Safeguards needed for responsible use of defence innovations: Minister

More than 40 speakers from 14 countries are in Singapore for a summit to discuss the most pertinent challenges facing the global defence tech landscape.

- Mike Yeo

Organised by the Defence Science and Technology Agency (DSTA), the Singapore Defence Technology Summit (SDTS) 2025 is being held at the Shangri-La Singapore hotel from March 18 to March 20.

Speaking at the opening dinner on March 18, Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen said the summit, now in its fifth edition, is a platform for discussions on safeguards to ensure the responsible use of defence technology even as innovations are being shared by participants.

"This difficult tension with new discoveries—new technology, on the one hand, improving our lives, while on the other, potentially causing harm—is a recurrent theme in the progress of mankind," he said, citing the discovery of fire as an example.