Speech by Minister for Defence, Mr Chan Chun Sing, at the IGNITE Innovation Symposium on 30 Jul 2025 at the Ministry of Defence Auditorium

Introduction

A very good afternoon to all of you. A special shoutout to Mr Lim Siong Guan, our former Permanent Secretary who is one of the key drivers of the MINDEF PRIDE movement many years ago. Thank you for joining us today.

Today we are here – I think you are all part of the converts, but I want to say and still reiterate some things. We have been doing this for quite some years – whether you call it PRIDE or IGNITE. Sometimes it is useful to remind ourselves why we do this. In my mind, I am very clear that we are doing this for three very important reasons, and we should not forget the reasons why we are doing this.

Innovation Drives Our Warfighting Capabilities

First, from MINDEF's perspective, it is about our capabilities. Why is this constant improvement and innovation so important for our capabilities, and in particular, our warfighting capabilities? If we look at the history of how operations were conducted and how wars were fought, very few were won by a decisive Manhattan Project equivalent. Instead, throughout history, most of the operations were fought because people can innovate and keep improving. We have no shortage of examples, even in recent memory. It is not how well-equipped one side is versus the other side; it is not how many people or how much resources they have that counts. Very importantly, it is how fast people are able to innovate, and this is something that we in MINDEF and the SAF must never forget. The speed of our innovation is critical to our warfighting capabilities. It is not just about buying things which other people can also buy when they have the money and the resources.

Innovation Enables Us to be Good Stewards of Our Resources

The second reason is that we owe it to ourselves and we owe it to our country to be good stewards of our resources. By resources, I mean manpower; I mean time; I mean talent. I always say three things - time, talent and treasure. We must be good stewards of time, talent and treasure. For MINDEF/SAF in particular, we draw upon this from the whole-of-society. We are here because of the public support that we have enjoyed; we are here because we have made the political commitment to make sure that MINDEF and the SAF has more than our fair share of talent. For us to command that respect and confidence, we must make sure that we are good stewards of time, talent and treasure. If we want to be good stewards of time, talent and treasure, then it is incumbent upon us to make sure that we keep improving and keep doing what we can within our means, to make sure that tomorrow is better than today, and that today is better than yesterday.

MINDEF/SAF Draws on the Talents of the Whole-of-Society

The third reason why we have to keep on doing this and do this well is simply this – we are an organisation that draws from the broad swath of society. We have the entire spectrum of Singaporeans with us, in the NSFs and NSmen, and also many volunteers. We want everyone in this organisation to know that they are not just another cog in the wheel. Every man and woman in this organisation of ours has the ability to shape the outcome that we want to see. If we can unleash the power of each and every one, then we will have a very powerful organisation. The strength of MINDEF and the SAF does not lie with just a few good people with a few good ideas and having the rest just to execute. The strength of the SAF comes from each and every one of us being able to contribute confidently in our own ways.

That is why, when we interact with other armed forces, they are more impressed by the quality of our people, the gumption of our people, than just the weapons that we operate. As I have always said, weapons others can buy when they have the resources, but the gumption to keep improving, the discipline to keep improving – is not something that every organisation can have or will have. This is something unique that we have in the SAF and indeed, it is something that we must keep.

 Now, having said that, although we say that we have done this for the last many years, since Mr Lim's time, we must never be complacent that this culture is deeply ingrained. Indeed, each and every day, for each and every generation, we bring in new people and new soldiers into our ranks, and we must continue to imbue in them the same spirit of continuous innovation, continuous improvement. Understanding that this is fundamental to our warfighting capabilities – this is how we command the respect of our people and country through our stewardship of our resources, and how we can engage and enable our people to do their very best.

We Must Encourage Our Personnel to Confidently Contribute in Their Own Ways

But having said that, just as in any military organisation, we must always be careful. There will always be a tendency to go with the tried and tested. There used to be a joke - if we do it one time, it is a novelty; if we do it twice, it is a trend; if we do it three times, it becomes a ritual, and nobody must change it. Now, we are not that kind of organisation, and we must not be that kind of organisation. For us, every day we must challenge ourselves and ask ourselves, “Was the way that I did the thing yesterday, or was the way that I did the job yesterday still relevant today? Is it still safe today?” Because once we stop asking those questions, we may just lose our sharp edge.

When I came back to MINDEF, I am proud to say that when I look at the people, the products that you have produced, and the processes that you keep innovating, I am very proud of what you all have done. I will not be able to list all the examples that we have done in recent years, so I will just mention a few.

If you look at the people, I will raise just three examples of how our people have confidently contributed in their own different ways. 3SG Mark Bosco contributed to the Digital Risk Assessment Checklist (Digi-RAC) software application for SAF-issued Fitbits. He was not asked to do it. He saw something that could be improved. He did it and he proliferated it – that is the kind of spirit we want. 3SG (NS) Pang Yan Wei applied AI to help his fellow soldiers and servicemen improve their IPPT, by helping people to train more effectively. Then we have ME3 Herman Tan, who went to the Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT) and took up a course on 3D modelling. He brought back that expertise to improve the Belrex Air Coupling Dust Cover using his 3D modelling skills. These are but just a few examples.

