Importance of HTX’s Capability Sustainment family highlighted at biennial Innovation Day
Four Deputy Commissioners from the Home Team attended the Capability Sustainment Innovation Day 2024. From left to right: HTX Deputy Chief Executive (Operations) Chen Yeang Tat, Deputy Commissioner of the Singapore Civil Defence Force (Future Technology & Public Safety) Daniel Seet Siew Teck; Deputy Commissioner of Police (Policy) How Kwang Hwee; HTX Chief Executive Chan Tsan; Deputy Commissioner of the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (Capability & Technology Development) Ong Choon Beng; Deputy Commissioner of Prisons (Operations & Rehabilitation) Matthew Wee Yik Keong; and HTX Director (Building & Infrastructure) Chan Ai Lynne. (Photo: HTX)
Although the work of HTX’s Capability Sustainment family is not visible to the public, many aspects of the Home Team would not be able to function without them, said Singapore Police Force (SPF) Deputy Commissioner How Kwang Hwee (Policy) during HTX’s Capability Sustainment Innovation Day on 18 October 2024.
Besides highlighting the indispensable nature of capability sustainment, the second edition of the biennial event also shone a spotlight on the family’s forward-looking vision of enhancing Home Team operations with technological innovations that are smart, scalable, and sustainable.
CE Chan Tsan gave the opening address. (Photo: HTX)
HTX Chief Executive (CE) Chan Tsan opened the event with a reminder that the task of sustaining Home Team systems is imperative, before lauding the Capability Sustainment family’s 2030 vision.
He explained that sustainability is important in sustainment, given the worsening effects of climate change and noted that the size and complexity of the Home Team means that the capabilities HTX builds for them must be scalable and smart, and feature the application of cutting-edge technologies like artificial intelligence (AI).
He pointed out that AI, for example, could be used to predict faults before they occur, and such pre-emptive measures would allow the Home Team to focus on more pressing tasks.
The roundtable discussion. From left to right: HTX DCE (Operations) Chen Yeang Tat, SPF DC (Policy) How Kwang Hwee, SCDF DC (Future Technology & Public Safety) Daniel Seet, ICA DC (Capability & Technology Development) Ong Choon Beng, SPS DC (Operations & Rehabilitation) Matthew Wee, and HTX Director (Building & Infrastructure) Chan Ai Lynne. (Photo: HTX)
Four Deputy Commissioners (DCs) from the Singapore Police Force (SPF), Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF), Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA), and Singapore Prison Service (SPS) then participated in a roundtable discussion chaired by HTX DCE (Operations) Chen Yeang Tat and moderated by Director (Building & Infrastructure) Chan Ai Lynne.
DCE Chen described the Capability Sustainment family as providing “UPS” – unwavering protection and support – to the Home Team and said the fact that HTX’s Capability Sustainment officers were classified as essential personnel and allowed to work in the field during Covid-19 circuit breaker period exemplified how important they are to Home Team operations.
SPF’s DC (Policy) How Kwang Hwee said that the Capability Sustainment family, especially the Building & Infrastructure and Platform Systems divisions, will be crucial as the SPF moves to refresh its ageing building infrastructure and update its vehicular fleet with smarter and sustainable vehicles in the coming years.
SCDF’s DC (Future Technology & Public Safety) Daniel Seet then shared that the SCDF will need to work closely with the Capability Sustainment family to scale up its fleet of ambulances and emergency service infrastructure to handle the challenges posed by Singapore’s ageing population.
ICA’s DC (Capability & Technology Development) Ong Choon Beng recalled how the HTX Capability Sustainment team swiftly responded to the blackout at Woodlands Checkpoint in 2022 and worked tirelessly in the wee hours of the morning to restore power to one of the world’s busiest land checkpoints.
