Pilot batch of apprentices enter SGInnovate's Summation Programme

Source: SGInnovate. Apprentices from the pilot batch of SGInnovate Summation Programme. Top left to right: Chi Thanh Lam, Jinna Qian, and Daniel Sebastian Yee. Bottom left to right: Gabriel Wong Shi Xuan, Alex Fong Jie Wen, and Liang Wei Tan.

SGInnovate welcomed the pilot batch of seven apprentices today under the inaugural SGInnovate Summation Programme. The seven will begin a deep technology learning journey by working with technology-intensive companies as part of their internship experience.

The curated pool of students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines from local and overseas institutes of higher learning (IHLs) will have the opportunity to experience firsthand what it feels like to work in deep technology-focused companies.

Apart from an attractive award of up to S$2,000 a month on top of a minimum monthly stipend of S$1,000, apprentices will be working on challenging projects focusing on technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning. They will be working under the mentorship of experienced software and engineering professionals over three to 12 months.

“The SGInnovate Summation Programme is a significant milestone for us as the close working relationship between students from STEM disciplines and the industry adds tangible value to the Human Capital aspect of our Deep Tech Nexus strategy,” said Juliana Lim, Head of Talent Networking, SGInnovate.

“We are excited for the apprentices as they will work closely with some of the brightest and most ambitious minds in the deep tech space to gain invaluable experience that, we hope will help them develop into promising deep tech talents themselves.”

“I have always had a keen interest in exploring the fields of artificial intelligence, and computer vision in particular and SGInnovate has provided me with the valuable opportunity to connect with institutions that that are experts in these fields in Singapore. Through the Summation programme, I hope to improve my knowledge in this domain, and learn how I might apply my expertise to create real-world impacts,” said Gabriel Wong, an apprentice from the Singapore University of Technology and Design who will be working with TAIGER to create an advanced image processing framework through deep learning methodologies.

"In TAIGER, we engineer artificial intelligence to solve real problems that matter to the clients most, and the journey can get quite challenging. The SGInnovate Summation Programme offers TAIGER an opportunity to seek talented interns who are trained in deep technology, and possess the energy and perspective to work on these business-critical projects. The Summation Programme provides an attractive remuneration that allows them to focus fully on the internship, and at the same time, acts as a wave maker for the interns and deep tech companies to forge a deep-tech solution together,” said Sinuhé Arroyo, CEO and Founder, TAIGER.

“We are excited to partner SGInnovate in this programme to nurture and develop deep-tech talents in Singapore. We believe that this is a significant initiative in drawing young talents to the deep-tech space and an important step towards developing their interest in the industry,” said Li Guangda, CTO and Co-Founder, ViSenze. “Through ViSenze's participation, we hope to grow the AI talent pool in Singapore, as well as the potential talent pipeline for our companies.”

The companies participating in the pilot programme are Nugit, Taiger, V-Key, and ViSenze.

Company	Description
Nugit	Transforms business data into decision-ready reports that are easily understandable
Taiger	Specialises in natural language processing, computational semantics, and information retrieval to help customers understand user queries, related content, expand searches, and recover documents efficiently
V-Key	Software-based digital security solutions provider offering backend to front-end solutions for implementation of cloud-based payments, mobile banking authentication, and securing mobile applications for user access and data protection
ViSenze	Powers visual commerce at scale for retailers and publishers by delivering intelligent image recognition solutions

Academic observer Associate Professor Ng Teck Khim, Head of Research, SSI@NUS added, “Startups offer internship opportunities for students to experience the unique challenges faced in the early stages of businesses. The remuneration however, is usually a problem because startups typically do not have the funds to pay talented interns sufficiently. The Summation Programme is, in my opinion, very refreshing as it will bridge this gap effectively. It is a catalyst to bring talented students and deep tech startups together!”

SGInnovate also announced that companies and students interested to be part of the next round of the Summation Programme can submit their applications at http://sginnovate.com/apprenticeship, and at least 10 companies, along with 50 students, will be selected for the second batch of the SGInnovate Summation Programme.