Opening Remarks by Mr David Koh, Chief Executive, Cyber Security Agency of Singapore at the CyberSG Consortium Launch

Distinguished guests

Ladies and gentlemen

Introduction

1     Good afternoon. It is my pleasure to be here today at the launch of the CyberSG Consortium.

2     I would like to express my sincere thanks to the CyberSG Research and Development Program Office (CRPO), for their hard work in organising this event. I am delighted to see everyone here in person, particularly after an eventful weekend where some of us had to deal with the outage caused by a CrowdStrike software update. As we read about the impact of this incident in other countries such as the Australia, India, the United Kingdom and the United States, and on our front we were mentally prepared for the worst but I was relieved that it was not the case and it was not a cyber-attack, and it was also not something targeted at Singapore. And I am glad to see that organisations in Singapore firstly took swift action, and affected IT systems were up and running very quickly and backup systems, business continuity plans albeit manual kicked in. 

This actually sets the relevant backdrop as to why we are here because…

The Singapore government is committed to strengthening efforts to grow our local cybersecurity ecosystem.

3     In an increasingly digitalised world, our cybersecurity and indeed resilience are essential to maintaining trust and confidence in our smart nation, safeguarding our digital infrastructure, intellectual property, and our personal data. Without this trust, we will not have the confidence to conduct our business in the digital world.

4     In this regard, cultivating local expertise and capabilities is crucial. CSA is dedicated to nurturing Singapore’s cybersecurity ecosystem by fostering both talent development and industry growth. Two national-level initiatives were launched last year to support this effort. First, we have the CyberSG Talent, Innovation and Growth (TIG) Plan that consolidates and enhances CSA’s existing talent and innovation initiatives. Second, we have the CyberSG R&D Programme Office (CRPO) to drive cybersecurity research and development activities. 

5     Just last week, Senior Minister of State Janil launched the CyberSG TIG Collaboration Centre set up by CSA NUS in partnership with NUS CSA. Today, we are here to witness the launch of the CyberSG Consortium under the CRPO also set up by CSA but in partnership with NTU. Both these initiatives will together aim to drive the growth of our cybersecurity ecosystem by galvanizing talent development and industry growth. 

CRPO spearheads research, innovation, and enterprise efforts

6     CSA established the CyberSG R&D Programme Office (CRPO) last year and we have provided 62 million dollars in initial funding to spearhead the translation of research prototypes into usable products and services for both national security agencies and commercial industry. 

7     I am happy to see that CRPO’s efforts have started to bear fruit. For example, the CRPO collaborated with AI Singapore to launch the Global Challenge for Safe and Secure Large Language Models. This challenge aims to develop robust security measures and innovative approaches to mitigate jailbreaking attacks on LLMs, which should in turn foster safer and more trusted AI interactions. This Global Challenge is open for participation from 2 July to 17 September, so if you are interested, there is still time to join!

8     CRPO also launched Grant Call Grand Challenges these offer up to 6 million dollars in funding to support innovative research proposals. I am delighted to announce that, from a pool of nine submissions, two proposals have been selected to receive funding support under CRPO’s inaugural Grant Call Grand Challenge. The two proposals will be recognised and awarded later in the event.

The CyberSG Consortium aims to facilitate technology transfers and adoptions.

9     Now as we mark the launch of the CyberSG Consortium today, I would like to take this opportunity to share more about its mission and my personal thoughts on its significance. Under the CRPO, the CyberSG Consortium serves as a central hub connecting academia, industry, and It will develop innovation platforms that link end-users and researchers to facilitate technology adoptions.

10     My stretch goal for the Consortium is for these innovation platforms to become the foundation for transforming research into impactful real-world solutions that in turn ignite the growth of Singapore’s next wave of cybersecurity companies. We must not let our groundbreaking research be confined to laboratories, while end-users struggle to find products that meet their needs. 

11     I encourage academia, industry partners, and end users to join and take advantage of the collaborative opportunities that the Consortium offers. 

12     Professor Liu Yang, the Executive Director of the CyberSG R&D Programme Office will share more about CRPO and the CyberSG Consortium later on.

Conclusion

13     In today’s digital world, collaboration, knowledge exchange and a shared commitment to cybersecurity is paramount. 

14     Through groundbreaking research that is practical and translated, we can better understand the intricacies of cyber threats and new technologies. Innovation empowers us to stay one step ahead, especially when enterprise, research and innovation outcomes are translated into real-world applications and used by the operational end users.

15     As we often say, cybersecurity is a team effort and all of you represent members of the team. I hope we can all join hands to strengthen our collective cybersecurity through the CyberSG consortium. 

16     Thank you very much.