Speech by ACE.SG Chairman James Tan at Launch of ACE.SG Academy
Minister of State Ms Gan Siow Huang
Board and Management Team
Distinguished Guests
Ladies and Gentlemen,
1 Good morning everyone and a very warm welcome from all of us at ACE.SG. It is a pleasure to be with you today for the official launch of the ACE.SG Academy. This is an important milestone that will help us accelerate ACE.SG’s efforts at nurturing and futureproofing Singapore’s startup and innovation ecosystem.
2 As the national trade association for startups in Singapore, we are always looking at what’s next and are ever ready to collaborate with fellow stakeholders to provide the most conducive environment for entrepreneurs. Singapore was most recently ranked number 8th in Startup Genome’s Global Startup Ecosystem Ranking. This is a ranking that we cannot and do not take for granted. It is imperative that we continue to innovate and to explore new pathways so as to engineer the best outcomes for Singapore startups.
3 Singapore’s continued success in innovation is rooted not in any hardware or software, but in our willingness and ability to learn, unlearn, and relearn at speed. The world is moving and changing rapidly. It is that openness and drive to stay relevant that will bring us through.
4 Against this backdrop, we are setting up the ACE.SG Academy. We want to inculcate a lifelong learning spirit among our innovation community while offering quality and relevant education to give more founders an improved chance to build great companies and make outsized global impact.
5 The ACE.SG Academy is, in many ways, a culmination of the decades-long privilege of working closely with Singapore’s Institutes of Higher Learning. This new initiative is a huge upgrade; we will be providing various founder-focused programmes ranging from incubation to masterclasses to startup fundraising, and more. These are in addition to the numerous learnings, hackathons and internship opportunities for our aspiring youths.
6 My special thanks to Minister of State Gan Siow Huang and her team at the Ministry of Education, who have been very supportive of ACE.SG’s work. A big thank you, also to the representatives from the IHLs with us today – your support through the years have been invaluable and we look forward to fruitful partnerships with you to bring the best educational and training resources to entrepreneurs.
7 To conclude, let’s push forward and work together closely to uplift the Singapore startup and innovation ecosystem! Thank you all for joining us today.