Speech by Minister Chee Hong Tat at Construction Tech @ Punggol Digital District

Introduction

A very good morning to all of you. I am happy to join everyone here today at Construction Tech @ Punggol Digital District, or ConTech@PDD.

This is an exciting time for our Built Environment (BE) sector. 

We have made good progress over the years. For example, in implementing integrated digital delivery and mainstreaming prefabrication construction methods. 

By Gross Floor Area, or GFA, new developments adopting these tools have grown from around 20% in 2018 to about 70% in 2025.

Looking ahead, we have a strong pipeline of development projects, including HDB BTOs, Long Island at East Coast, and Changi Airport Terminal 5, where we will continue to use these tools and other emerging technologies. And when completed, the new infrastructure will enhance our liveability, climate resilience and economic vibrancy.  

To deliver on our ambitious building plans, the BE sector must continue transforming the way we build and plan in Singapore.  

With new technologies like autonomous robotics and Artificial Intelligence, we must continue to work together to push boundaries, so that we can build better, faster and more sustainably. 

This morning, please allow me to share three areas of work that I hope will be able to help us achieve this outcome.

Taking Risks to Spur Innovation 

First, we must adopt a “can do” spirit and be willing to try new and better ways of doing things. Take some calculated risks. Not every attempt will succeed, but if we don’t even try, our chances of success will be zero. So we must try.  

For every setback we encounter, we will learn from it, and we will refine our approach, and we will try again. This is how entrepreneurs approach their ventures – don’t be afraid to try, don’t be scared of failures, and if you fail, don’t give up, try again until you succeed. 

Take for example, the partnership between Weibuild, a robotics company which created advanced autonomous skimming robots, and their partner, China Jingye, a local construction company, which provided the real-world testing grounds to refine the robot prototypes. 

Together, they faced multiple failures and went through many rounds of iterations before their efforts paid off. Today, their skimming robots deliver up to 30% improvement in productivity over manual methods, as well as more consistent finishing quality which human hands cannot replicate.

I don’t think companies would be able to achieve this breakthrough if they dared not try, or if they had given up after encountering initial setbacks.   

The Government will continue to support progressive companies and share the risks of innovation through pilots and sandboxes, such as through the Built Environment Innovation Hub, or BEIH, so that our sector can reap the rewards of modern technology and innovation.  

The sandboxes allow us to try new ideas without the fear of a large systemic failure. We can fail safely, and try again, and when the prototype works well, we can then scale up and widen the scope of it.  

Since its launch in 2023, the BEIH has hosted over 170 technology demonstrations and testbeds, of which about 60 are Robotics & Automation (R&A) solutions. 

To make it easier and less costly for companies to innovate, BCA will waive space rental fees for BEIH technology sandboxes for two years starting from this July.

For a start, this rental fee waiver will be offered to teams trialling solutions that improve productivity, such as R&A solutions, which are currently the most common types of technologies test-bedded at the BEIH.

And we can extend this waiver to other areas if there is demand for other types of technologies. Just to be clear, it is not restricted to R&A, we will start with R&A, but if there is demand for other technologies to testbed, we can extend this waiver to support these technologies. 

I hope this support will encourage companies to make good use of the BEIH to support their experimentation and innovation. 

The Government is also committed to providing clear translation pathways for proven technologies to be commercially deployed. We want to see good ideas, going from lab into the market.

In the coming months, JTC will be launching its Innovative Procurement Partnerships (IPP) tenders for technologies such as construction inspection robots and remote-controlled tower cranes. 

The IPP is a new Government procurement approach that reduces administrative barriers for pilot testing, while allowing companies to subsequently scale up their innovative solutions for commercial deployment. 

Under this approach, awarded tenderers whose pilots are successful can scale up their innovations to other JTC projects, without the need to go through new tenders.

In this way, not only does the IPP fund experimentation, it also provides a clearer deployment pathway for innovative SMEs and startups to be able to scale up their operations and move towards commercial success. I think many of the entrepreneurs will agree, the second part is just as important as the first part. The initial funding is helpful to get you started, but the deployment pathway to help you commercialise and to scale up, is equally important. 

