Singapore's electronics industry is expected to create over 2,100 new professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs) jobs by 2020 as the sector undergoes a transformation.
During his speech at the opening of JTC nanoSpace@Tampines, Minister for Trade and Industry S Iswaran announced that SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG), Workforce Singapore (WSG), and other economic institutions and stakeholders will collaborate to develop and launch the Skills Framework for Electronics.
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The framework identifies two career pathways: the technical & engineering track and the management track. These tracks will cover 29 job roles and will provide key information on the sector's required skills and competencies even in emerging areas of Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, Data Analytics, Robotics and Automation.
The creation of new jobs will come alongside the two-pronged strategy to ensure the continual growth of the electronics industry, Iswaran said.
The first strategy is to diversify into new growth markets, with the Singapore government strengthening the innovation ecosystem to harness new growth opportunities and support companies in developing new capabilities.
"Singapore will convene multi-party innovation platforms to create new solutions and shorten innovation cycles. This will bring together MNCs, SMEs and public agencies, to collaborate and develop new solutions," Iswaran said in his speech.
The minister cited Nanyang Polytechnic's IoT Open Innovation Community as an example. Established in 2015, the community has enabled SMEs to connect with technology and commercialisation partners, research institutions and other industry players for co-innovation.
The second strategy is for Singapore to attract high value-add activities and snatch potential new growth areas. Iswaran said the provision of future-ready infrastructure is key to enabling companies to make investment decisions quickly.
He furthered that the government will be working with firms to enhance their manufacturing efficiency and adopt advanced manufacturing technologies. This will, in turn, expand the manufacturing productivity with reduced operating costs and optimised resources.
Through the Industry Transformation Map of the electronics sector, the government foresees to achieve a manufacturing value-add of S$22.2 billion by 2020.
To recall, the electronics manufacturing contributed S$90 billion in Singapore's manufacturing output. It managed to account for 4.4% of the city-state's overall production and employed 70,000 workers in 2016.
