The Future Economy Council

The Future Economy Council (FEC) drives the growth and transformation of Singapore’s economy for the future. Chaired by Deputy Prime Minister & Minister for Finance Mr. Heng Swee Keat, the Council comprises members from government, industry, unions, and educational and training institutions.

The FEC will oversee the implementation of the recommendations put forth by the Committee on the Future Economy (CFE), and will build on the work of the earlier Council for Skills, Innovation and Productivity, which includes SkillsFuture initiatives and Industry Transformation Maps.

Have a suggestion or feedback on the work of the Future Economy Council? Email us at future_economy@mti.gov.sg.

View the full list of the members

Emerging Stronger Taskforce

To oversee the longer-term work of responding to the structural shifts in our economy, the Emerging Stronger Taskforce was set up under the Future Economy Council (FEC).

Chaired by Minister for Social and Family Development and Second Minister for National Development, Desmond Lee, and PSA International Group CEO, Tan Chong Meng, the Taskforce comprises business leaders with rich experience in key areas such as digitalisation and connectivity, and with broad perspectives on the global economy. The Taskforce also works closely with the six clusters under the FEC, as well as with intermediaries such as Trade Associations and Chambers.

Singapore Together Alliances for Action Singapore needs to act quickly and decisively in order for our economy to emerge stronger from the COVID-19 crisis. To this end, the Emerging Stronger Taskforce has convened Singapore Together Alliances for Action (“Alliances”), which are industry-led coalitions that will act on key growth areas for Singapore. Nine Alliances have been formed. These are:
		(i) Digitalising the Built Environment Digitalisation has been a key thrust of the Industry Transformation Maps (ITMs) under the Future Economy Council (FEC)’s Built Environment (BE) Cluster. Even as the industry copes with the challenges arising from COVID-19, the crisis has increased collaboration across all parts of the BE value chain. This is thus a window of opportunity to accelerate the digitalisation push to raise productivity across the BE value chain – from concept and design, to construction and site management, and facilities management.
		(ii) EduTech COVID-19 has accelerated the global adoption of EduTech, from home-based learning to online professional education and training. This is an opportunity for Singapore to take our education and human capital brand global.
		(iii) Enabling Safe and Innovative Visitor Experiences COVID-19 has fundamentally changed travel and tourism. In this new normal, Singapore must pioneer new ways to enable safe transit, safe business, and safe leisure travel and tourism. This is to ensure that Singapore remains a Global-Asia node, and a leading hub for business and enterprise in Asia Pacific, despite a potentially long COVID-19 shadow.
		(iv) Facilitating Smart Commerce in Singapore While COVID-19 has accelerated e-commerce adoption among consumers and retailers (especially SMEs), physical retail is likely to persist in Singapore due to the convenience of neighbourhood stores and retail hubs situated next to transport nodes (e.g. MRT stations, bus interchanges). We therefore have the conditions to create a ‘smart commerce’ ecosystem that blends digital and physical retail, and allows local stores to tap into a global consumer market. Such a system would require the complete reimagination of the online and offline shopping experience.
		(v) Robotics The pursuit of higher productivity and solving manpower challenges remain key for Singapore. At the centre of this is the use of technology and robotics solutions to improve productivity, transform existing jobs and create new ones, generate spinoffs for SMEs, and drive economic growth. At the same time, Singapore has had to adopt novel and innovative solutions to minimise social contact and maintain high health standards during COVID-19 – from cleaning and construction robots to autonomous healthcare and public land transport systems.
		(vi) Supply Chain Digitalisation Digitalisation of global supply chains has been uneven and hampered by low adoption, lack of data sharing, and a preponderance of different platforms. With stronger concerns about supply chain resilience, and a likely move towards regionalised supply chains post-COVID-19, there will be increased demand for end-to-end adoption. It presents a huge opportunity for advancing digitalisation technology and usage for our supply chain ecosystem players (logistics, regulatory, and financial) and cargo owners alike.
		(vii) Sustainability The focus on sustainability and on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) standards is likely to increase post-COVID-19. This provides the opportunity to become a centre for ESG-related solutions and services, serving our own commitments as well as global demand. The services will need to leverage on policy frameworks, technology, financial and legal ecosystems – all Singapore’s strengths. Can Singapore capitalise on this and become the Little Green Dot?
		(viii) MedTech Given the growing prevalence of both chronic and infectious diseases, the AfA has identified the in-vitro diagnostics (IVD) as a key area of opportunity in the MedTech sector. It aims to strengthen Singapore’s position as an end-to-end hub for MedTech product development and commercialisation, with speed-to-market and access to the region as Singapore’s differentiating advantages.
		(ix) AgriTech We envision building a world-class Agri-Tech ecosystem as we support Singapore’s food resilience goals, and establish ourselves at the technological frontier to export AgriTech solutions to the world. To do so, we have to address the fundamental problem of scale for local production, charting a possible pathway towards the economic viability of indoor vertical farming.

