Google Cloud and Digital Industry Singapore (DISG) have launched a new initiative to help 300 Singapore-based companies scale up their artificial intelligence (AI) efforts over the next year.
The “AI Cloud Takeoff” programme will support firms in building dedicated AI Centres of Excellence (CoEs) with assistance from DISG-appointed and Google Cloud-certified partners, including Accenture, AsiaPac, CloudMile, Deloitte, Kyndryl, NTT Data and Searce.
Each CoE is expected to drive AI adoption across business units, align use cases with strategic goals, and prioritise projects based on value potential, feasibility and execution. Participating companies will also be eligible for up to $500,000 in financial incentives, jointly provided by DISG and Google Cloud.
Funding will be tied to milestones, such as the development and testing of at least one minimum viable product (MVP) that addresses a high-impact use case in AI, generative AI or agentic AI, to be delivered within six months.
To qualify, companies must be considered “digitally mature.” That means committing at least three technical staff (such as cloud engineers, data analysts or machine learning practitioners) to the six-month programme, including a two-week AI capacity-building bootcamp led by Google Cloud experts. They must also have an executive sponsor within senior management and a defined AI use case ready for development, which can be further refined during the bootcamp.
To meet those milestones, participants will gain access to technical consultancy services to help them design a structured AI development blueprint, spanning data exploration, model training, deployment, and performance optimisation.
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They will also receive a government grant covering up to 70% of professional and cloud service costs (capped at $105,000) unlocked upon successful pilot of an MVP. This grant will support technical development using key technologies such as BigQuery and Vertex AI. Google Cloud will further provide up to $200,000 in on-demand training credits (i.e., Google Cloud Skills Boost for Organizations), facilitating employee upskilling and change management.
Once MVPs are proven and companies are ready to scale, they may unlock up to an additional $195,000 in credits for implementation support. This ensures that AI solutions are interoperable with existing workflows, grounded in company-approved data sources, and adhere to strict data privacy and AI governance standards.
The AI Cloud Takeoff (AI CTO) is the pioneering programme under the Singapore Government’s Enterprise Compute Initiative, which aims to bring together cloud service providers and IT consulting partners to accelerate AI-driven transformation for businesses.
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“AI CTO is a powerful launchpad for companies on the AI innovation journey, from early experimentation to full-scale transformation,” says Senior Minister of State for the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) and the Ministry of Culture, Community, and Youth (MCCY) Low Yen Ling, at the launch of the programme this morning.
Building on the success of the pilot
The launch of AI Cloud Takeoff (AI CTO) builds on the success of the initial pilot programme conducted with 30 companies in November 2024. The trial helped validate the programme framework and offered valuable insights that informed the design of the broader Enterprise Compute Initiative.
“Our successful pilot with Google Cloud laid a strong foundation, enabling Singapore-based companies to harness tailored AI solutions that enhance operational efficiency and strengthen global competitiveness. Through the Enterprise Compute Initiative, we’re excited by the potential for hundreds of Singapore-based enterprises to be enabled by AI – driving innovation, productivity gains, and sustainable growth across industries,” says Philbert Gomez, senior vice president as well as head and executive director at DISG.
Among the early participants was Seaco, which worked with CloudMile to develop a multilingual, multimodal AI agent that automates container damage classification and repair notifications. Now, depot staff simply upload photos of containers and add voice notes via mobile devices. The AI agent (built using Google Cloud’s platform) detects and qualifies damage, extracts insights from voice inputs, and generates structured instructions that integrate directly into Seaco’s cloud-based SAP ERP system.
“AI CTO brought structure to our AI innovation pipeline. We created a DevHack initiative for employees to surface grassroots innovation and pilot AI use cases, and my team’s focus is to help Seaco boost productivity, improve operational efficiency, and increase revenue. The automation of about 220,000 annual container inspections was a high-value use case that emerged directly from DevHack. The ease of integrating Google Cloud platform capabilities proved essential in creating an agentic solution that’s available to all our partners anywhere in the world,” says Damian Leach, Seaco’s chief information officer.
Another pilot participant, YCH Group, collaborated with Kyndryl to embed next-generation AI into its off-airport cargo terminal operations at Vietnam SuperPort, a multimodal logistics hub developed by YCH and T&T Group.
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Using Google Cloud’s Document AI Workbench, the team built a custom AI agent to extract critical details from various cargo documents (including bills of lading, packing lists, and customs declarations) in formats ranging from PDFs to handwritten notes. The agent cross-checks entries against regulatory requirements to ensure compliance.
YCH and Kyndryl also developed an object detection agent trained with Google Cloud’s AutoML models to recognise prohibited goods. It scans X-ray images, flags violations, and alerts cargo handlers to stop shipments as needed.
“These innovations are expected to boost staff productivity by up to 35% and cut errors by 50%, greatly enhancing port efficiency, security, and regional delivery speed,” says Dr. Yap Kwong Weng, chief executive officer of Vietnam SuperPort.
Serene Sia, Google Cloud’s country director for Singapore and Malaysia, added that the AI CTO programme builds on the momentum created by earlier initiatives such as AI Trailblazers, which introduced enterprises to the potential of AI.
“With companies now pursuing more advanced, purpose-built solutions to unlock greater value, they must address new challenges like building robust data-to-AI pipelines, fostering a learning culture, securing internal buy-in, prioritising the right use cases, and integration with existing systems. With DISG, we've designed AI CTO to help these firms implement a practical roadmap for holistic transformation, empowering them to scale enterprise AI innovation with confidence and readiness," she says.
