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Connectivity and talent development remain key for Singapore: SMF

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The Singapore Maritime Foundation (SMF) has affirmed its efforts on talent development and enhancing collaboration with start-ups and adjacent industries, according to chairman Andreas Sohmen-Pao.

Sohmen-Pao, speaking at SMF’s New Year cocktail reception held in Singapore on Monday, shared that the theme of the event is Community through Connectivity – making things better through interactions by sharing ideas and discussing solutions.

SMF has been facilitating these interactions with public outreach events and continuing investments in scholarship programmes.

In September last year the inaugural Careers at Sea & Beyond Forum and Exhibition public outreach event, held by Maritime Singapore Connect office, was aimed at marketing maritime careers and capturing the interest of the public. After the event, over 60% of the participants surveyed were eager to explore careers at sea.

Last year, the MaritimeONE team worked to provide scholarships to students pursuing non-maritime related courses. One example of this is the first business analytics undergraduate student to be awarded a MaritimeONE Scholarship in 2018, helping to empower Singapore’s maritime sector to ride the wave of digitalisation and automation.

Read more: Singapore container port volumes up 8.7% in 2018

Sohmen-Pao noted that this year will mark 12 years of the community’s investment in the next generation of talent for Maritime Singapore, backed by support from sponsoring companies.

“The public and private sectors work together to figure out what actions the maritime industry needs to take in order to stay ahead,” he said.
“We look for new engineering and digital solutions to improve the way we operate. We forge new partnerships to develop business together. We give time and funds to support a growing pipeline of talent.”

Sohmen-Pao added that in April this year, SMF will partner with Seatrade UBM to host the seventh edition of Sea Asia during Singapore Maritime Week.

“New initiatives such as an Innovation Arena will feature companies identified by PIER 71 as a way to introduce players from the maritime ecosystem to an array of innovative solutions. I am pleased to note even greater international interest this year with many new national pavilions joining our upcoming event,” he said.

“I hope to see all of you there.”