Members of Emerging Stronger Taskforce (EST)

Mr. Desmond Lee

Minister for Social and Family Development & Second Minister for National Development

Mr Desmond Lee is the Minister for Social and Family Development, and the Second Minister in the Ministry of National Development. He is also the Deputy Leader of the House. Since May 2011, he has been elected as a Member of Parliament for the Jurong Group Representation Constituency.
He co-chairs the Singapore Together Movement, the Emerging Stronger Taskforce, the Future Economy Council Sub-Committee for the Built Environment and the National Committee on Prevention, Rehabilitation and Recidivism. He also co-chairs the Singapore-Tianjin Economic and Trade Council, as well as the Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-city Joint Working Committee.
Before joining politics, he was a Justices’ Law Clerk, Deputy Public Prosecutor and State Counsel. Prior legal stints also included the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Law, and he was the former in-house counsel in Temasek.
He graduated from the National University of Singapore with first class honours in law, and holds a Masters degree in law from the University of Oxford.

Mr. Tan Chong Meng

CEO, PSA International

Mr Tan Chong Meng is the Group Chief Executive Officer of PSA International (PSA), one of the world’s leading port groups with a global network comprising over 50 coastal, rail and inland terminals in 19 countries.
Outside the PSA Group, he serves as the Chairman of JTC and as a non-Executive Director on the board of the National University Health System (NUHS).
Prior to PSA, he has had more than 20 years of experience with the Royal Dutch Shell Group. As the Executive Vice President, Global Commercial of Shell Downstream, he led six global businesses – many of which are world leaders in the marketing and sale of fuels, lubricants and specialty products to commercial customers vis-à-vis Aviation, Marine, Industrial, Land Transport, Construction and Liquefied Petroleum Gas.
He has also previously worked in various positions with the Ministry of National Development for five years.

Mr. Amos Leong

President & CEO, Univac Group

Mr Amos Leong is the Chief Executive of the Univac Group responsible for delivering a total integrated design-to-manufacturing value chain for the biomedical, life science, in-vitro diagnostics industries.
Prior to his current post, he was the Vice President and General Manager of Agilent Technologies for electronics manufacturing and semiconductors test businesses.
He is also a member of the Future Economy Council, Co-chair of the FEC Manufacturing Sub-committee, member of Singapore Polytechnic Board of Governors, AC Chair and Independent Director of Ellipsiz Ltd.

Mr. Andrew Kuan

Founder & Group Managing Director, Commonwealth Capital

Mr Andrew Kwan is the Managing Director of the Commonwealth Capital group of companies, which has investments along the food vertical including aquaculture, cold chain logistics, food services, and food manufacturing.
He is a board member of the Singapore Food Agency and the Infocomm Media Development Authority, council member of the Singapore Business Federation, President of the Restaurant Association of Singapore and Chairman of the Aquaculture Innovation Centre in Singapore.
He is also a board member of Focus on the Family, non-resident fellow of Eusoff Hall - National University of Singapore and an Elder at his local church.
Mr Kwan is Singapore’s non-resident Ambassador to the Kingdom of Sweden.