Thus far, the industry response has been very encouraging, with JTC receiving almost 20 submissions for their first two IPPs. These include Vebits AI’s and Invigilo AI’s computer vision solutions that monitor worker productivity on worksites, as well as MyrLabs’ robotics solutions to automate the time-consuming and potentially hazardous inspection of covered drains, just to name some.

I would like to thank Ms Jacqueline Poh, CEO of JTC, for supporting this very good project through the IPP and I also call upon the other Government agencies who are present to do the same. Use this approach to see how we can support more of our companies to be able to commercialise and scale up, and if they do well, it is of benefit to our BE sector here. We will get better solutions, better productivity and safer outcomes. And these companies can also then grow and take the solutions overseas. As many of you will know, it is through the scaling up, when you achieve economies of scale, that you are then able to bring down the per unit cost, and that in turn, will then be able to spur greater innovation. 

Enabling Regulations to Support Innovation

Let me move on to the second issue, which is our rules and regulations must keep pace with innovation and technology adoption in the BE sector. So just now I called on everybody to take calculated risk, to try new ideas, and not be afraid of failures. As Government, while we encourage the private sector to do this, we ourselves must also be prepared. We must also be prepared to innovate. We must also be prepared to take calculated risks, including having some failures along the way. And we learn, we adjust, we try again. So it is in this spirit that we hope to embark on this rules review journey with all. If there is an outdated rule that is creating unnecessary red tape for you, please tell us. Let my colleagues and I know where the bottlenecks are, so that we can work with you to clear the path and make things better by helping our companies to save time, save money and save manpower.

Thanks to feedback from our industry partners, including through the Action Team to improve Built Environment productivity, we have started taking some action on this front. Allow me to share with you an example. 

Today, we have started deploying smart hoists on our construction sites. As these hoists are automated, operators no longer need to be stationed within the hoists. 

However, under prevailing Workplace Safety and Health regulations, they still require operators to be stationed within the hoists to ensure safe operations. This limits the cost and manpower savings that can be reaped from deploying smart hoists.

So this is a small example, but it is something that illustrates the point that our rules and regulations need to move in tandem with innovation, with new technology. Otherwise, we will be outdated.

MOM and BCA have reviewed, and they have agreed to remove the requirement for companies to station operators within smart hoists. This has been applied to a first batch of projects.

To ensure safety, there are safeguards such as interlocks which will be put in place to keep the hoist doors secure.

We will learn from this first batch of projects to streamline the process further. For example, agencies may consider whitelisting smart hoist solutions that have proven safety records in future, so that there can be pre-approved exemption. You don’t have to apply case-by-case, we whitelist and pre-approve, and as long as you use one of those solutions from the pre-approved list, it will be quick, it will be smooth. 

The end in mind is for the agencies to work together with the industry, together with all of you, to fine-tune our rules and requirements, so that we can help you and your colleagues to save even more time, money and manpower.

Taking Innovation One Step Further

Finally, it is not enough to achieve individual innovation breakthroughs. To reap the rewards and improve productivity in our sector, we must move from isolated success stories to industry-wide adoption – scaling up successful innovations across our entire ecosystem. So I have reminded my colleagues and our industry partners that we work with, that while we are very keen to testbed new pilots, we must not stop there. We are not running a science project or science exhibition. It is not good enough to stop at project stage and say my job is done. Actually, that is the first step. That is an important first step, but that is just the first step. What we need is to work with you to see how we can take some of the good solutions, for you to scale it up and for you to commercialise it. For us, it is to be able to see how we can support you to have more widespread adoption within the ecosystem. Because if it is an isolated success story, then the people who do it will benefit, but it is not enough to be able to move the needle for the entire industry. To do this, I need your help. My colleagues and I can’t do this alone. We need to work together with you, our industry partners, we need to work together with our companies, with our researchers, to build the ecosystem that can allow innovation to take place. And also allow for quick adoption of successful pilots.  

