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Hong Kong economy
OpinionLetters

Letters | Like Singapore, Hong Kong must clearly map how it will future-proof talent

  • Readers discuss the need to train Hong Kong’s workforce as the digital economy gathers steam, the importance of applied science education, and a change in the qualification required to teach English at local schools

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Office workers during lunch hour at Raffles Place in Singapore’s financial district, on October 6, 2022. The city state is committed to developing a pool of 15,000 artificial intelligence practitioners as part of its national AI stategy. Photo: AFP
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At the recent Digital Economy Summit, the financial secretary outlined the recommendations of the Digital Economy Development Committee for advancing the digital development of Hong Kong. These include strengthening the city’s digital policy and infrastructure, facilitating local and cross-boundary data flow, supporting the digital transformation of small and medium-sized enterprises and developing a sustainable talent strategy. Of all these initiatives, we know the least about how the government intends to prepare and nurture our workforce for the digital economy.
Talent is crucial to Hong Kong’s development into a digital economy. The government’s priority so far has been to attract talent from elsewhere. Hong Kong fell two places, to 16th, in the World Talent Ranking 2023 by the International Institute for Management Development, while Singapore moved up four places to 8th. What has Singapore done right?
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Singapore launched SkillsFuture as a national movement almost a decade ago. The initiative seeks to build a culture of lifelong learning, so that Singaporeans can realise their fullest potential irrespective of their starting points. This is not just rhetoric. The government ensures that talent development is a cornerstone of every policy and new initiative.

For example, skills development is one of the pillars of industry transformation maps for strategic sectors, alongside productivity enhancement, innovation in products and services, and expansion to international markets. There is even an industry transformation map for training and adult education, in recognition of the important role this plays in raising business capabilities.

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Singapore’s national artificial intelligence strategy, launched in 2019 and updated last December, is committed to developing a pool of 15,000 AI practitioners, among other things. Sector-specific AI training programmes to reskill and upskill workers will be run as part of industry transformation.

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