Dr. Azlinda Anwar

Director, Grants & IP Administration and Coordinating Director, Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory (TLL)

Dr Azlinda Anwar heads the grants, intellectual property/technology transfer and commercialisation units of TLL and previous Head Innovation Catalyst of the Temasek Lifesciences Accelerator and Programme Director of Temasek Life Sciences Venture.
She served in the CFE Sub-Committee (Future Corporate Capabilities & Innovation [Innovation]), Inter-Ministry Committee on Food Security WG4, former board member and R&D Board Committee of AVA and was in the Censorship Review Committee 2009.
Dr Anwar has more than 20 years of experience in the life sciences field, contributing in various capacities ranging from advisory committee member of international conferences and academic grants, as well as an international journal reviewer.

Mr. Caesar Sengupta

Vice President, Payments and Next Billion Users, Google

Mr Caesar Sengupta is the Vice President, Product Management, General Manager of Payments and Vice President leading the Next Billion Users (NBU) initiative at Google.
As General Manager of Payments, he runs both product and engineering teams for Google’s payments solutions such as Google Pay. In his NBU role, he is responsible for Google’s product strategy for high user growth countries like India, Indonesia, Brazil and Nigeria. His team is not just building a set of new products for these countries, such as the high-quality WiFi solution, Google Station, and smartphone storage manager, Files, but also working with other teams at Google to improve existing products with features like low-bandwidth and offline modes.
Previously at Google, he helped start and led the ChromeOS team that launched Chromebooks which are now the #1 device used in schools in the US, the UK & Nordics, and the #2 operating system in the US and the UK.
He has more than 15 years of experience developing consumer and enterprise technology products. Before joining Google, he held engineering and research positions at Encentuate Inc. (a Singapore startup acquired by IBM) and Hewlett Packard Labs, Palo Alto. He holds 15 patents in Operating Systems design and Expert Finding Systems.
He has a masters in computer science with a distinction in research from Stanford University, where he was awarded the Christofer Stephenson Memorial Award for the best masters research. He also has an MBA from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

Ms. Dilys Boey

Partner, ASEAN People Advisory Services Leader, EY

Ms Dilys Boey is a Partner at EY and leads the People Consulting practice across South East Asia. She has dedicated her career of over 25 years to understanding and working with corporations and the public sector on people, culture and organisational priorities. In the past five years, as the People Advisory Leader, she has grown the People Consulting practice to a comprehensive people solutions provider that brings People@Center, and the heart of the EY Technology Consulting and Business Consulting practices. Her ASEAN People Advisory Services practice comprises specialists in workforce capability development, change enablement, HR technology and automation, employment tax and immigration, and HR risks & controls.
She has worked with a myriad of clients ranging from public sector organisations, professional services, food services, real estate and retail. In the recent years, she has worked with clients on pressing issues facing the workforce with the accelerated adoption of digital, robotics and automation. From understanding the impact of emerging technologies and jobs at risk, defining future jobs and future skills, organisations have prioritised the learning agenda, redesigning jobs, managing change and wellbeing, and implementing digital solutions whilst managing employment risks and compliance.
Within EY, she is an active advocate of diversity and inclusion, with a keen interest on work-life initiatives as we innovate ways of working and embrace a future of work. Dilys sits on the Board of the Special Needs Trust Corporation, and contributes to various Committees including the Singhealth Service Excellence Committee and the Singapore Accountancy Commission Professional Education Council.

