IES UPDATE
NEW DIRECTIONS FOR ENGINEERS
IN A DISRUPTIVE WORLD Dr Richard Kwok was inaugurated as President of The Institution of Engineers, Singapore (IES), on 25 July 2020. In an email interview with ‘The Singapore Engineer’, he sets out his vision for IES and mentions some of the initiatives that will be rolled out during his two-year term, whilst also highlighting the need for engineers to constantly improve their knowledge and skills, in order to address major challenges.
Dr Richard Kwok
‘The Singapore Engineer’: During the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, important contributions are being made by engineers. How can engineers help to increase preparedness and resilience against future events of this nature? Dr Richard Kwok: The current pandemic has indeed underscored the central role of engineering in protecting our safety, our lives and our jobs. From developing protective equipment to accelerating telecommuting solutions, to scaling up of vaccines, engineers have made pivotal contributions to the fight against the pandemic. It is important to harness the observations made and lessons learnt from the pandemic to be better prepared for future threats. One major observation from the pandemic is that Singapore’s technology preparedness is a big factor in our ability to respond swiftly to critical needs. For example, our Smart Nation plans have built a strong core of engineering talents who are capable of creating innovations such as the TraceTogether app within a short period of time and establishing ultra high speed connectivity to support remote working and learning. The engineering community must therefore continue to help Singapore to stay ahead of the technological curve in preparation of future threats and disruptions. We must also not lose momentum in implementing Singapore’s various Industry Transformation Maps, including accelerating the adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and automation, and pushing towards the implementation of Industry 4.0. In this regard, IES recently signed Memorandums of Understanding, separately, with AI Singapore (AISG) and AI Professionals Association (AIP). The MoUs aim to, respectively, drive cluster-wide adoption of AI solutions by our member companies in the engineering sector, and develop and promote joint learning and development programmes for engineering communities in Singapore. Our engineers must certainly not stop learning and acquiring new skills to succeed in an increasingly disruptive world. In addition, the pandemic has also emphasised the importance of collaboration among engineers - across 10
THE SINGAPORE ENGINEER December 2020
A strong core of engineering personnel created the TraceTogether app within a short period of time.
