Emerging Stronger Together

Be inspired.
Embrace change.
Let’s work together.

The resilience of our nation has been put to the test in 2020. COVID-19 is changing and challenging our economy and society in unprecedented ways.

To overcome these challenges and emerge stronger from this crisis, it is critical for us to act fast, and to do so together. We must empower people from all walks of life to co-create new possibilities and inspire fresh solutions

With the Emerging Stronger Taskforce (EST), we will find new ways to drive the economy forward and inspire our nation on how we could future-proof our businesses and livelihoods in the changing global economy.

See how
we’re doing it

Over the past few months, our Alliances for Action (AfAs) have been working together to propose and execute new ideas in key growth areas. Take a closer look.

In the press

Turning crisis
into opportunity

The Singapore story has been about our ability as a nation to turn challenges into opportunities. Today, we are facing an unprecedented crisis of a generation that is changing the way we live and work.

The Emerging Stronger Taskforce (EST) was formed:

  1. To examine the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on our economy, businesses and workers.
  2. To provide recommendations to the Future Economy Council (FEC) on how Singapore can stay resilient and create new sources of growth moving forward.
Meet Our Members

Why is
this important?

The pandemic has resulted in new shifts and accelerated existing trends. It is important that we identify these issues and adapt to stay ahead.

Sharing the spirit of
Singapore Together

The EST is part of Singapore Together – sharing the vision for Singaporeans to partner with the Government, and with one another, to own, shape and act on our shared future together.

SG Together Logo

Launched in 2019, Singapore Together aims to open up more partnership opportunities for Singaporeans, and support more citizen-led initiatives too. Whatever our background or interests, we can each step forward to contribute in areas that we care about. By working together, we can turn diversity into strength and transform challenges into opportunities, to build a Singapore that present and future generations of Singaporeans will be proud of.

Find Out More

Meet our
EST members

Addressing the structural shifts in the global economy requires a holistic and diverse approach.

That is why our taskforce reaches across both public and private sectors – bringing together knowledge and skills from varied disciplines to address the structural shifts in the post-COVID-19 economy.

  1. Desmond Lee (Co-Chair) Minister for National Development and Minister-in-charge of Social Services Integration

  2. Tan Chong Meng (Co-Chair) Group CEO, PSA International

  3. Amos Leong President and CEO, Univac Group

  4. Andrew Kwan Founder & Group Managing Director, Commonwealth Capital

  5. Azlinda Anwar Director, Grants & IP Administration and Coordinating Director, Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory

  6. Caesar Sengupta VP, Payments and Next Billion Users, Google

  7. Dilys Boey Assistant CEO, Enterprise Singapore (Formerly Partner, ASEAN People Advisory Services Leader, EY)

  8. Edmund Koh President, UBS Asia Pacific of UBS Group and UBS AG and Member of the UBS Group Executive Board

  9. Fidah Alsagoff Joint Head, Enterprise Development Group and Head, Life Sciences, Temasek International

  10. Gan Seow Kee Chairman and MD,
    ExxonMobil Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd.

  11. Jessie Yeo Executive Secretary, Singapore Port Workers Union and Human Resource Director, NTUC

  12. Koh Lian Pin Professor of Conservation Science, Technology and Policy and Director, Centre for Nature-based Climate Solutions, National University of Singapore

  13. Kwee Wei-Lin President, Singapore Hotel Association (SHA) and Head of Hotels, Pontiac Land Group

  14. Lee Chee Koon Group CEO, CapitaLand

  15. Lee Seow Hiang CEO, Changi Airport Group

  16. Lim Ming Yan Chairman, Singapore Business Federation (SBF)

  17. Loo Choon Yong Executive Chairman and Co-Founder,
    Raffles Medical Group

  18. Peter Ho CEO, HOPE Technik

  19. Piyush Gupta CEO, DBS Group

  20. Sunny Verghese Co-Founder and Group CEO,
    Olam International Limited

  21. Tan Chin Hwee CEO-Asia Pacific, Trafigura

  22. Vincent Chong President and CEO, ST Engineering

  23. Ye Gang Co-Founder and Group COO, Seagroup

Industry Coalition Groups:
Alliances for Action

To act swiftly and decisively in this global economy, we have convened the Singapore Together Alliances for Action (AfAs). These are industry-led coalitions that work in partnership with the Government to seize growth opportunities for Singapore.

Working collaboratively with both industry and government, these alliances will explore, prototype, and execute ideas over a three-month sprint, and represent a new way forward for collaboration between the private and public sectors.

Here are the growth opportunities we have identified:

  1. Digitalising the Built Environment

    Digitalisation is a key thrust of the Industry Transformation Maps (ITMs) under the FEC’s Built Environment (BE) Cluster. Even as the industry copes with the challenges of COVID-19, the crisis has seen stronger collaborations across all parts of the BE value chain. This presents opportunities to accelerate the push to digitalise and raise productivity – from concept and design, to construction and site management, and facilities management.

  2. EduTech

    One big outcome from COVID-19 is the global adoption of EduTech. This includes home-based learning, online professional education and training. This creates opportunity for Singapore to take our education and human capital brand global.

  3. Safe and Innovative Visitor Experiences

    Travel and tourism may never be the same again. To adapt, Singapore must pioneer new ways to enable safe transit, safe business, and safe leisure travel and tourism. This is to ensure that Singapore remains a leading hub for business and enterprise in Asia Pacific.

  4. Smart Commerce

    While COVID-19 has accelerated e-commerce among consumers and retailers, physical retail is likely to persist in Singapore due to the convenience of neighbourhood stores and retail hubs in transport nodes (e.g. MRT stations, bus interchanges). There is potential to create a ‘smart commerce’ ecosystem that blends digital and physical retail experiences, and even help enable local brands to tap into a global consumer market.

  5. Robotics

    Manpower challenges have contributed to the rise in robotics solutions to improve productivity, transform existing jobs, and generate spinoffs for SMEs. The global pandemic has also forced us to adopt innovative solutions to minimise social contact and reinforce high sanitation standards. This includes cleaning and construction robots, to autonomous healthcare and public land transport systems.

  6. Supply Chain Digitalisation

    The digitalisation of global supply chains has long been hampered by low adoption, lack of data sharing, and the prevalence of existing platforms. With stronger concerns about supply chain resilience in a post-COVID world, there will be increased demand for end-to-end adoption. In Singapore, this is a huge opportunity to advance digitalisation usage for cargo owners and supply chain ecosystem players (e.g. logistics, regulatory, and financial).

  7. Sustainability

    The focus on sustainability is now more relevant than ever. Singapore is in an excellent position to leverage our technological, financial and legal strengths to further environmental, social, and governance solutions and services. Are we able to serve our own commitments and global demand? How can Singapore capitalise this to become the Little Green Dot?

Join us in this journey.

How has the pandemic impacted you? Do you have ideas that could help tackle the changes and challenges of today?

Submit your ideas here and help turn the conversation into action.

Submit Idea