Mr. Edmund Koh

Member of the UBS Group Executive Board
President UBS Asia Pacific of UBS Group AG and UBS AG

Mr Edmund Koh is the President of UBS Asia Pacific of UBS Group AG and UBS AG and a member of the UBS Group Executive Board. Under his leadership, UBS invested assets grew to USD 406 billion with presence in 13 locations in Asia Pacific.
He possesses more than 30 years of experience in senior roles in financial services and was President and Director of Ta Chong Bank in Taiwan from 2008 to 2011 before joining UBS. He also helmed Alverdine Bank and Prudential Assurance as its CEO and was also Regional Head of Consumer Banking of DBS in the early years.
He is a strong advocate of talent management and community involvement. He launched the UBS Youth Finance Academy in 2014 to build the talent pipeline for Singapore’s financial industry and led 17 projects across Asia Pacific under the UBS COVID-19 Relief Funds of USD 30 million by the UBS Group.
He is also a board/council member of various committees such as the MAS Financial Centre Advisory Panel, NTU Wealth Management Institute, Asian Bureau of Finance and Economic Research, University of Toronto International Leadership Council, Growing Together with KidSTART Council, National Youth Achievement Award Advisory Board and Board of Next50 Limited. He was also named Distinguished Fellow by The Institute of Banking & Finance Singapore (IBF) in 2017.

Dr. Fidah Alsagoff

Joint Head, Enterprise Development Group and Head, Life Sciences, Temasek International

Dr Fidah Alsagoff is Joint Head, Enterprise Development Group & Head, Life Sciences Investment Group at Temasek International.
He also serves on the Board of Trustees of the Singapore University of Technology & Design, and the Duke-NUS Medical School.
Dr Fidah Alsagoff has an M.B.B.S. and Masters of Medicine (Public Health) from NUS. He also graduated as valedictorian from INSEAD with an Executive Masters of Business Administration (with Distinction).
He is a recipient of the Lee Kuan Yew Scholarship.

Mr. Gan Seow Kee

Chairman and MD, ExxonMobil Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd.

Mr Gan Seow Kee is the Chairman and Managing Director of ExxonMobil Asia Pacific and President Director of ExxonMobil China Petroleum and Petrochemical Company, as well as board member of ExxonMobil joint venture companies in China.
He is also the Vice-Chairman and Treasurer of Singapore Business Federation and Board member of Singapore Economic Development Board.
He is a member of the Ministry of Trade and Industry’s International Advisory Panel on Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering as well as the National University of Singapore Engineering Faculty Advisory Board.
He was conferred the Medal of Commendation (Gold) Award by the National Trades Union Congress in 2017, and the Distinguished Engineering Alumni Award by the National University of Singapore in 2018.

Ms. Jessie Yeo

Executive Secretary, Singapore Port Workers Union and Human Resource Director, NTUC

Ms Jessie Yeo joined NTUC in 1988 as Industrial Relations officer. She was appointed as the Executive Secretary of MIWU in 1 January 2003 and Deputy Executive Secretary of SPWU in 28 July 2010 and Executive Secretary in 1 July 2013.
She is a member of the Skills Development Board from 1 April 2000 to 31 March 2001, CPF Board Member from 1 July 2007 to 30 June 2013 and JTC Board Member from 1 July 2013 to 31 March 2018.
Ms Yeo is currently the Executive Secretary of SPWU and Director of Human Resource, NTUC. She is the Super Lead of the NTUC Maritime Cluster and a member of the PSA Board.

Prof Koh Lian Pin

Professor of Conservation Science, Technology and Policy and Director, Centre for Nature-based Climate Solutions, National University of Singapore

Professor Koh Lian Pin is a Professor of Conservation Science, Technology and Policy in the Department of Biological Sciences, and Director of the Centre for Nature-based Climate Solutions at the National University of Singapore.
He was formerly a Swiss National Science Foundation Professor at ETH Zurich, the Chair of Applied Ecology and Conservation at the University of Adelaide, and Vice President of Science Partnerships and Innovation at the Conservation International Foundation before returning to Singapore under the National Research Foundation’s Returning Singaporean Scientists scheme.
He is one of the most highly cited conservation scientists in Asia, a TED-Global speaker, Founding Director of ConservationDrones.org and a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader.

