MDDI 演講稿 · 2025-04-14
Janil Puthucheary 高階政務部長在中小企業商會與工教院 AI 卓越中心啟動儀式上的開幕致辭
要點
- • SME 是新加坡經濟的基石——幾乎是全部企業，僱傭約 70% 的勞動力。
- • AI 已不再是「未來感的顛覆者」——它是 SME 在快速變化中保持競爭力的「通用目的技術」。生成式 AI 與 LLM 把這些工具的成本與可獲得性大幅拉低。
- • 「CTO-as-a-Service」平臺已有 300+ 預審方案——約 30% 是 AI 加持。2024 年支援 33 萬+ 使用者、近 3,000 家 SME 採納 AI 方案。
- • ASME 與 ITE 聯合推出「SME@AITE」——把 AI 資源、動手工作坊、落地策略帶給 SME；商業顧問陪同走 IMDA「Gen AI Digital Sandbox」等政府專案。
- • ITE 學生通過 SME@AITE 實習與產業派駐——在真實 AI 專案中獲得經驗——給他們在 AI 與數字行業的職業前景加分。
完整譯文（繁體中文）
MDDI 英文原文譯文 · 翻譯日期: 2026-05-03
數碼發展及新聞部高階政務部長 Janil Puthucheary 博士在 2025 年 4 月 14 日「ASME 與 ITE AI 卓越中心」（SME@AITE）啟動儀式上的開幕致辭
各位早安。感謝邀請我出席今天的活動。
SME 是新加坡經濟的基石與基礎——它們幾乎代表了全部企業，僱傭約 70% 的勞動力。它們的活力、韌性與創新——是我們經濟保持活力的關鍵——為新加坡、為新加坡人創造工作機會。展望未來——這一點會延續。
看看世界——以及我每天早上的資訊流——「顛覆與變化」正快速成為常態。事情變得很快——這會影響我們的企業、我們的教學方式、以及我們的社會。但我們要應對這種快速變化，必須做的一件事是——擁抱技術。今天如此——過去幾年也是如此。技術如何在社會與商業中被部署與使用——可以是競爭優勢——也可以變成一種新的常態——就像我們的常態本身已經在變化。
AI 是一個例子。不久前它還被視為「顛覆者」——它仍然是——但它正快速演變成「我們的企業與社會真正理解 AI 及其對生存、增長與競爭力影響」的事。
AI 不一定關乎複雜、未來感的技術或機器人——那種科幻電影裡的東西。它也是藉助「智慧工具，提升生產力、驅動創新」——許多企業主與經濟中的人長期在談的事。如今——我們有了與 AI 相關的新工具，能夠在大量行業、領域與業務中做這件事。它是「通用目的技術」——和過去幾十年的網際網路通訊一樣——通用目的技術對整個經濟產生影響。它的價值——在它被應用於經濟中的行業與領域時——通過改進業務流程、改造運營、創造新的產品與服務——才被釋放出來。所以——企業之間的競爭將超越「價格與就近性」——我們的 SME 必須為此做好準備。
最近發生的事——尤其是生成式 AI 與大語言模型——把這些工具的獲取「民主化」——也包括對 SME。它把成本與上手門檻大幅拉低。
但在這個空間裡穿行依然有挑戰。AI 的獲取確實改善了——SME 接入 AI 工具方便多了。但這些工具的採用、數字化業務流程、以及工作流與服務可能的轉型——可能讓人不知所措——並可能成為 SME 必須經歷的變化的「障礙」。
在政府這一側——我們已經構建起一套資源與工具——我們稱之為「CTO-as-a-Service」——希望能支撐企業的數字化與 AI 採用。這裡有 300 多個預先核准的方案。CTO-as-a-Service 平臺上提供補助支援——其中約 30% 的方案目前已經是 AI 加持的。我們預期這一比例會繼續增長。2024 年——超過 33 萬名使用者在 CTO-as-a-Service 平臺上獲取資源——幫助了近 3,000 家 SME 採納 AI 加持方案。
今年——在「撥款總目」（COS）上——MDDI 也宣佈了幾項工具——幫助企業發現「AI 能在自家業務中怎樣部署」。其中包括《面向企業的生成式 AI 操作手冊》（GenAI Playbook for Enterprises）——一份務實指南——用真實世界例子解釋 AI 如何讓業務更高效——幫助你做出「自建 vs 購買現成方案」的明智決定——並提供管理相關風險的評估框架。
去年——我們推出《數碼企業藍圖》（Digital Enterprise Blueprint）——以提升企業、升級員工技能——進入數字化旅程的下一階段。作為其中一部分——政府把生態中的關鍵夥伴聚到一起——比如行業協會與產業——為企業與員工提供支援。這類努力的成功——需要眾多利益相關方走到一起。
因此我很高興——通過 ASME 與 ITE——他們正在合作為 SME 提供「AI 資源、動手工作坊、落地策略」。這將幫助 SME 走出「概念化」——進入真正的「落地」——把 AI 技術整合到業務運營中。
商業顧問將隨時幫助 SME 走好相關政府支援專案——比如 IMDA 的「Gen AI Digital Sandbox」——確保 SME 獲得必要協助、充分利用 AI 方案。這些事情我們都得做——並思考如何把這些技術與業務、流程與服務對接起來。
但即便有了這一切——任何技術的強大——最終取決於「懂得使用它的人」。我們持續的數字化推進要為所有人換來成果——就需要一支穩健的「技術領導者與員工管線」。在培育下一代科技人才方面——ASME 與 ITE 也將作為一個平臺——通過實習與產業派駐——讓 ITE 學生動手接觸「AI 驅動的業務方案」。通過與 SME 一起做真實 AI 專案——學生將獲得經驗、提升其在 AI 與數字行業的職業前景。
致所有 SME——如果你們還沒開始數字化旅程——現在就開始；如果你們已經數字化（就像今天在場的各位）——就探索 AI 如何把你的業務帶到下一個層級。借力可獲得的政府方案與生態資源——比如這裡的 SME@AITE。投資於人、投資於我們的人——並持續培育「持續學習」的文化。擁抱 AI 等技術——加強我們的協作生態——攜手——我們就能確保新加坡 SME 在面對全球競爭時，能夠抓住新機會成長、創新、蓬勃。
非常感謝。
英文原文
MDDI 官網原始記錄 · 抓取日期: 2026-05-02
Opening Address by Dr Janil Puthucheary, Senior Minister Of State of Digital Development and Information, at the Launch of ASME and ITE's AI Centre of Excellence (SME@AITE) on 14 April 2025
Good morning, everybody. Thank you for inviting me to join you here at this event.
