Singapore government to fight tech talent shortage with $90m

Photo credit: aotaro.

The refrain is familiar by now: Singapore’s tech startup ecosystem lacks technical talent, particularly in the engineering/programming/coding fronts. It was the one thing the city-state scored really low on in the Compass’ Startup Ecosystem Ranking 2015 report.

That’s why the government is taking steps to address it. The Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI) today announced it will tackle the problem by setting aside S$120 million (US$90 million) for training information and communication technology (ICT) professionals.

Minister Yaacob Ibrahim said the ministry anticipates an additional 30,000 ICT jobs that need to be filled by 2020. The ministry will organize an Industry Preparation for Pre-Graduates (iPrep) Program that’s aimed to ICT students in the country, including university students as well as those that are part of initiatives like the Code@SG movement.

(UPDATE: A previous version of this story erroneously gave the impression the iPrep program will only target students from Code@SG. It actually targets ICT students in general. This has been clarified.)

Through iPrep, the Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) will work with universities to prepare students for internships and mentorships so they can get the work experience employers usually look for.

The minister also said the MCI will partner with more private companies and industry players to boost the TechSkills Accelerator, announced during the Budget 2016 speech. Finance minister Heng Swee Keat said at the time that the accelerator will help “pioneer a new way of enabling our people to acquire expertise and skills.”

Source: Channel News Asia

Converted from Singapore dollars. US$1 = S$1.35