SINGAPORE: Singapore accelerates AI talent with S$7 million investment in masters programme and visiting professorships in collaboration with local universities, Channel News Asia reports.
This initiative, exclusively open to Singaporeans, seeks to foster local talent and contribute to the nation’s growing role in AI research and development.
Minister for Communications and Information, Josephine Teo, disclosed the details on Friday, Mar 1, outlining the strategic steps the government is taking to attract and nurture top minds in AI.
Accelerated Masters Programme
The Accelerated Masters Programme (AMP), expected to support 50 students over the next three years, aims to create a pipeline of Singaporean research talent, preparing students for roles in AI research or enhancing their competitiveness for AI PhD programmes.
Applications for the AMP are set to open from March to May this year, providing a unique opportunity for local students to dive into the rapidly evolving world of AI.
Mrs Teo emphasised the government’s commitment to tripling the pool of AI practitioners in Singapore to 15,000 within the next five years, focusing on data scientists and machine learning engineers vital for the integration of AI across various sectors of the economy.
Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong had previously announced an investment of over S$1 billion over the next five years during his Budget 2024 speech in February. This injection of funds aligns with Singapore’s National AI Strategy (NAIS) 2.0, launched in December last year, showcasing the government’s dedication to advancing technology for the benefit of Singaporeans.
Visiting Professorship
The AI Visiting Professorship is designed to attract top-notch researchers from around the globe. The plan is to award this esteemed position to a select group of five visiting professors over the coming years. These professors will collaborate with local institutions, spending at least 20% of their time on these partnerships. Their responsibilities include identifying local collaborators and actively engaging with junior researchers and students in Singapore.
According to MCI, “The goal is for these AI visiting professors to drive research aligned with our national AI research agenda, provide increased training opportunities for local students and catalyse additional research activities in Singapore.”
The move comes as part of a broader push towards technological innovation, in line with Singaporeans’ increasing reliance on digital technologies in their daily lives.
In addition to the academic initiatives, Singapore is introducing the Generative AI X Digital Leaders initiative, targeting “digitally mature” companies eager to develop and deploy AI solutions.
Senior Minister of State for Communications and Information Tan Kiat How said that this initiative would pair participating enterprises with tech giants, facilitating the development and implementation of innovative Generative AI solutions. Generative AI employs deep-learning models to create new content based on past data.
Senior Minister of State for Communications and Information Janil Puthucheary emphasised the importance of foundational infrastructure to power AI activities. The government is set to invest up to S$500 million for AI innovation, with the aim of supporting use cases in sectors such as financial services, healthcare, transport, and logistics.
He also said, “Over time, we hope for this seed funding to catalyse greater development and the use of AI in Singapore and spur additional industry investment in compute infrastructure.” /TISG
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