Heng Swee Keat

Speaker at the St. Gallen Symposium

Heng Swee Keat is Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore. He is also Member of Parliament for East Coast GRC. Mr Heng is the Chairman of the National Research Foundation, which sets the direction for Singapore's research, innovation and enterprise (RIE) strategies. Mr Heng is overseeing the closer integration of our RIE and industry transformation efforts. He is also the Chairman of the Future Economy Advisory Panel, which provides expert advice to support Singapore’s next bound of economic growth and transformation. The FEAP will identify new growth areas where Singapore can be competitive and build capabilities in, to create better career prospects for our people. From 2017 to 2023, Mr Heng chaired the tripartite Future Economy Council (FEC) which oversaw the restructuring of our economy, design and implementation of national strategies in areas such as skills and capabilities development, innovation and productivity as well as the internationalisation of our companies. Mr Heng served as Minister for Education from 2011 to 2015. He also led the year-long Our Singapore Conversation from 2012 that helped to engage more than 47,000 Singaporeans from all walks of life through dialogues. Before entering politics in May 2011, Mr Heng was the Managing Director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore. He also served as Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Trade and Industry, as well as CEO of the then-Trade Development Board. Mr Heng has an MA in Economics from Cambridge University. He also holds a MPA from the Harvard Kennedy School.