Creating an Inclusive Singapore

According to the World Economic Forum (WEF) Global Competitiveness Report 2011 – 2012, Singapore is now the second most competitive market in the world. No small feat for a small country, both in terms of its geographic area and population.
 
According to the report Singapore’s institutions continue to be assessed as the best in the world, ranked first for lack of corruption and government efficiency and for the efficiency of getting its goods to market and financial market development. Singapore is also lauded for its strong focus on education, providing individuals with the skills needed for a rapidly changing global economy.
 
However, the WEF recommends that to strengthen competitiveness further, Singapore could encourage even stronger adoption of the latest technologies (10th). As the Head of Microsoft Singapore this leads me to ask how can we be active partners in Singapore to help our economy grow even more? There is no question that we are a tech company focused on innovation and technology, but how do we, Microsoft Singapore, take our strengths and be impactful in the broader community?

There are two areas we are focusing on that align to what Singapore needs and what the government is focused on: talent development and capability building. Where Singapore is concerned talent is one of our most valuable resources, and technology and innovation have a big role to play. For capacity building we aim to support from early education through to the creation of jobs and income, and we are particularly focused on the growing number of Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and start-ups.
 
Allow me to start with an example of how we are doing this with education. We are working with the National Institute of Education, the Ministry of Education and through direct engagement with several schools, to create classrooms of the future. Through technology and teacher training, we are developing new pedagogical approaches in schools. The highlight of these projects – and we’ve worked with seven out of the eight Schools of the Future in Singapore – is that they were driven by ideas from the teachers and students. They had an idea of what they wanted to achieve and with Microsoft and our software partners are realising their vision.
 
To ensure equal access for all, we have been working with the Society of the Physically Disabled to help people who are physically challenged use technologies to connect and communicate. If they are able to contribute more they will stand a greater chance of employment. We provided technology and support to set up the Infocomm Accessibility Centre and also launched a scholarship programme for students with disabilities in institutes of higher learning who have the desire to pursue a career in IT. So far, more than 2,000 people with disabilities have been trained, and 11 scholarships awarded.
 
For those wanting to start their own business, we have a Microsoft technology access programme which provides SMEs access to the technology tools and cloud services at a discounted rate – as well as more concentrated and personalised mentoring and support. We want to take away the worry about access and support of technology, and allow SMEs to focus on their knowledge and capabilities.
 
The focus has to be on enabling people to be skillful in the right things and at the right time. Technology providers like Microsoft must continue to work with all the different constituents and be able to support them to drive impact to help Singapore continue to grow its competitiveness as an inclusive society.