SAP shows off SEA ambition with SG$250m innovation hub and 500 new roles

Posted on March 28, 2022 by Design in Design Innovation | 0 Comments

SAP has launched a digital innovation hub known as SAP Labs Singapore to drive product leadership, foster local digital talent, and boost ecosystem and community engagement. With support from EDB, this SG$250 million investment will see SAP Labs Singapore employ more than 500 highly skilled digital professionals locally by 2025. This will double its existing team of product engineering professionals in Singapore, who will be located at SAP’s newly revamped regional headquarters located at Pasir Panjang.

SAP plans to recruit early digital talent from Singapore’s local universities and institutions of higher learning, with a focus on software engineers and areas including AI, data analytics, cloud, and sustainability.

According to the company, this hub will be the first in Southeast Asia for SAP with the aim of catalysing deep technology such as AI and machine learning and advancing transformative digital supply chain, intelligent business network and sustainability solutions. MARKETING-INTERACTIVE has reached out to SAP for additional information.

Manik Saha, newly appointed MD for SAP Labs Singapore, said by investing in diverse local early talent pool in Singapore, the new hub aims to strengthen the engineering core in Singapore, and create more high-skill, high-value career opportunities and paths for Singapore residents. “This will in turn spur product innovation for Singapore and rest of Asia, while delivering best-in-class solutions and sustainable products for organisations in the region,” added Saha. Prior to his appointment, Saha was the strategic partner for SAP Product Engineering and CIO for SAP APJ.

This comes shortly after SAP, Qualtrics, and EDB collaborated to launch a dedicated Experience Management centre of excellence in Singapore last month. The SG$14.1 million initiative aims to establish Singapore as a regional hub for experience management and is touted to be the first of its kind.

The centre aims to develop the XM discipline in Singapore, build professional capabilities for XM locally, foster a community of XM professionals to further the category, and enable organisations to use experience as a key competitive differentiator.

SAP Singapore’s MD, Eileen Chua, explained that with the support from EDB and its Centre for XM Innovation in Asia as well as SAP Labs Singapore, the company continues to cement its position as a leader in innovation and remains committed to collaborating with its customers, partners, and community to harness cloud technology to accelerate growth in the digital economy.

SAP currently has 1,100 employees in Singapore, with clients including Changi Airport Group, Hilleman Laboratories, JUMBO Group, Love Bonito, PCI Private Limited, Singapore LNG Corporation, Singapore Exchange, and Sunningdale Tech.