The Institute of Technical Education (ITE) College Central and global tech company Nvidia have established its first AI training facility, equipped with a supercomputing platform used to develop AI applications. Some 400 ITE students will initially be trained to apply and integrate AI systems, with 2,000 students expected to benefit from this in the next three years. Students and companies will work together to develop AI solutions for businesses.
According to the AI Workforce Readiness Programme, students will satisfy the demand for skilled workers to adopt AI systems. This specialised skill set is useful for job roles needed to reach Singapore’s national AI strategy.
Such roles range from “tech-heavy roles”, involving more complex function and innovations, to those that handle AI, like digital marketing executives. There are also jobs that require skills like data analytics and knowledge in deployment and integration of AI systems: business analysts, AI translators, user experience designers, quality assurance managers and marketing analysts.
Under the programme, students will be able to add value to ITE local industry partners in engineering, logistics, retail and manufacturing. ITE’s supercomputing platform can help fast development, deployment and improvement of AI models for various innovations, like driverless cars and cybersecurity.
ITE chief Low Khah Gek reported that they are helping about 4,500 companies offering internships for ITE pupils, while 450 others are hiring ITE trainees to tap AI-enabled solutions from their network of local startups.
“Students will be exposed to skillsets in computer vision, pattern recognition and data analytics, and trained to support AI applications in predictive maintenance, industrial inspection and video analytics,” said Minister of Education, Chan Chun Sing. “They will be equipped with industry experience in implementing AI systems, which are crucial to Singapore’s goal of transforming its economy with technology by 2030.”
Meanwhile, Nvidia senior director of enterprise business in ASEAN, Australia and New Zealand, Dennis Ang, said that “AI is a once-in-a-generation technology that is transforming industries around the world. As a leader in this space through graphic processing unit accelerated computing, Nvidia will work closely with ITE to share and transfer knowledge, advance AI curriculum and prepare the workforce of tomorrow for Singapore.”
