IfG.CC - The Institute for eGovernment

The Singaporean government yesterday launched Government Technology Agency (GovTech), a government body specifically aimed to carry out digital transformation and make government services more user-friendly.

With a team of 1,800 data scientists, technologists and engineers, the agency has been established to provide engineering support to smart nation projects and refresh old e-government services.

Singapore is the only Asian city among the top five smartest cities in the world in 2024.

The index, produced by the Swiss business school Institute for Management Development (IMD), lists 142 cities in all, ranking them on the basis of how they use advanced technology for improvement in the lives of the citizens.

The IMD said that its Smart City Index (SCI) “has now reached what can be considered as its stable configuration” following the methodological changes made in 2023.

Over the past two years, the Fourth Industrial Revolution has seen a national artificial intelligence (AI) strategy as a prerequisite for digital competitiveness and a key pillar of national governance. Last week, Singapore has gained global attention by announcing a new, revised national AI plan.

Singapore, together with the UAE, was one of the first countries to declare, back in 2017, a regional AI plan. The latest one, launched on the last day of last week’s FinTech Festival in Singapore by Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat, is comprehensive and zero-in on some clear national targets. It also leverages investments in education, technology development, infrastructure and entrepreneurship already made by the government.

Much of the initiative to export Singapore’s success in the ICT arena comes from IDA International that was set up as an arm of the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore in February 2009. IDA International is the first such government initiative in the public service ICT space worldwide and is attracting interest from both big and small countries.

The formation of SESA was officially announced in Singapore in July 2007. The alliance is part of the International Partners (iPartners) programme initiated by International Enterprise (IE) Singapore1, an agency under Singapore's ministry of trade and industry.

Singapore’s Housing Development Board (HDB) will pilot the use of sensors to support elderly citizens, it was announced this week.

The scheme will place sensors around people’s homes to watch for irregular patterns in their behaviour, the Prime Minister said. If changes occur, neighbours and family members can be alerted - allowing technology to augment the government’s care for an ageing population.

The Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) today launched the Infocomm Experience Centre (iExperience), to showcase possibilities and benefits of Next Generation (Next Gen) services to the public and businesses.

Located at the Esplanade Xchange, the centre comprises interactive and engaging exhibits designed to educate and excite visitors through a hands-on experience.

Speaking at a domestic infocomm security seminar, Tan stressed that cyber attacks pose a potential threat to the island state as the development of the country depends heavily on the cyber networks and infocomm technology.

Salesforce's Lindsey Armstrong notes that the Cloud 2 capability is one that is inherently social, collaborative, and delivers real-time access to data and information across new mobile devices.

'The first phase of cloud computing was about leveraging technologies that were low cost, fast, and easy to use on your desktop,' Ms Armstrong, Salesforce's executive VP for Asia-Pacific and Japan, informs BizIT.

Acting Minister Lui Tuck Yew announced the launch of the Singapore Internet Exchange (SGIX), which will provide a highly efficient facility for telcos to share information between their subscribers and improve the quality and speed of broadband for Singapore users.

The initiative is part of the government’s efforts to develop the ICT sector to achieve economic growth, bridge social divides and deliver more effective government services.

The NSC today launched its online Patient Health Portal, the first for a health institution in Singapore, and possibly in Asia that will enable patients to conduct a variety of tasks related to their treatments, said Dr Steven Thng, consultant at the National Skin Centre.

“The benefit includes corresponding with the healthcare team via email about medication, treatment and procedure queries,” he said.

While the rest of the world is still getting used to the idea of the “smart” home, Singapore is already moving on to the next step: the “smart” city.

The Southeast Asian city-state is hard at work on a new, 42,000-home “eco town” of Tengah, according to CNN. The settlement, which will have a car-free city center and homes that feature centralized cooling and automated trash pickup, won’t just be a place for its citizens to live and work; it could also help establish a blueprint for other urban centers looking to reduce carbon emissions in the decades to come.

In a country where over 80% of residents live in public housing, a government commitment to sustainable urban design could have huge implications. And when it's a tropical country where convenience and air conditioning are a way of life, the impact could be greater still.

Promising 42,000 new homes across five residential districts, the eco-town of Tengah -- the Malay word for "middle," though it's in the island's western region -- will be the 24th new settlement built by Singapore's government since World War II. It is, however, the first with centralized cooling, automated trash collection and a car-free town center, which conservationists hope offers a roadmap for slashing carbon emissions in the Southeast Asian city-state.

From 1 September 2018, CorpPass will be the only method for businesses to transact with essential government services.

For businesses or private entities in Singapore to transact with online government services, a digital identity is bestowed upon them. With CorpPass, company secretaries or treasurers need not provide their personal identification when representing the company. The ambition for clear delineation was in order since September 2016. However, companies still had the option of using authorised third-party methods such as SingPass and EASY (e-Services Authorisation System).

Hong Kong’s post-pandemic economic recovery will take time, so the government should be more proactive in exporting its expertise in smart cities, which will bring new and huge business opportunities to different sectors.

Singapore has demonstrated how to make good use of its experience to boost the economy. For example, the Singapore Land Authority, which facilitates the effective use of geospatial data in Singapore and was a co-creator of the impressive real-time, interactive 3D map Virtual Singapore, has gone one step further and created business potential by sharing this experience with other countries.

A global study of 34 nations saw the government here ranked highest on optimising productivity of ministries and departments through the use of infocomm technology. It was also singled out for 'big progress' on its government online portals.

Singapore is the smartest city in the world for the third year running, according to this year's Smart City Index.

Published by Swiss business school Institute of Management Development (IMD) and the Singapore University of Technology and Design last Thursday (Oct 28), the index ranks 118 cities by how "smart" they are.

PDPA, that was first announced last October and to come into full effect from 2 July 2014, establishes a new general data protection law in Singapore, which governs the collection, use and disclosure of individuals’ personal data by organisation.

The consolidation effort – or Standard ICT Operating Environment (SOEasy) programme – involves a basic suite of applications and services which are fundamental and commonly used by all agencies. Plus each agency can select modules or blocks of applications to customise a solution that meets its distinct need, Lim Hup Seng, Deputy Secretary (Performance), Ministry of Finance (MOF), said.

FOR the fourth year in a row, Singapore has maintained its No 2 position in the global e-government rankings of 22 countries which offer some measure of electronic government services.