IfG.CC - The Institute for eGovernment

According to The Economist Intelligence Unit’s global technological rankings for 2018-2022, Singapore ranks as one of the top Asian location for technological readiness. The country climbs up two spots from its ranking at number three in 2017. It shares its number one spot with Australia and Sweden, the latter holding the top spot for the last four years.

A study showed that there are about US$1.1 billion worth of potential Infocomm Technology (ICT) opportunities from about 100 projects funded by international organisations (IORGs), with the World Bank (WB) as the major source. Commissioned by International Enterprise (IE) Singapore and conducted by Development Finance International[1], the findings came from a research study to identify the current addressable ICT market from the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and African Development Bank[2]. Singapore’s ICT players will be looking to capture some of the US$1.1 billion IORG-funded projects, especially in the e-Government (e-Gov) area, where Singapore is a renowned leader.

Singapore ranked #1 in the '2011 Network Society Index' that was recently presented at Ericsson's Business Innovation Forum in Silicon Valley, USA. The index is based on a comprehensive analysis of 25 global cities across 26 parameters that measure the social, economic and environmental benefits of ICT investments. Singapore topped the Index with a score of 66 points. Singapore also ranked second in the world and first in Asia in the 2011 Global Information Technology Report's 'Networked Readiness Index'.

According to a press release from Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s Office, the MCI will “oversee the development of the infocomm technology, media and design sectors; the national and public libraries; as well as Government’s information and public communications policies.”

Dr Yaacob Ibrahim, the current Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts, is set to head MCI as the Minister for Communications and Information.

Singapore has been highly committed to ensuring government services are accessible online to both citizens and businesses and it takes particular pride in the country's high e-government rankings among its global peers. Its e-services, however, still lack integration and adoption among the silver generation.

During a media Q&A held here today, James Kang, assistant chief executive of government chief information office at IDA, said Singapore had a low number of products and services in the global e-government landscape, noting that this was "ironic" as the city-state was placed in leading positions in several global indexes on e-government.

Singapore is a leader when it comes to e-government implementation, but services can still be improved by integrating standalone systems internally to offer more convenience to citizens as well as with counterpart sites overseas to lower the costs of doing business.

The Singapore e-Government Leadership Centre (eGL) at the National University of Singapore's Institute of Systems Science (NUS-ISS) and National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) under the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, government of India, have come together to collaborate with each other over skilling initiatives for India's workforce.

The two parties signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to enhance the skills in India's workforce during Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Singapore from May 31 to June 2, 2018. They will work together to develop and implement skill development programmes across emerging technology areas like Data Analytics, Artificial Intelligence and Robotics. They will also cooperate and collaborate further especially in the areas of vocational training on new-age technologies, training of trainers and assessors, and promoting lifelong learning.

"Earning the UN e-Government Survey 2012 Special Award further solidifies Singapore's place in the international market as a creator and driver of e-Government initiatives," said Kevin Chan, Centre Director Designate, Middle East, IDA Singapore.

Clarence Wu, vice president and general manager for GE Healthcare IT in the Asia-Pacific region, told ZDNet Asia healthcare regimes in the region tend to be less fragmented and governments are typically a "heavily involved" stakeholder.

“By 2016, we will have an integrated online learning portal for all our primary and secondary school students. This is a most invigorating prospects, but I want to say, it is not just about using technology more. Ultimately it is about how we use technology to bring out the heart of education,” said Heng in a Facebook post this week.

Heng laid down four key principles that he thinks will guide the Ministry moving forward.

Singapore’s Infocomm Development Authority launched a data-sharing challenge to encourage the use of private sector datasets.

The Data Discovery Challenge, launched last week, aims to promote the combination of private and public datasets to develop products and services that can benefit businesses and the public.

Vital will be providing services to the government agencies that are using the Alliance for Corporate Excellence (ACE) system, a shared HR and Finance IT system which was also used by 11 government agencies in the country from 2010. These services will be delivered more efficiently by Vital using the shared platform.

NEA has, early this month, started using the ACE system and Vital said three more agencies will proceed to use the system this year.

More than three-quarters of the local executives in the private sector surveyed agreed that technology will be critical to their organisation's ability to adapt to new business models and implement strategies. This was echoed by respondents in the public sector, where 91 per cent agreed that technology will be critical to their organisation's ability to achieve its mission.

Singapore has slipped to fourth place from third in the Cloud Readiness Index 2012, dragged down by below average scores in data privacy, and power grid and green policy.

According to the report by Asia's Cloud Computing Association (ACCA) released Tuesday, the country scored the highest in areas such as data sovereignty, e-government and ICT prioritization, and intellectual property (IP) protection. It ranked second international connectivity and fourth for broadband quality.

IDA International Pte Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of IDA Singapore, is a new company has been set up to help export Singapore Public Service Infocomm solutions.

The city-state has been working with the government of Oman since 2007, a relationship which has seen Singaporean companies help build Oman’s IT capability in the education, healthcare, tourism and finance sectors.