Digital Industry Singapore (DISG) and Google Cloud have launched AI Cloud Takeoff (AI CTO), a full-fledged national program to establish AI Centers of Excellence (AI CoEs) within 300 digitally-mature, Singapore-based companies over the next 12 months.
This is expected to enable them to create AI-driven intellectual property, products, and services that boost their competitiveness and unlock new revenue opportunities.
AI CTO is the pioneering program under the Singapore Government’s Enterprise Compute Initiative. Notably, the success of Google Cloud and DISG’s initial AI CTO pilot with 30 companies in November 2024 validated the program framework while providing valuable insights that informed the development of the broader Enterprise Compute Initiative.
Senior Minister of State for the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) and the Ministry of Culture, Community, and Youth (MCCY) Ms. Low Yen Ling was the Guest-of-Honor and delivered officiating remarks at the program launch event.
Philbert Gomez, SVP and executive director of Digital Industry Singapore, said the Enterprise Compute Initiative is a pioneering national program designed to bring together cloud service providers and IT consulting partners to accelerate AI-driven transformation for businesses.
“Our successful pilot with Google Cloud laid a strong foundation, enabling Singapore-based companies like Embed, Seaco, and YCH Group to harness tailored AI solutions that enhance operational efficiency and strengthen global competitiveness,” said Gomez.
AI CTO is intended to help each company establish a dedicated in-house unit (that is, an AI CoE) that will centralise AI-related expertise, resources, and governance; drive technology, process, and people transformation; and ensure AI innovation initiatives are aligned with business objectives, scalable, and implemented securely and responsibly.
Serene Sia, Google Cloud country director in Singapore and Malaysia, said that while businesses were initially hesitant to embrace AI, often associating it with consumer-grade tools, Google Cloud programs like AI Trailblazers successfully laid the groundwork by emphasising enterprise AI’s distinct advantages.
“This led many to experiment with and adopt enterprise AI solutions. With companies now pursuing more advanced, purpose-built solutions to unlock greater value, they must address new challenges like building robust data-to-AI pipelines, fostering a learning culture, securing internal buy-in, prioritising the right use cases, and integration with existing systems,” said Sia.
‘With DISG, we’ve designed AI CTO to help these firms implement a practical roadmap for holistic transformation, empowering them to scale enterprise AI innovation with confidence and readiness,” she added.
The program’s milestones include developing and piloting at least one minimum viable product (MVP) that addresses a high-value AI, generative AI, or agentic AI use case within a set budget and a six-month timeframe.
To meet these, AI CTO will provide each participating company with access to a two-week AI capacity building bootcamp, technical consultancy services, Google Cloud credits, and technical implementation services.
Companies will work with their DISG-appointed, Google Cloud-certified technical consultancy and implementation partner of choice to establish their AI CoEs and receive financial incentives worth up to SG$500,000 from DISG and Google Cloud disbursed in tranches as they meet various milestones. Google Cloud partners appointed by DISG for the program include Accenture, AsiaPac, CloudMile, Deloitte, Kyndryl, NTT DATA and Searce.
