MENDAKI Sense akan melancarkan pameran Making Sense of SkillsFuture Sabtu ini bagi meningkatkan kesedaran mengenai inisiatif SkillsFuture di kalangan masyarakat.

Pameran sulung itu merupakan usaha Mendaki Sense menyelaraskan pelaksanaan inisiatif nasional tersebut menerusi satu wadah bersepadu yang mengumpulkan penyedia latihan dan majikan di bawah satu bumbung.

Menerusi pameran itu, Mendaki Sense berharap dapat menyediakan peluang kepada pekerja hari ini dan akan datang meraih kemahiran bagi mendapatkan pekerjaan dan kekal boleh diambil bekerja.

Disokong rakan kongsi institusi dan pekerjaan, acara itu akan menjadi wadah yang menawarkan pelbagai kursus meningkatkan kemahiran dan peluang pekerjaan.

Selain peluang pekerjaan yang ditawarkan pelbagai majikan, rakan kongsi institusi Mendaki Sense juga akan menyertai pameran itu. Mereka akan berkongsi maklumat berguna mengenai sektor masing-masing.

Pakar daripada pelbagai bidang pula akan mengongsi topik yang penting kepada tenaga kerja hari ini.

Sementara itu, kursus yang ditawarkan di pameran tersebut termasuk latihan kemahiran seperti pengurusan orang ramai dan kepimpinan dan kursus lebih berkaitan dengan industri seperti kursus keselamatan.

Program penempatan pekerjaan juga akan dijalankan beberapa pemain industri sebagai saluran mencari calon sepadan dengan pekerjaan yang ditawarkan.

Pembimbing kerjaya Mendaki Sense akan berada di sana bagi menyediakan bimbingan kepada pekerja mengenai programme peningkatan kemahiran yang boleh mereka ikuti bagi meningkatkan peluang mereka diambil bekerja.

Pameran itu akan berlangsung dari 2 hingga 6 petang di WIS@Changi di Changi Road.

This article was first published on March 30, 2016.
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SINGAPORE – Commuters can finally tap with their phones to pay for bus and train rides. This follows two years of Near Field Communications (NFC) mobile payment trials by the Land Transport Authority.

In short, NFC short-range wireless communication technology allows for data transmission between a mobile device and a contactless card reader.

It had several false starts in Singapore dating as far back as 2003, when the Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) promoted the use of cellphones to pay carpark charges.

The service failed to take off partly because it was too cumbersome.

As recently as August 2012, IDA revived the concept at retail outlets, but it did not garner much consumer interest.

Today, NFC payment is accepted by 30,000 retail points here, including ComfortDelgro taxis and stores like Watsons.

Missing all these years is what many believed to be the “killer” application: payment for bus and train rides.

Even though this is now possible, there are a few things to consider before jumping on the bandwagon.

1. GET NFC SIM CARD

Commuters must buy a new NFC SIM card from their telcos priced at $37.45, and turn on their device’s NFC function before tapping to make payments.

The ez-link purse is stored in the SIM card, not in the mobile phone. It works in the background to enable payment, but the phone must not run out of battery.

2. DOWNLOAD EZ-LINK APP

To check their ez-link purse balances, users need to download the EZ-Link app from the Google Play store. Like the ez-link card, the ez-link purse has a five-year validity.

The expiration date is displayed in the EZ-Link app.

3. ANDROID USAGE ONLY FOR NOW

Only NFC handsets that follow the national standard – the Contactless e-Purse Application Standard (Cepas) found in every ez-link card – can be used here.

Handset certification is done by a consortium that runs the government-backed mobile payment system.

The consortium includes SingTel, StarHub, M1, Citibank Singapore, DBS Bank and smart card chip maker Gemalto.

As of Tuesday (March 29), only 19 handsets from LG, Samsung and Sony have been approved for transit payment here.

4. THE WAIT GOES ON IF YOU ARE AN APPLE IPHONE USER

Apple has reportedly put its NFC chip on “lockdown”, restricting its use to only its mobile payments platform Apple Pay, which is expected to roll out in Singapore later this year.

5. NFC SIM V APPLE PAY OR SAMSUNG PAY

Singapore’s NFC SIM card is a separate payment system from other digital wallets like Apple Pay or Samsung Pay, also expected to launch in Singapore this year.

