Amazon Web Services (AWS) is giving Singapore’s Institutes of Higher Learning a stronger bridge from classroom coding to workplace-ready software skills, with its AI developer tool Kiro and a new AWSome Lab portal aimed at real business problems.
Eligible learners aged 18 and above across Singapore’s polytechnics, ITE colleges and universities will get 1,000 complimentary Kiro credits so they can take ideas from brief to working prototype with documentation and automated tests. The move provides students with more hands-on exposure to industry-style development, not just prompt-based AI experimentation.
“The difference between a student who can prompt AI and a student who can build with it professionally comes down to one question: can someone else pick up what they made and keep going? Vibe coding is telling a contractor to just start building. Spec-driven development is the blueprint that comes first — and what gets built with the blueprint is something a team, an employer or an SME can actually depend on,” said Elsie Tan, Country Manager of Worldwide Public Sector Singapore at AWS.
Republic Polytechnic has become the first IHL in Singapore to embed Kiro into its curriculum. It has used the tool in a two-day AI Product Bootcamp and final-year project work.
“By introducing Kiro, we get students to adopt a structured approach to define problem and design the solution before they build applications with AI. In this way, students gain hands-on experience tackling real-world challenges using industry-relevant tools while strengthening both their technical capabilities and confidence to become innovative problem-solvers,” said Wong Wai Ling, Director of School of Infocomm at Republic Polytechnic.
From classroom to industry
The new AWSome Lab portal, to be launched in July 2026, connects SMEs and enterprises with student-developed AI solutions, turning coursework into real-world problem solving. Students will get a more direct line to industry expectations while Singapore companies can explore AI ideas without needing to start from scratch.
A free educator workshop available in 11 languages helps lecturers teach the Kiro workflow and broader AI-native development lifecycle. This widens access beyond a single tool and makes the initiative more scalable across Singapore’s education system.
Entelechy Asia 