S’pore SMEs can apply to new $1m pot to solve pain points with AI pilots

SINGAPORE – Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have a fresh shot at fixing their pain points with artificial intelligence (AI), backed by up to $1 million in hardware, engineering support and training from technology firm Lenovo.

The AI Foundry for SMEs, launched on Jan 22 at the start of the two-day AI Festival Asia at ITE College Central in Ang Mo Kio, will fund 10 flagship prototypes designed as repeatable blueprints that other small firms can adapt.

Each prototype will be designed around a clear workflow and business metric, and include roles for AI-bilingual employees – those who are fluent in both their domain expertise and AI.

The collaboration between Lenovo, the Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (ASME) and ITE is the latest showcase of a national effort to bring together trade associations, students and businesses to scale AI among enterprises while training an AI-ready workforce.

Lenovo’s country general manager for Singapore Nigel Lee told The Straits Times that the $1 million is a flexible pool, with no hard cap per project. It can go above or below depending on needs, and there is no preference for firm size.

Lenovo is also open to a flexible tenure for its support, and will track the progress of projects periodically. ​“We have to review along the way... It’s not going to stop at just one year. AI is a journey,” Mr Lee said.

Applications to be one of the 10 projects start on April 1, and details will be posted on ASME’s website.

In a presentation, Mr Pulse Tan, ASME’s chairman for its digitalisation and AI action group, said that besides resources and expertise, what many SMEs lack for scaling AI is clean data and a feasible workflow.

Since April 2025, the association and ITE had been jointly offering sandbox trials using synthetic data and idealised workflows to let businesses instantly see the benefits and, after that, work out their business transformation plans.

Micro and small companies, especially, need support, he added. These firms often fail to meet minimum requirements for staffing or turnover to qualify for grants to help with digitalisation plans, and when they do, they run into cash-flow issues while waiting for the grants to be disbursed.

ASME will announce steps taken to address these challenges on Jan 23, he said.

Sidelining these smaller players would be a loss to the economy, Mr Tan said. These firms, employing one to 30 employees, make up 94 per cent of enterprises here and hire 45 per cent of the workforce.

On talent, Mr Tan added that companies also need AI-trained talent to sustain their new work plans. Here, ASME’s partnership with ITE – which attaches its students to projects and internships – provides a pipeline of affordable expertise.

“In order for us to fly the whole plane with two engines, both large enterprises and the small and micro ones must be hiring at the same time,” he said. “We have to find ways to subsidise and get our small and micro SMEs on board.”

Speaking at the event, Minister of State for Digital Development and Information Jasmin Lau said such initiatives that bring SMEs and schools together allow students here to apply their learning to real-world problems.

Ms Lau, who is also Minister of State for Education, said: “I often meet with youth, and I will ask them how they are preparing to join the workforce. Many will say ‘it’s quite exciting. I want to study AI. I want to do AI’. But many of them have not thought about where they would want to apply their knowledge of AI.”

She added that the Government will be announcing more support for SMEs, including micro and small businesses, in the coming weeks.

Many SMEs are wary of the risks in being first adopters, she noted, so the Government will ensure availability of AI-powered solutions that they could easily get off the shelf, “so that it’s a little less frightening to start on this journey”.