SINGAPORE, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Heng Swee Keat has said that Singapore was committed to building a strong ecosystem so as to support innovation in the aviation industry.
He said on Monday evening at the opening ceremony for the Singapore Airshow 2020 that the ecosystem would be made up of academics, businesses and other partners, locally, with the region, and beyond, to promote research, innovation and enterprise and to encourage the cross-pollination of ideas and translation of ideas into action.
The ecosystem is expected to address issues common to the global aviation industry, such as reducing the environmental impact of aviation and improving travel efficiency.
Heng said that innovation had opened up many possibilities in the aviation sector, as additive manufacturing, big data, and automation were transforming how aircrafts are built, operated and maintained. Meanwhile, innovation had also disrupted business models in ways people would never have imagined.
"In the future, the concept of 'air taxis' or 'urban air mobility' can dramatically change how people travel and how we design our cities, just as how the invention of automobiles created the suburbs," he added.
The Singapore Airshow 2020 will proceed from Feb. 11 to 16. Before declaring open of the biennial event, Heng called on aviation industry insiders to continue to invest in innovation, skills and infrastructure, and to make adjustments to the business plans and step-up the safeguards in response to the coronavirus outbreak.
Vincent Chong, Chairman of the airshow organizer Experia Events, said that Singapore Airshow 2020 would have over 930 participating companies from all over the world and 40,000 trade visitors as estimated.
