.
The initiatives reflect Singapore’s recognition that AI will rapidly become the defining force behind the next wave of innovation, transforming how new ideas, products and services are developed and commercialised.
Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong announced the initiatives at the 2026 Singapore Week of Innovation and Technology on Oct 27, noting that Singapore will explore ways to make AI work better for its industries and workers to build an economy that is more innovative, competitive and inclusive.
“AI offers opportunities to raise productivity and develop new products and capabilities,” he said at the event’s opening ceremony held at Marina Bay Sands.
The initiatives follow the four national AI missions – advanced manufacturing, finance, healthcare and connectivity – announced by Prime Minister Lawrence Wong during Budget 2026.
Led by Enterprise Singapore (EnterpriseSG) in partnership with other government agencies, the initiatives include a Champions of AI programme to help Singapore-based companies committed to making AI a core driver of growth.
Dubbed by EnterpriseSG as the national flagship AI initiative, the programme will begin with a cohort of 24 companies from various industries.
The list of champions includes well-known local names such as DBS, OCBC, UOB, ST Engineering, Seatrium, PSA International, Singapore Airlines, Singtel Singapore, Keppel and Sembcorp.
The agency will work with these companies to develop tailored, long-term AI transformation road maps and give them access to curated AI expertise and solution providers, supporting enterprise-wide deployment of AI and change management, and workforce redesign and upskilling.
The second initiative is a series of agentic AI workshops to provide hands-on guidance to small and medium enterprises for adopting and scaling AI solutions.
Agentic AI is an AI system to accomplish a specific goal with limited supervision.
It consists of AI agents, or machine learning models that mimic human decision-making to solve problems in real time.
The workshops will enable micro-entrepreneurs and small business owners to start their AI journey, identify practical use cases and build working prototypes tailored to their own businesses.
In the pilot run, more than 280 small businesses were supported to apply agentic AI tools in areas such as marketing, sales and customer service.
The third initiative – Catalytic AI Solutions – aims to advance AI adoption, starting with the manufacturing, trade and logistics sectors. This will help manufacturers tackle key operational challenges and boost workflows, rice importers make smarter procurement and inventory management. — The Straits Times/ANN
