SMU School of Economics and the Ministry of Trade & Industry (MTI) have jointly organised the MTI Economic Dialogue 2016 on 6 September at the Ngee Ann Kongsi Auditorium. The event was supported by National University of Singapore (NUS) and Nanyang Technological University (NTU).

Established in 2008, the annual MTI Economic Dialogue is a platform for students to gain insights into pertinent economic issues and challenges facing Singapore. It also provides them the opportunity to analyse and gain a greater appreciation of the role played by the discipline of Economics in policy making.

Themed “Seizing Global Opportunities in our Future Economy”, the event was graced by Mr S Iswaran, Minister for Trade & Industry (Industry) and Co-

Chairman of the Committee on the Future Economy. About 250 participants, including students from tertiary institutions, junior colleges, polytechnics and secondary schools, as well as policymakers and academics attended the event.

SMU President Professor Arnoud De Meyer shared some of his thoughts on the future economy of Singapore in his Opening Speech. First, he believed that Singapore can take advantage of its strength in ICT (Information, Communications and Technology), finance and legal services to be a trusted provider of data and cyber security services for companies in the region and beyond. Secondly, he said that Singapore needs to attract and retain manufacturing plants which have high levels of the complexity and proprietary design of the products they produce, as well as the processes used to produce them.

Thirdly, he suggested one way to make Singapore workers more resilient for the future is to emphasise the importance of “learning to learn” skills for the future workforce. “At SMU, we seek to train students to develop domain expertise, functional expertise and market expertise. These three legs must also be topped off with soft skills to make them adaptable and agile. The ownership of skills acquisition will have to rest on individuals and not on educational institutions.”

In his Keynote Address, Minister Iswaran touched on two key areas of opportunities which Singapore can leverage on. The first is the strong potential of two regional markets – ASEAN and India. “With the establishment of the ASEAN Economic Community, which will boost intra-ASEAN investments and trade flows, as well as a rising middle class in the region, ASEAN will continue to present significant opportunities for our exporters and businesses wanting to internationalise.” As for India, its growing economy will entail increasing demand for imports and investments, thereby providing opportunities for Singapore’s businesses.

The second area of opportunity pertains to the digital economy, which presents unprecedented opportunities for Singapore’s businesses to achieve scale and serve customers globally.

Minister Iswaran went on to share three areas that the Committee on the Future Economy is looking into to enable Singapore to capture global growth opportunities. These are: positioning Singapore as a digital hub; positioning Singapore as an innovation-led economy; and equipping Singaporeans with the relevant skills and mindsets.

Minister Iswaran concluded that, “The future economy holds significant opportunities for all of us. The digital economy allows good business ideas to take root in any part of the world, presenting unprecedented potential for enterprises. It has never been easier for companies with innovative products, services and business models to reach global markets.” To tap on this potential, he urged Singapore’s businesses to continually innovate, as well as adapt to and embrace the digital economy. As for Singaporeans, he said we must continue to deepen our skills and capabilities so that we can be nimble in the face of rapid technological changes and evolving industry trends.

[Caption: Professor Hoon Hian Teck of SMU School of Economics gave his take on the future economy during the panel discussion.]

Following the speeches was a wide-ranging panel discussion on topics such as technological disruption and the future of Singapore’s manufacturing sector. The panellists were Minister Iswaran, Mr Vincent Chong, President & CEO (Designate) of ST Engineering, Ms Candice Ong Managing Director (Regional Marketing) of ZALORA Group, Professor Hoon Hian Teck of SMU School of Economics. The session was moderated by Mr Aaron Maniam, Director of Industry Division at MTI.

In recognition of the academic achievements of top economics students at SMU, NUS and NTU, the MTI Academic Awards – the MTI Book Prize for the best 3^rd year economics student, as well as the MTI Best Thesis Award for the student(s) with the best economics thesis - were presented by Minister Iswaran at the event.

3^rd-year SMU School of Economics student Ms Kelly Goh Wan Yun who won the MTI Book Prize said, “I am proud to receive the MTI Book Prize and I would like to thank MTI for making this award possible. My decision to major in economics stemmed from a desire to better understand the world that we live in. The study of economics appeals to me as economics deals with various fundamental issues ranging from microeconomic issues such as how individuals make consumption decisions, to macroeconomic issues concerning how countries trade with one another.

“SMU School of Economics is my top pick as the school offers a well-designed curriculum that provides students with the foundation to apply theories beyond the classroom. Over the past two years, the School has equipped me with the analytical framework to study economic issues and a set of quantitative skills to explore economic issues with an empirical approach.”

Mr Tan Bing Yang, who won the MTI Best Thesis Award for his paper ‘The Skill Wage Premium, Labor Demand and Labor Supply in Singapore: A Structural Approach’, is currently studying for his PhD in economics at Vanderbilt University, in Nashville, Tennessee, USA. He said, “I am honoured to receive this award from MTI, and am encouraged to continue my career in economics – as a graduate student at present and hopefully in academia in future.”

In his thesis, Bing Yang used Ministry of Manpower (MOM) data from 1973 to the present to study how technological change has driven demand for workers in various educational groups. Broadly speaking, he found that this technological change has caused the demand for better-educated workers to grow faster, but, contrary to what one might expect, it was graduates from polytechnics or ITE who benefited most from technological change up until the turn of the millennium. Subsequently, Singapore’s economic restructuring caused demand for university graduates to grow more quickly than demand for graduates from polytechnics or ITE.

{Featured photo: 3rd-year SMU School of Economics student Ms Kelly Goh Wan Yun received the MTI Book Prize from Minister Iswaran.]