SMEs are the bedrock and foundation of our economy. They represent almost all the enterprises, and they employ about 70% of our workforce. Their dynamism, resilience, and innovation have been vital in keeping our economy vibrant, creating opportunities for us here in Singapore and for Singaporeans to have access to jobs. This will continue to be so going into the future.
Looking around the world, and just looking at my newsfeed every morning, disruption and change are rapidly becoming the norm. Things are changing very rapidly, and this will affect our businesses, how we teach, and our society. But one of the things that we will need to do to cope with this rapidly changing world is to embrace technology. This is true today, and it has been true for several years. How technology is deployed and used in our society and businesses can be a competitive advantage and can turn into just the norm, just as our norms have changed.
AI is one example. It was seen as a disruptor not so long ago. It still is, but it is very rapidly becoming about our businesses and society truly understanding AI and its impact on our survival, growth, and competitiveness.
AI is not necessarily about complex, futuristic technologies or robotics—things that are in science fiction and in the movies. It is also about leveraging smart tools, improving our productivity, driving innovation—things that many business owners and people within the economy have been talking about. Now, we have the new tools associated with AI to be able to do this across a wide variety of industries, domains, and businesses. It is a general-purpose technology, and just like the internet communications in previous decades, general-purpose technology has an impact across the economy. The value in general-purpose technology comes out when it is applied to industries and domains across the economy, improving business processes, transforming operations, and creating value through new products and services. So, competition between businesses will go beyond price and proximity, and our SMEs will need to be prepared for this.
What has happened recently, particularly with generative AI and large-language models, is the democratisation of access to all these tools, including for SMEs. It has brought down the costs and ease with which we access these tools.
But navigating the space does continue to have some challenges. Access has certainly improved, and it is much more accessible to SMEs to access AI-based tools. But the adoption of these tools, the digital business processes, the potential transformation in your workflows and services can feel overwhelming and can potentially be a barrier to the sort of changes that SMEs need to undergo.
Within the government, we have built up a suite of resources and tools. We call this the CTO-as-a-Service, and we hope to be able to support businesses’ digitalisation and AI adoption. There are over 300 pre-approved solutions. There's grant support available on the CTO-as-a-Service platform, and about 30% of those solutions are already AI-enabled today. We will expect this to grow. In 2024, over 330,000 users accessed resources for our CTO-as-a-Service platform. These helped almost 3,000 SMEs adopt AI-enabled solutions.
This year, at our Committee of Supply, the Ministry of Digital Development and Information also announced several tools to help businesses discover where AI may be deployed in their businesses. There's a GenAI Playbook for Enterprises, a practical guide that explains how it can make business more efficient with real world examples and to help make informed decisions whether to build or buy an off-the-shelf solution, and provide an evaluation framework on how to manage associated risks.
Last year, we launched the Digital Enterprise Blueprint to uplift our enterprises and upskill our workers in the next phase of our digitalisation journey. As part of that, the government brought together key partners in the ecosystem, such as the trade associations and industries, in providing support to enterprises and workers. Success in these types of efforts require many stakeholders coming together.
So, I'm very glad that through ASME and ITE, they are partnering to provide SMEs with access to AI resources, hands-on workshops and implementation strategies. This will help SMES move past conceptualisation into the actual implementation—integrating AI technology into their business operations.
Business advisors will be available to guide SMEs through relevant government support programmes such as IMDA’s Gen AI Digital Sandbox, ensuring that SMEs get the necessary assistance and take full advantage of AI solutions. We must do all this and think about how we interface the technologies with our businesses and the processes with our services.
But after all of these, any technology is only going to be as powerful as the people who know how to use it. We will need a strong pipeline of technology leaders and workers for our continued push for digitalisation to reap success for all of us. In nurturing the next generation of tech talents, ASME and ITE will also serve as a platform to provide ITE students with hands-on exposure to AI-driven business solutions through internships and industrial attachments. By engaging with SMEs on real-world AI projects, students will gain experience and enhance their career prospects in AI and the digital sectors.
So, to all the SMEs, if you haven't started on your digitalisation journey, begin now. If you're already digitalised, such as the people in this room, explore how AI can take your business to the next level. Tap into the available government schemes and the ecosystem resources, such as what we have here at SME@AITE. Invest in people, in our people, and continue to foster a culture of continuous learning. Embrace technologies such as AI, strengthen our collaborative ecosystem, and together, we can ensure that SMEs in Singapore are able to seize new opportunities to grow, innovate and thrive in the face of global competition.
Thank you very much.