SINGAPORE - Media OutReach - 16 June 2020 -Global technology giant IBM, and Singapore's leading Continuing Education and Training provider NTUC LearningHub (NTUC LHUB), today announced a collaboration to close technology skills gaps in Singapore amid the evolving Covid-19 situation. This will be done through curating free courses in areas such as AI, Cloud and Data.

The tie-up came as a result of ongoing discussions about the shared goals of both companies. These include making world-class technical training in technology accessible to workers and helping them stay competitive in the workforce as the coronavirus crisis accelerates the adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies. The initiative also supports the Government's ongoing digitalisation push. 

A suite of curated free IBM courses will be made available through NTUC LHUB for learners to develop skills in key technologies such as Cybersecurity, AI (including IBM Watson), Cloud and Quantum Computing. The courses have been developed in-house by IBM, leveraging their world-leading expertise in each field.

"Singapore has been at the forefront in using technology to improve the lives of its citizens and the recent crisis has brought into sharp focus the need to accelerate the adoption of cutting-edge technologies and skills. We are excited to partner NTUC LHUB in the nation's skills building efforts to drive the country's journey towards innovation.   Acquiring and developing these skills will be critical for businesses to change and adapt quickly in a post-Covid era and the timing of this collaboration is perfect," said Martin Chee, Managing Director, IBM Singapore.

"Our dream is to team up with great content providers and we will curate and democratise knowledge to our workers in Singapore. IBM has world-class expertise and steep vertical knowledge in areas such as Artificial Intelligence and Cloud Computing, and we are very excited to partner with them to build up Singapore's digital capabilities. This continues our online learning journey. In April, we teamed up with GO1 to provide online courses in Adaptive and Technology skills, and more content providers are now working with us to provide steep vertical knowledge, for example Dupont Sustainable Solutions with online courses in Safety, Maintenance and Reliability. IBM's cutting-edge courses will be invaluable in providing future-ready skills to pivot our workforce into Worker 4.0 as Singapore embarks on our Industry 4.0 transformation. We welcome more like-minded organisations to join us in this journey, so that we can emerge stronger together," says NTUC LHUB CEO Kwek Kok Kwong.

To access the list of courses provided, please visit www.ntuclearninghub.com/ibm-courses.