Singapore’s Institute of Policy Studies says companies need to be better prepared for AI integration
Local think tank Institute of Policy Studies said in a recent report that Singaporean companies need to be better prepared for AI technologies as it continues to disrupt conventional business operations and displace workers.
The report proposed introducing a “’Stay Ahead Scheme’ to replace ad-hoc training programmes with continuous and mandatory skill-enhancing courses”.
Additionally, they suggested a framework that could help support displaced workers such as welfare support for a limited time, higher subsidies for reskilling programmes, and improved skills matching platforms.
Faizal Yahya, senior researcher at IPS, told TODAY Online that innovation has become important to Singapore’s economy but the cost to businesses and workers fully embracing new technologies comes at a great price.
“We have to ask if [businesses] can be the ones proactively generating such innovation and change; if they are positioned to take full advantage of the new technologies,” he said, adding that there is also a need to upgrade social policies to mitigate the adverse impact of disruption.
He said that companies may need some guidance on designing a training curriculum relevant to their workplace, thus, proposing a ‘PracAdemia’ scheme meant to help organisations identify, teach, and assess the soft and practical skills needed in their industry.
“Skills that employers need are not the skills that people are graduating with, causing inefficiencies where companies have to spend resources conducting training for new staff — something that they may not even be willing to do,” said the IPS report.
The ‘PracAdemia’ scheme will be composed of hybrid educators who are both professionals and academics and IPS aims to have 10,000 ‘PracAdemics’ trained by 2026, they added.
