Speech by Senior Minister of State Low Yen Ling at Oracle AI World Tour

Mr Gary Miller, Customer Success Officer and Executive Vice President of Oracle Customer Success Services, 

Mr Garrett Ilg, Executive Vice President, Japan and Asia Pacific at Oracle, 

Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, 

1.            What a wonderful morning it is to be here with you, at Oracle’s flagship event.

Singapore’s Commitment to AI Adoption 

2.            Many of us can attest to AI’s rapid development, and we are here because AI is not just another innovation. We are here because AI is truly a competitive edge that will determine if we can stay relevant and ahead of the curve. 

3.            The Government aims to establish Singapore as an AI leader as well as an AI-empowered economy. Let me highlight some of Singapore’s AI efforts that seek to bring us closer to this goal and vision: 

a.    To provide strategic direction for Singapore’s AI agenda, Prime Minister Wong established the National AI Council, or NAIC. The Council will coordinate Singapore’s AI efforts at a national level, enabling Singapore to quickly and at scale to harness AI as a strategic advantage. 

b.    We launched a fresh suite of national AI Missions to drive AI-led transformation in key sectors of our economy. We aim to identify impactful sector-specific problem statements and build full-stack ecosystems, from datasets to regulatory sandboxes, to accelerate the development of relevant solutions. We will start with advanced manufacturing, connectivity, finance and healthcare. 

4.            Harnessing the power of AI is more than just the use of technology. Partnerships and people are critical to transforming how we work and use AI to turn possibilities into practical solutions that benefit our businesses, workers and society.

a.    Hence, we are not just focusing on coordination and policy. To support the AI transformation of our enterprises, we are also investing heavily in our people. 

b.    We seek to train 100,000 “AI-bilingual” professionals through the National AI Impact Programme. This will equip them with AI proficiency in their domains and enable them to effectively address business needs with AI capabilities. 

5.            Partnerships are critical in our AI journey. We cannot do this alone. We value industry partners and leaders, like Oracle, who collaborate with us to accelerate AI adoption in Singapore. 

Oracle’s Efforts with Industry 

6.            In January this year, we welcomed Oracle’s collaboration with Digital Industry Singapore in Singapore’s Enterprise Compute Initiative (ECI). This initiative seeks to deepen enterprise capabilities in AI and accelerate sectoral transformation. Through the ECI, we will equip our workforce with skills in the latest cloud and AI technologies. 

7.            Oracle is empowering 300 Singapore-based companies to advance their AI journeys. It is committing up to S$250,000 per company to enable their AI transformation through private cloud solutions, training, certification and discovery workshops. Oracle ’s ECI includes strategic partnerships with firms such as Accenture, AvePoint, Disruptiv Exchange, Eurostop, Miracle, and NCS. Oracle will provide access to its cloud infrastructure. At the same time, these partners help companies design, implement and integrate systems as part of the programme. 

8.            This effort will enable our enterprises, big or small, to speed up the use of AI to empower their business. We  can use AI to achieve 3 ‘A’s – to assist us in our work, especially with mundane, repetitive tasks; we can use AI to automate a lot of processes, and we can use AI to augment our products and services. Take Scanteak, for example. Like many retailers, Scanteak spent a lot of time on warehouse and distribution operations. They constantly have to reconcile spreadsheets and chase for updates. 

9.            Scanteak embarked on the ECI with Boon Software Consulting to inject an AI-powered intelligence layer into its operations. Now, Scanteak can receive timely, data-driven insights for its inventory and fulfilment tasks, including HR. There are many possibilities for our SMEs. 

Oracle’s Efforts for Workforce Development 

10.         Oracle has also committed to building a pipeline of AI talent necessary for our ecosystem to grow.   

11.         Since 2023, Oracle has collaborated with IMDA’s TechSkills Accelerator to provide our polytechnic students with hands-on experience, mentorship and networking opportunities in AI. To date, Oracle has offered 180 internships and apprenticeships to polytechnic students and graduates. 

12.         In addition, Oracle is currently in discussions with IMDA to support the development and delivery of an AI fluency curriculum. 

13.         This is in line with the new National AI Impact Programme, where Accelerators like Oracle advance enterprise transformation. By building workforce readiness and strengthening practical AI capabilities, our companies translate AI adoption into real-world business outcomes. 

Oracle’s AI Customer Excellence Centre 

14.         In 2025, Oracle launched its AI Customer Excellence Centre – the CEC, which aims to help organisations keep pace with the rapid advancements in AI. 

15.         Offering both a digital and physical environment, the CEC is equipped with the latest cloud and AI technologies. It provides Oracle customers hands-on experience with a range of Oracle technologies, from core technology and enterprise applications to industry-specific solutions. The Centre also enables companies to move from pilots to the development stage more efficiently. 

16.         SMRT is one of the companies that has benefitted from the CEC. Through the CEC, SMRT was able to test and refine JARVIS, an intelligent platform that harnesses data analytics and AI-powered chatbots to predict faults, optimise maintenance, and enhance the reliability of rail operations. 

17.         As a result, SMRT can today, complete work orders much faster and at a higher scale. It has also set the critical foundation for more predictive, data-driven maintenance. This is a significant enhancement, given the scale of SMRT’s operations with over two million passenger journeys each day. 

18.         SMRT is now working with Oracle on a pilot project to improve rail safety and maintenance. It will boost SMRT’s use of data and AI, enabling engineers to make faster and better decisions. 

19.         Such partnerships in AI development and solutions are vital as Singapore moves to widespread AI adoption. 

Conclusion 

20.         To achieve our AI ambition, the Government has a comprehensive set of initiatives to encourage and support AI adoption. And we are committed to doing this together with the industry. 

21.         I encourage companies to tap on our national AI programmes and work with partners like Oracle to accelerate the use of AI to enhance and future-proof your organisations. 

22.         Thank you, and I wish you every success on your AI journey!