Ms. Kwee Wei-Lin

Senior Vice President, Hotels, Pontiac Land Group

Ms Kwee Wei-Lin oversees the Hotel portfolio at the Pontiac Land Group, which includes hotels in Singapore, Maldives and Sydney.
She is the President of the Singapore Hotel Association, a member of the Tourism Recovery Action Task Force (TRAC) and Co-Chair of the Sub-Committee on Industry Engagement and Support.
She is also a member of the Workplace Safety and Health Council and Chair of the Hospitality and Entertainment Industries Committee.

Mr. Lee Chee Koon

Group CEO, CapitaLand

Mr Lee Chee Koon is the Group CEO, CapitaLand Limited.
He is a board member of CapitaLand Limited, CapitaLand Hope Foundation, Ascott Residence Trust Management Limited, Temasek Foundation Nurtures CLG Limited, EDBI Pte Ltd, and SkillsFuture Singapore.
His previous appointments include: Group Chief Investment Officer, CapitaLand Limited; Chief Executive Officer, The Ascott Limited; Managing Director for North Asia, The Ascott Limited; and civil servant in Ministry of Trade & Industry and Ministry of Finance.

Mr. Lee Seow Hiang

CEO, Changi Airport Group (S) Pte Ltd

Mr Lee Seow Hiang is the Chief Executive Officer of Changi Airport Group (S) Pte Ltd. He is concurrently Deputy Chairman of Changi Airports International Pte Ltd, Chairman of Jewel Changi Airport Holding Pte Ltd and Chairman of Changi Foundation Board.
He chairs the National Library Board and sits on the Board of NTUC FairPrice Co-operative Ltd.
He also holds the appointment of President, Airports Council International (ACI) Asia-Pacific Regional Board and is a Director on the ACI World Governing Board.

Mr. Lim Ming Yan

Chairman, Singapore Business Federation

Board Director of Singapore Press Holdings (T39:SP), Central China Real Estate (832:HK) and DLF Cyber City Developers Limited.
Chairman of Workforce Singapore, Director of Business China.
Chief Executive Officer of CapitaLand Limited from 2013 to 2018, and China Holdings Pte Ltd from November 2000 to June 2009 where he was responsible for growing CapitaLand into a leading foreign real estate developer in China, and Chief Executive Officer of The Ascott Limited from July 2009 to February 2012.
Named Outstanding Chief Executive (Overseas) at the Singapore Business Awards 2006 and was also conferred the prestigious Magnolia Award by the Shanghai Municipal Government in 2003 and 2005 for his significant contributions to Shanghai.

Dr. Loo Choon Yong

Executive Chairman, Raffles Medical Group Limited

Dr Loo Choon Yong is the Executive Chairman of Raffles Medical Group Limited. He co-founded the Group in 1976 and was appointed to his current position in 1997 when the Group was listed in the Singapore Stock Exchange. He was appointed by the President of Singapore as the Non-Resident Ambassador to Poland.
He was awarded the Singapore National Day Awards Public Service Medal (2003), Public Service Star (2009) and Public Service Star (Bar) (2019) and the Distinguished Service Award (2005) from the Ministry of Home Affairs for his contributions to Singapore’s fight against drug abuse.
He was awarded the Best Chief Executive Officer (mid-cap category) of the Singapore Corporate Awards 2010 organised by The Business Times and supported by the Singapore Stock Exchange. He was named Businessman of the Year at the Singapore Business Awards 2013 organised by The Business Times and DHL Express Singapore.
He was also awarded the SG50 Outstanding Chinese Business Pioneers Awards organised by the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce & Industry in February 2015.

Mr. Peter Ho

CEO, HOPE Technik

Mr Peter Ho is the Co-Founder and CEO of HOPE Technik, a group of engineering companies in areas of robotics, vehicles and other boutique sectors.
He is a board member of GovTech, SESTO Robotics and Ellemento Farming.
He also serves as member of the Advisory Committee to SIA Engineering and NUS Mechanical Engineering and Haig Girls School.