One way which we hope to do this is by sharing knowledge on “what has worked well” and the best practices that we have learnt from innovation attempts across the BE sector. I think sometimes learning from what didn’t work, learning from failures, can be equally valuable. Then we can avoid repeating the whole process. So, we help one another, we learn from good practices, best practices. We also help one another to learn from what are some of the mistakes that we made, what are some of the failures that we have experienced. And then we can avoid repeating the whole process. But to do this, we need to work together. If we don’t want to share, if we don’t want to be open about it – and by this, I mean the whole ecosystem, the whole Government and industry, then it won’t work. It can only work if we all bring something to the table, so that what we are able to then benefit from it collectively, will be a lot more than what we bring. 

To accelerate this momentum, JTC has launched the Integrated Digital Delivery Technology Alliance, or IDDTA for short.

The IDDTA provides JTC’s project partners with a curated marketplace of proven digital solutions that have been tested and certified by JTC, and seamlessly link to JTC’s Connected Data Environment, which ensures they comply with the standards and requirements for JTC’s projects. 

Construction companies looking to digitalise can save time and costs by adopting these proven solutions instead of going through their own trial and error process. They can plug and play, and there is no need to reinvent the wheel.  For technology start-ups, they can test and scale their innovations, while benefiting from IDDTA certification, which can help to open doors beyond JTC’s projects.

Later today, we will onboard the first batch of proven solutions to the IDDTA.

These include solutions for logistics tracking to more seamlessly coordinate the production of pre-cast components, as well as reality capture technologies to digitalise processes such as site visits and inspections. These newly onboarded solutions will bring about significant time and cost savings for our companies.

I would like to encourage our technology companies to join the IDDTA so that more projects can benefit from your innovations and you too can reap the rewards of your efforts and hard work. It is a win-win outcome for all participants. We all need to work together, we all need to chip in, so that we can all benefit. As just like what I mentioned earlier, I also encourage agencies to consider adopting something similar to what JTC has done. Don’t have to reinvent the wheel – just look at what JTC has done and shorten the learning curve; get it implemented in as many ways as possible.

Conclusion

Let me conclude. As we look forward to the World Cup finals in a few days’ time, we know the continued transformation of the BE sector is a team sport like football. It requires our architects, our builders, our engineers, and our technology partners, as well as our Public Service agencies, our Government procurement entities, to all contribute, to work together and push the innovation boundaries as a team. 

This is why we have brought together stakeholders from across the sector under the Action Team to Improve Built Environment Productivity, and I see some of the members in the audience

Through these candid discussions, we are identifying policy and process improvements that can help our companies to reduce cost, time and manpower across the entire building lifecycle.

We have earlier announced some initiatives, including the streamlined process to bring in new construction workers, and initiatives to unlock greater productivity through design standardisation.  

There are more recommendations coming, but we will share these with everyone at a separate occasion when the details have been finalised.

The steps we are taking today – from encouraging innovation and risk-taking, to rethinking our regulations – lay the groundwork for a more productive and future-ready BE sector. 

I want to come back to the point I started with when giving my speech - to do this, we all need to be prepared to take some risk. Because if we are unwilling to take some risk, some calculated risk, and be prepared that some of these attempts will fail - if you are not prepared for that, then we can’t move.

If I may end with a world cup or soccer analogy – it is like when you play soccer and you only play defence. You don’t attack because you are afraid of risks. If that is your strategy, the best outcome you can get is a draw, and you wait for penalty shootouts. If you want to win, you have got to be prepared to attack, so that you can score goals. And yes, the other team may score some goals, but you win by scoring more goals than them. So I think that is the approach that we must take for our innovation journey as well. Be prepared to attack. Be prepared to take risks. Be prepared to push the boundaries and accept some of these risks. We help one another to mitigate the risk by working together. Because as I said, we avoid making the same mistakes, we learn good practices by sharing knowledge. I think this makes the whole ecosystem more conducive for supporting innovation and for scaling up workable solutions.  

I look forward to your continued support and partnership on this exciting journey. 

Thank you very much.