We have the best talents across the entire society with us in MINDEF and the SAF, there is absolutely no reason why we cannot tap on their skills and expertise in diverse domains to help us improve. If you look at some of the products that have come out this year, the Digital and Intelligence Service (DIS) and the Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN) worked together on the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite for the Maritime Security Unmanned Surface Vessel (MARSEC USV) – a very good achievement. The DIS was good in sensors technology, and combined with the RSN, we put two and two together, to come up with a new product that is uniquely able to meet the needs of our congested maritime environment and help us to have a better situational picture of our waters.

Then we have our Medical Classification Centre (MCC) working with the MINDEF Digital and Corporate Transformation Division to rework the way we do medical classification that will help us to save almost S$2 million a year and to save more than 10,000 man hours. These are but some of the examples of the products that our people have initiated ground up and delivered.

When you come to look at the processes, MINDEF/SAF has formed the Digitalisation Job Family to bring together dedicated officers to strengthen MINDEF/SAF’s digital transformation capabilities. The RSAF has the GROSS movement, “Get Rid of Stupid Stuff”, then you have the RSN’s “I’m Stuck” movement, where people share what they can improve on and what lessons they have learnt. These are all good examples. So I say, keep up the good work in how we encourage people to improve both the products and the processes. These are things that money cannot buy. These are things that give us the confidence that we have the right people with the right ethos to keep improving our systems beyond what we can buy and what others can buy. That is our secret sauce, and that is our competitive edge.

Changing Nature of Warfare Necessitates New Ways of Delivering Capabilities

But having said that we have done well, you all know by now that I will never miss an opportunity to urge you all to do more to overcome some new challenges. When you look at the way warfare has evolved in recent operations, you will notice one thing: things are changing fast. The geopolitical landscape has changed dramatically compared to the previous few decades. The nature of warfare has also changed dramatically over the past two to three decades, and now we need a new process within MINDEF and SAF to challenge ourselves – how do we deliver capabilities at speed?

In the past, we would look at the threat scenario. We would develop the product, test it, and have an equipping plan that would scale it towards what we call Initial Operational Capability (IOC) and Full Operational Capability (FOC). It is a well thought out plan, but perhaps a bit static. But what if today we ask ourselves that in every one to two years, we need a new slice of capability, where we are no longer trying to equip the whole ORBAT until we make the final decision? Instead, beyond that conventional process, which is still valid, we need a parallel process that allows us to have a faster speed to market, where every one to two years we are testing out new slices of capabilities, and every generation of NSF that comes in may be equipped with a slight variation of the capability, but each one better than the last.

How would we manage such a process? How would we manage the training and the logistics of such a system? This is something that we have to think through collectively. But I have every confidence that if we put our minds together, we will be able to have the best of both worlds: the institutionalised structure of how we build up our forces in a very methodical process, a more deliberate cycle, coupled with a faster speed to market process that allows us to adopt a variety of technologies, to test them out, and then to proliferate them progressively to the ORBAT.

So going forward, you can expect MINDEF and SAF to run both processes concurrently to get the best of both worlds. Such things will allow us to improve our warfighting capabilities across different dimensions and domains of operations, much faster than everyone else. And I think that we have the right people with the right values that can bring about this new system of thinking.

Tapping on External Expertise to Strengthen MINDEF/SAF’s Capabilities

Then there is another thing that we need to evolve. No matter how good we say we may be, we must be humble enough to know that there will always be ideas that are beyond our defence establishment. This could be in the private sector, commercial companies, academia, or other institutions that are beyond MINDEF, and we must find ways to tap on their ideas and bring on board relevant concepts that we can customise for our own needs. I am happy to note that we now have a range of other partners, from academia to companies, and we have every intention to keep widening this network so that we can draw in the best ideas from anywhere in Singapore or beyond for our operational needs.

For us, we can take a leaf from some of the commercial companies, where they try many things, but not everything may succeed. We do our best, but we must be bold enough to, first, push the boundary and do not do only those things that will be sure to succeed. Second, we must have the courage to admit that if things are not working, we move on and try something else. This is the type of ethos that will put us in good stead.

So on that note, I congratulate all of you—not just the award winners today, but all of you—not just for your improvement in your product or process, but for imbuing our people with the right spirit and ethos to keep our capabilities always on the sharp edge. Thank you very much for your service, and to our people, thank you.

More Resources

Innovation is Vital for Maintaining MINDEF/SAF’s Capabilities and Future Readiness

Fact Sheet: IGNITE Innovation Symposium 2025 Award Winners