The kick-off
Rapturous cheers rocked The Star Theatre at a football-themed HTX Convention 2025 on 8 April, with over
1,700 Xponents gathering at the venue to learn about the exciting plans the agency has for the year ahead.
Just like how a captain rallies players before a game, HTX’s Chief Executive Chan Tsan led Xponents through a recap of the successful 2024 “season” before sharing the agency’s upcoming plans to empower the Home Team.
“We were once the new kids on the block, very much like a newly promoted football team in the Premier League. Six years on, I think it's fair to say we have done well, that we deserve our place in the league. We’ve taken on many
new responsibilities, pushed boundaries, and made real progress in terms of Home Team transformation,” said Chan Tsan at the annual internal gathering.
To tackle the new challenges that the rest of 2025 will bring, he suggested that Xponents stay grounded in three areas – mission, foresight
and exuberance.
“If we cast our eyes further beyond the year and our shores, it’s not difficult to see that storm clouds and rough seas await with conflicts happening all around the world,” he explained.
“But
in the face of this complexity, our mission has never been more vital. We have a role to play in shaping how Singapore and the Home Team responds to and navigates this uncertainty, and these three strategies of mission, foresight and exuberance will
help us manage this.”
Valuable insights
In attendance at HTX Convention 2025 were leaders from four Home Team departments (HTDs) who shared their perspectives on how HTX’s S&T solutions have force
multiplied their operations thus far.
HTX’s efforts behind projects such as the Emergency Responders’ Fitness Conditioning and Enhancement Lab (EXCEL),
Digitalisation of Inmate Rehabilitation and Corrections Tool (DIRECT), New Clearance Concept (NCC) and police cameras (PolCams) were commended for their transformational impact.
“I'm quite convinced that without HTX, there's no way we could have implemented the NCC programme the way that we have, and at the scale that we did over the last four to five years,” said Commissioner of Immigration & Checkpoints
Authority (ICA) Marvin Sim.
Commissioner of Prisons Shie Yong Lee shared a similar sentiment, adding: “Singapore Prison Service (SPS) has been leveraging technology to improve our operational and rehabilitation outcomes, such as DIRECT
for inmates, and projects that have benefited staff in supervision, including our 100% CCTV coverage in prisons and video analytics. This is made possible because of the strong support from HTX.”
The Home Team leaders also gave a
shout-out to HTX’s Capability Sustainment teams, who were likened to goalkeepers who safeguard and maintain the integrity of the Home Team assets.
Deputy Commissioner (Future Technology & Public Safety) of the Singapore Civil
Defence Force (SCDF) Daniel Seet recalled one such moment a few years ago.
“A pipe leakage at our basement operation centre led to water flowing near servers that were supporting our operations. It was in the wee hours of the morning,
but seeing the sustainment teams show up and get their hands dirty – all to protect our servers and ensure things kept running – that’s what it’s all about,” he said.
“Keeping things going even though
their work isn’t always visible – I really appreciate it.”
The panel also suggested potential opportunities to further build S&T solutions together to address growing concerns in areas such as data analytics and sensemaking,
modernising legacy systems and tackling scams.
“One key area of transformation is to enhance Singapore Police Force’s (SPF’s) digital service channels. Doing this well would enable SPF to transform our concept of operations
(CONOPS) to better serve the public and support officers. This would also reduce demands on our officers and allow them to focus on other areas of work to keep Singapore safe and secure,” explained SPF’s Deputy Commissioner of Police (Policy)
How Kwang Hwee.
“To achieve this, we look forward to working closely with HTX, enabled by the data, AI and technical enterprise systems that we can bring together.”
Game on!
During the
event, HTX’s senior management shared how the agency will be pursuing three key “tech-tics” (tactics) to secure Singapore’s future.
The first has to do with accelerating the deployment of smart and autonomous systems.
HTX Deputy Chief Executive (DCE) (Development) Ng Yeow Boon said that building such systems requires plenty of experimentation and failure, and that “robotics is a very long game, a very uncertain one, and it is not at all easy”.
Engineers from the Robotics, Automation and Unmanned Systems Centre of Expertise (RAUS CoE)
then showed off the various innovations they are working on, including its first humanoid robot!
The second tech-tic is all about building agility and resilience. According to DCE (Operations) Chen Yeang Tat and Assistant
Chief Executive (ACE) (Operations ICT) Dr Lim Kia Yong, the operationalisation of the Home Team Sustainment Centre (HTSC) will do just that.
An all-in-one hub, the HTSC will not only provide an integrated overview of the health of the Home
Team’s assets, but also facilitate predictive actions which will strengthen the assets’ performance.
ACE (Programmes)
Colin Tan and Director, xCode Programme Management Centre (PMC) Annie Sng then shared about the formation of a new HTX division, xCode, and the incorporation of Codex Solutions,
a joint venture (JV) with ST Engineering Mission Software & Services.
This co-development approach would allow HTX to proactively create in-house capabilities that would help the agency respond faster, adapt better and have improved
control over the solutions it develops for the Home Team.
And the final tech-tic? To wield artificial
intelligence (AI) as a force multiplier, of course.
In a video conversation, Chief AI Officer and ACE (Digital & Enterprise) Ang Chee Wee shared how the HTxAI movement has already shaken things up in HTX, and where it is headed.
His key advice? For Xponents to “move with boldness and speed in creating an AI-first HTX and an AI-enabled Home Team”.
Expanding on this was Director, AI Central and Deputy Chief AI Officer Lim Kian Boon, who pulled
up a scoreboard to show how the number of HTDs onboarded to the HTxAI movement, AI steering committees, product squads and use cases have grown exponentially in just six months.
Just before the lunch break, Chief Innovation Officer (CINO) and Director of xCloud Ng Pan Yong encouraged Xponents to “think innovation” while employing the three tech-tics.
“You miss 100 per cent of the
shots you don’t take,” he recounted a famous athlete’s quote as he motivated Xponents to overcome the forces holding back innovation, such as group think and confirmation bias.
Recognising excellence
The event
came to a close with the HTX Awards presentation, during which more than 400 Xponents took home accolades.
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