Debate on President’s speech: Shawn Huang on securing Singapore’s future in a machine economy with intelligent robotics

Intelligent robotics are set to define the world’s economic future and quality of life. For a resource-constrained economy like Singapore, it is a necessity and a strategic imperative against external shocks, labour shortages and global headwinds. Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Finance and Manpower Shawn Huang made these points in parliament on Wednesday (Sep 24). He said Singapore must secure manufacturing and development capabilities that enable intelligent robotics, such as high-performance processors, sensors, data centres, advanced telecoms and batteries powering the next generation of solutions. He added that the country will have to accelerate investment and innovation and strengthen its infrastructure; scale up its people’s skills for the machine age; broaden businesses’ participation in automation; develop strategies to overcome the limiting factors of access to clean, affordable energy and raw materials; set clear ethical and data governance standards, and encourage open innovation while anticipating future risks.