SPOTLIGHT
Engineering Singapore’s transformation Mr Dalson Chung was inaugurated as the 29th President of the Institution of Engineers, Singapore (IES), at the 56th IES Annual General Meeting (AGM) held on 28 May 2022. He will serve a two-year term. In an email interview with ‘The Singapore Engineer’, Mr Chung outlines the steps that IES will take, to strengthen the institution and the profession, and address some of the issues of the day.
Mr Dalson Chung
The Singapore Engineer (TSE): What are some of the major challenges that Singapore is facing today that engineers can help overcome? Mr Dalson Chung (DC): Climate change, renewable energy, food security and resilience against future pandemics are amongst the greatest challenges facing Singapore now. Many of these have been encapsulated in the Singapore Green Plan 2030, a whole-of-nation effort to move Singapore to a sustainable future. All the five pillars of the plan – City in Nature, Energy Reset, Green Economy, Resilient Future and Sustainable Living – require practical, effective and innovative solutions from engineers. We need engineers to enhance our coastal defence, create alternative energy solutions, strengthen our food security, build more low-carbon buildings and contribute in many other areas as well. TSE: How can IES, as the premier engineering institution in the country, help to address these challenges? DC: The Government has taken decisive action to mitigate these challenges – but they will need to be supported by our engineers, just like how engineers had played an instrumental role in our earlier years of nation-building. The magnitude and complexity of the issues at hand require a concerted, multi-disciplinary response from engineers, both at the systems and localised levels. As the national society of engineers 14
THE SINGAPORE ENGINEER June 2022
Mr Dalson Chung delivers the Inauguration Speech as the 29th President of IES.
in Singapore, IES is in a unique position to enable, empower and energise the engineering community to step forward and take action to build a sustainable Singapore for future generations. We will be doing this through the IES Green Plan to promote exchange of knowledge, inspire ideas and catalyse collaborations amongst our engineers.
work. With the rise of the Internet of Things, automation and cloud technologies, engineers can now interact and solve problems within a much shorter period of time. The ability to access a vast amount of data and a plethora of technologies has also enabled engineers to be more collaborative and make faster decisions.
As the voice of engineers in Singapore, IES also aims to use the IES Green Plan as a platform for engineers to voice their perspectives and ideas so that we are part of Singapore’s sustainable development journey.
In this data- and technology-led landscape, it has become more critical than ever for engineers to strengthen their learnability – the attitude and ability to learn, unlearn and relearn, to be future-proof.
TSE: With the rapid technological advances taking place, what are the major changes in the scope of work of engineers?
TSE: During your term as IES President, what would be among your major initiatives?
DC: Technological advancements, fuelled by digitalisation, are re-shaping the way engineers
DC: I am anchoring our strategy for the next two years on five of Singapore’s national imperatives: Sustainable Development, Workplace