He also noted that ICA will continue to work closely with the Capability Sustainment family in the coming years on major national projects, including the Johor Bahru–Singapore Rapid Transit System (RTS) Link, Tuas Port, Changi Airport Terminal 5, and the redeveloped Woodlands Checkpoint, which would result in a significant increase in passenger and cargo traffic.
SPS DC (Operations & Rehabilitation) Matthew Wee noted that SPS will continue to rely on the support of the Capability Sustainment family as it moves to refresh its prison facilities to handle the growing population of older inmates.
It was full house at the Stephen Riady Auditorium for Capability Sustainment Innovation Day. (Photo: HTX)
Following the roundtable discussion, seven teams presented their projects for the Capability Sustainment Day Innovation Challenge:
- NOVAOPS (Ops Systems): Using AI to speed up the resolution of IT service requests.
- CPO – The Find Finders (Central Procurement Office): A mobile app to expedite the purchase of products of interest at overseas trade fairs.
- TechMate (Platform Systems): An AI-powered chatbot which can help crews out at sea troubleshoot technical problems with their vessels.
- OpsGuardian (ICT Infrastructure): Using AI automation to eliminate guesswork from ICT management and speed up network troubleshooting.
- Team BIBIMBAP (Building & Infrastructure): A centralised data repository and management platform within the Home Team’s buildings and infrastructure for scalable data management and maintenance planning.
- Agent-X (Home Team Sustainment Centre): Using multiple AI agents to solve complex issues in sustainment operations.
- Curation & Fusion (Corporate & Finance): A data curation and fusion platform to enable efficient data analysis and smarter decision making.
Team NOVAOPS presenting their project to the judges: Assistant Chief Executive (Operational ICT) Dr Lim Kia Yong (second from left) and Chief Innovation Officer, Chief Cloud Engineer, and Director xCloud Ng Pan Yong (left). NOVAOPS was the eventual winner of the Innovation Challenge. (Photo: HTX)
Aside from judging the Innovation Challenge, Pan Yong also shared his key insights on innovation with the audience. (Photo: HTX)
Apart from the Innovation Challenge, Capability Sustainment Innovation Day 2024 also featured an Innovation Showcase. HTX’s Chief Innovation Officer, Chief Cloud Engineer, and Director xCloud Ng Pan Yong opened the Innovation Showcase with a talk on how Xponents can innovate. The following teams then took the stage to showcase their projects:
- CS Xite (Building & Infrastructure): Using generative AI tools to build the Capability Sustainment group portal for information and knowledge as well as the official Capability Sustainment Innovation Day 2024 microsite.
- SafeX (Platform Systems): Using AI and video analytics to improve safety in high-risk work environments.
- Automation of HTSOC’s work processes (Ops Systems): Using robotic process automation (RPA) to automate work processes including incident reporting and contractor clearance.
- Possibilities of Generative AI in Capability Sustainment (Home Team Sustainment Centre, ICT Infrastructure, Building & Infrastructure): An AI-powered virtual assistant which supports the management of IT Service Management and Audit issues by simplifying data analysis, checking for compliance and suggesting resolution steps to improve productivity.
- Integrated Maintenance Calendar (ICT Infrastructure): A collaboration platform that is pre-emptive, providing full visibility of all maintenance activities within HTX.
- Transforming WSHS Learning through Digital Games (Sustainment Transformation & Risk Management Office): Gamification of workplace safety, health, and security learning.
- 2-in-1: Streamlining Procurement Processes (Central Procurement Office): Combining sequential processes into single joint submissions to improve acquisition lead time and user experience.
- Onboarding/offboarding simplified through tech tools (Corporate & Finance): Using automation to significantly streamline and shorten onboarding and offboarding processes.
DCE (Operations) Chen Yeang Tat delivered the closing address. (Photo: HTX)
In his closing address, DCE (Operations) Chen Yeang Tat said he was deeply inspired by all the innovative projects on show and rallied the Capability Sustainment family to take heed of what the four DCs had shared, and to anticipate the Home Team Departments’ requirements in the coming years.