Apple Pay and Samsung Pay require users to add their credit card details to a digital wallet stored on their phones before they can tap to pay for goods.

For starters, Apple Pay will accept Singapore-issued American Express cards.

Samsung Pay will accept Singapore-issued cards by DBS Bank, OCBC Bank, Standard Chartered Bank and American Express.

This article was first published on March 29, 2016.
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Robotics solutions – which received a big boost in Budget 2016 – may help transform Singapore’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as the economy restructures, but the process will require more than just the technology.

The adoption of robotics still needs cultivation among SMEs, while some workers will need reskilling to move up the value chain in a more automated economy, Minister for Trade and Industry (Industry) S. Iswaran said yesterday.

“Robotics is interesting as it can be applied in different industries… We want to see how some of these solutions can be incorporated into our existing businesses, partly as a solution for productivity, partly also to allow them to pursue new types of opportunities,” he said when visiting Aitech Robotics and Automation in JTC’s CleanTech Park.

“What we want is to find ways for SMEs to be able to adopt the technology. But SME owners have to first understand what is the potential, and then for them to cross the Rubicon and try it.”

Alongside abundant government grants, one way to encourage wider adoption of robotics technology is to have a leasing model, where SMEs can acquire the technology at a lower cost, Mr Iswaran suggested.

His visit to Aitech came days after Budget 2016 included a $450 million expansion to the National Robotics Programme.

The initiative underpins the Government’s push to make automation the centrepiece of Singapore’s economic transformation.

This means boom times may lie ahead for robotics service providers such as Aitech.

Established in 2013, the company builds automated or guided robots to support business processes at companies in industries such as semiconductor manufacturing, food and beverage, and logistics services.

But the use of robots alone will not solve the issues of uneven pro- ductivity growth, Mr Iswaran said.

“There is no silver bullet to productivity growth – you need all aspects to come together. Business processes still have to be optimised, and skill sets need to be enhanced, and then there is the use of technology. You need all these on a consistent basis to grow productivity.”

And as robotics solutions become more prevalent, some parts of Singapore’s workforce will inevitably be hit as robots take over certain jobs.

That is why reskilling and retraining will remain a key part of the Government’s restructuring efforts, so as to enable individuals to take up jobs with higher value-add.

“Even as certain types of jobs may be diminished, there will be new kinds of jobs created. What we have to do at the system level is to find ways for Singaporeans to pick up new skills and adapt to new opportunities,” Mr Iswaran said.

whwong@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on March 30, 2016.
Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.

Singapore’s top defence engineers are now working under one roof – the Defence Science and Technology Agency (DSTA) Integrated Complex, which was officially opened yesterday.

Made up of a new 12-storey building and an existing 25-storey structure, it will house 3,000 engineers who were previously spread over three locations – Depot Road, Bukit Merah and the Science Park.

Built on a space the size of three football pitches, it has adopted an “open concept office” without walls or cubicles to encourage interaction.

DSTA chief executive Tan Peng Yam said it aims to “promote” teamwork.

The new complex was opened by Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen, who also toured the premises.

He said that today’s security threats from extremists, cyber warfare, biological pandemics and hybrid warfare require defence engineers and scientists to take a “cross-disciplinary approach” to solve problems and innovate.

The design of the building will “break down the barriers” between engineers, technologists and the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF), he added.

Noting that this year also marks 50 years since Singapore’s Defence Technology Community was set up, Dr Ng credited its members who “dared to dream big and work hard to achieve their goals”.

He said the DSTA has boosted the Republic’s defence science capabilities.

With a “significant and permanent reduction” in the SAF’s manpower pool after 2030, the military will increasingly use more robotics and unmanned platforms, said Dr Ng, who urged defence engineers to continue building up the armed forces.

DSTA cybersecurity engineer Leon Cheng said his move to the new premises later this year will make it easier for him to meet his colleagues.

Currently, the 37-year-old – who has worked in the DSTA for 13 years – takes up to 20 minutes to shuttle between his Science Park office and Depot Road as often as three times a week.

“There are no walls and when you stand up, you can see and talk to everyone, making it much easier and convenient to develop new software solutions quickly and easily.”

jermync@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on March 30, 2016.
Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.