New initiative to spur growth of digital, data solutions that will improve lives
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who shared his hopes and plans for the #SmartNation project with Singaporeans during his trip to San Francisco last month, had said that Singapore must offer the same exciting, challenging jobs found in Silicon Valley to convince its citizens to return home. Photo: MCI
SINGAPORE — The Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) has launched a new fellowship programme here for top data scientists, technologists and engineers, including Singaporeans working overseas, to develop digital and data solutions to improve the lives of citizens.
The Smart Nation Fellowship Programme will focus on the two areas of data and technology, IDA said in a press release on Monday (March 7).
Successful applicants or fellows will work on projects that have potential impact on public policy decision-making and operations, or the delivery of public policies.
Fellows will be appointed for short stints of three to six months to work alongside software engineers, data scientists and product developers from the IDA’s Government Digital Services team, as well as users and developers from different government agencies.
IDA’s data science division director Liu Feng-Yuan said: “It is not just about crunching data and playing with the latest, coolest technologies. What’s meaningful is harnessing insights that can improve public policy and operations; innovating with technology and building products and platforms that can help make a difference in people’s lives.”
Some of the areas covered would include healthcare, transportation, open data and public service delivery, Mr Liu said.
Fellows and senior fellows will be chosen on their technical expertise and proven ability to produce data science or technology solutions.
Interested applicants who are academics need to be post-doctorates, advanced PhD candidates or tenure-track faculty members who have been on the job for fewer than three years. To be a senior fellow, candidates must be tenure-track faculty members for more than three years.
Similarly for industry applicants, fellows would need to have three to seven years of working experience, or at least eight years for senior fellows.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong first mentioned this programme during his trip to San Francisco in the United States last month. He said then that Singaporeans must view engineering as more than just a support function, noting that the country needs stronger engineering capability to meet many of its goals under the Smart Nation initiative.
He also said that Singapore must offer the same kind of exciting and challenging jobs found in Silicon Valley if it wanted to convince the Singaporeans there to return.
While Singaporean professionals based overseas understand the IDA’s intentions to attract talent back to Singapore, news of the fellowship was met with tempered response.
Mr Sean Xie, 29, a software engineer working with Twitter in the US, said it would be difficult to be away from work for three to six months, and it is not “a natural step in an engineer’s career”.
“An arrangement I might consider is a remote advisory role that would allow me to contribute to Singapore’s data ecosystem with less serious initial commitment,” he said.
Mr Clarence Chio, 26, a software engineer at a start-up in Silicon Valley said that depending on one’s work visa, leaving one’s job for that period of time might cause problems when resuming work in the US.
Software engineer Andrea Goh, 28, who has worked in Silicon Valley for the past four years, also pointed out that the fellowship appears to be more suited for people with existing expertise, rather than offer “an amazing opportunity” for people to develop their skills further.
She added: “To attract the top talent (or stop them from leaving Singapore in the first place), salaries have to be competitive. The culture also needs to change. Why would anyone want to be a software engineer in Singapore and be treated like IT support, when you can live overseas and have a career path that people respect?”
On the financial benefits, the IDA said fellows would receive a stipend determined on a case-by-case basis, depending on the individual’s years of work experience and unique skills.
The Government intends to appoint the first batch of four to eight fellows by this year, and the IDA will later set up a global resource network of fellowship alumni to work with the Government on data science and technology projects in the long term.
Asked how the IDA will ensure the competitiveness of this fellowship programme against other big tech names such as Google, it emphasised that this is not a recruitment programme.
“We are looking at appointing those who are truly passionate about delivering meaningful digital and data solutions to improve the lives of citizens,” its spokesperson said.
