两女高管分享从事科技业心得 希望鼓励更多女性加入

(English Translation) 

Two female executives share their experiences in the technology industry and hope to encourage more women to join

Lynette Tan, CE of Singapore Space and Technology Ltd, has loved mathematics and science since she was a child, and it was natural for her to join the technology industry.

With a background in chemical engineering, she is currently promoting space technology in her work, including assisting countries lacking satellite communications during the coronavirus epidemic.

Lynette shared her experiences and insights of the technology industry at the online technology conference “AccelerateHer Asia” forum yesterday, hoping to encourage other women. Tan Kiat How, Minister of State of the Ministry of National Development and Ministry of Communications and Information, was the guest of the conference.

According to official statistics, 41% of the local technology industry is female. This is not only the highest rate in the region, but also higher than the global average of 28%.

Lynette said that to this day, people are still surprised that women are engaged in the science and technology industry, and even surprised that she is studying chemical engineering. But as more and more women join the science and technology industry, this is actually no surprise.

“Being a role model for others and being a member of the women’s space science and technology community gave me great encouragement.”

Singapore Space and Technology Ltd is a non-profit organisation. Lynette said that the company aims to connect space technology industry players with companies that need these technologies, and space technology is not just about going to space.

For example, she said, people can use space technology to transmit information across large areas, environmentally friendly agriculture methods, and use solar power to generate electricity.

Another forum guest, Chen Lizhou, an executive of Amazon Web Services, said that she was involved in the technology industry by coincidence.

After graduating from philosophy, she first worked as a civil servant, then joined a local information technology company, engaged in sales and business development, and then moved to a number of multinational companies.

Now at Amazon, she is responsible for contacting government agencies in Southeast Asia and assisting customers in using cloud technology to serve the people in education, health, and non-profit fields.

Chen Lizhou mentioned that in the company’s cloud innovation competition last year, local start-up company Graffiquo used Digital Twin technology to help the Cavayan Municipal Government in the Philippines to predict floods and deploy emergency services. She was very encouraged by the award.

The project was inspired by the disaster caused by the typhoon in Kavayan City in 2019. The three-dimensional digital map produced by the award-winning team can accurately analyze the terrain, infrastructure, bridges, houses and population density without on-site inspection, and predict floods by monitoring soil loss and river water volume.

Chen Lizhou said: “I didn’t expect that I would join the technology industry, but technology can bring social and economic contributions, and can become a bridge on the digital divide. These are the motivations that inspire me.”