Mr. Piyush Gupta

CEO, DBS Group

Mr Piyush Gupta is the CEO and Director of DBS Group since 2009.
He is the Vice-Chairman of the Institute of International Finance, Washington and Chairman of Sim Kee Boon Institute for Financial Economics Advisory Board.
He is also a member of the United Nations Secretary-General’s Task Force on Digital Financing of the Sustainable Development Goals, Singapore’s Advisory Council on the Ethical Use of AI and Data, and the McKinsey Advisory Council.
He is a board member of Enterprise Singapore, National Research Foundation, and Singapore’s Council for Board Diversity, and a Term Trustee of the Singapore Indian Development Association (SINDA).

Mr. Sunny Verghese

Co-founder & Group CEO, Olam International Ltd.

Mr Sunny George Verghese is the Co-founder & Group CEO of Olam International Limited, a leading food and agri-business, headquartered in Singapore and ranking among the top 30 largest primary listed companies in terms of market capitalisation on SGX-ST. In 2016, Fortune magazine recognised Olam at #23 in its ‘Change the World’ list.
In 30 years, Sunny and his team have built this business to S$33 billion in Sales Revenues for FY2019. Today, Olam operates in over 60 countries, delivering various agricultural raw materials and food ingredients to around 19,800 customers worldwide and employs around 74,500 people.
He is currently the Chairman of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), Chairman of the Board of the Human Capital Leadership Institute (HCLI), Singapore, Chairman of JOil (S) Pte Ltd and also serves on the Board of Trustees of Singapore Management University.
He was awarded the Best Chief Executive for large cap companies in the Singapore Corporate Awards (SCA) in 2011 and was named ‘Outstanding Chief Executive for 2006’ in the Singapore Business Awards (SBA) and Singapore’s Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year in 2008. He was also conferred The Public Service Medal by the Government of Singapore in August 2010.

Mr. Tan Chin Hwee

CEO-Asia Pacific, Trafigura

Mr Tan Chin Hwee is the Chief Executive Officer, Asia-Pacific of Trafigura. He is responsible for continuing the growth of Trafigura’s business across the region.
Previously, he was the founder of the Asian operations of Apollo Global Management LLC, a global alternative investor with over US$300 billion in assets under management.
He serves on the Boards of Singapore Press Holdings, Nanyang Technological University, Hwa Chong Institute and the endowment fund for Singhealth/KK Women's and Children's Hospital and other global companies.
He is the past and present member of the Monetary Authority of Singapore's Finance Centre Advisory Panel and Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore's International Maritime Centre(IMC) 2030 Advisory Committee, Resource Panel for Government Parliamentary Committee for Finance and Trade and Industry and Advisory Panel for Youth Corps Singapore (Ministry of Education/Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth).

Mr. Vincent Chong

President & CEO, ST Engineering

Mr Vincent Chong is President & CEO of ST Engineering, a global technology, defence and engineering group with presence in more than 20 countries and 40 cities. Under Vincent’s leadership in this role since late 2016, ST Engineering continues to strengthen its core businesses while pursuing new growth, with global expansion in defence and smart city business encompassing mobility, security, satcom and robotics.
Before joining ST Engineering in 2014, Vincent spent 20 years with ExxonMobil, holding a wide span of senior positions in refinery process engineering, industrial and retail operations, product marketing and strategic planning. For over 10 years during this period, he was based in Hong Kong, Japan, UK and the US.
He is a board member of JTC Corporation, and a member of the Ministry of Trade and Industry’s International Advisory Panel for Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering.
He graduated in 1994 with First Class Honours in Mechanical Engineering from the National University of Singapore. He attended executive leadership programmes at the Thunderbird School of Global Management and the Columbia Business School.

Mr. Ye Gang

Co-Founder & Group COO, Seagroup

Mr Ye Gang is the co-founder of Seagroup and has been a member of the board since March 2010.
He has served as the Group Chief Operating Officer since January 2017 and as the group chief technology officer between March 2010 and December 2016.
He previously worked at Wilmar International and the Economic Development Board of Singapore.
He holds B.S. degrees in Computer Science and Economics from Carnegie Mellon University.