New Growth Areas to Support the Singapore Economy

Ms Tan Su Shan asked the Minister for Trade and Industry (a) what studies are being done to identify new growth areas for the Singapore economy; and (b) what investments have been made to cultivate the new skills necessary to enable the local workforce to fully participate in the knowledge-based industries that will support Singapore's future growth.

Restructuring and moving our economy up the value chain is an integral part of our economic development strategy. The Government undertakes regular reviews and studies at both the whole-of-economy and industry levels to identify future growth opportunities. One past example is the Report of the Economic Strategies Committee in 2011.

Economic agencies, such as EDB, also constantly monitor global macro and industry trends to identify new growth opportunities. In recent years, EDB has seeded new growth areas such as data analytics and biologics. As announced in Budget 2013, EDB is currently developing a Future of Manufacturing plan taking into account global manufacturing trends and emerging technologies to identify new growth areas with the potential to create a range of new jobs for Singaporeans.

To ensure that Singaporeans have the capabilities and skills to take up jobs created in new growth areas, the Government invests heavily in our Continuing Education and Training (CET) system. The Government has put in place dedicated training programmes aimed at meeting the different upgrading needs of specific segments of the workforce, such as the Skills Training for Excellence Programme (STEP) for professionals, managers and executives, and Workfare Training Support (WTS) for lower wage workers.

In developing new industries or growth areas, our economic agencies also partner companies and education institutions to develop specific training curriculum and development opportunities to up-skill Singaporeans for the new sectors. An example is the Strategic Training and Attachment (STRAT)

Page: 121

Programme under EDB which focuses on building new functional expertise and skill sets for new growth areas through on-the-job training. Trainees are sent to leading companies overseas to learn new skills. Since 2008, 485 locals have been trained through STRAT in areas such as cell therapy, medical technology, biologics manufacturing, digital media and nanotechnology. EDB also works closely with education institutions to develop their curriculum to equip young Singaporeans with the relevant skills for these new sectors.