The EDB Society and SMU launched a six-part forum series on 31 January with Mr Heng Swee Keat, Minister for Finance as the Guest-of-Honour. Held at the SMU Mochtar Riady Auditorium, it was the first in the Enterprise & Entrepreneur Series. The Series – supported by Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB) – will look at transformation and value-creation in areas such as digitalisation, advanced manufacturing and energy.
In his keynote address, Mr Heng said that the next step in Singapore's economic transformation will involve taking advantage of potential overlaps between sectors, as global and technological changes cause industry boundaries to blur.
The panel discussion, which was moderated by SMU President Professor Arnoud De Meyer, covered issues such as tackling manpower constraints due to the ageing population and getting young Singaporeans to consider working in South-east Asia.
The panelists for the launch event comprised Dr Beh Swan Gin, Chairman of EDB; Mr Ho Kwon Ping, Chairman of SMU & Executive Chairman Banyan Tree; Mr Dilhan Pillay Sandrasegara, Deputy CEO of Temasek International and Mr Forrest Li, Founder & Chairman of Internet firm Sea Limited.