Singapore is well-suited for this role because it is ranked second worldwide - and first in Asia - in e-government services by leading consultancy Accenture.
The agency surveyed 22 countries that offer e-government services last year and found Singapore ranked second - behind Canada - in offering Internet-based government services. Singapore's overall e-government maturity score for 2003 was 61.16 per cent, just ahead of the US with 60.14 per cent but well behind Canada's 71.34 per cent.
'IDA led about 10 companies to the Bangalore IT.Com mega trade show in November 2003 to help Singapore companies connect with their Indian counterparts for business opportunities,' said Mohan Mirwani, centre director of IDA's India operations.
'The Singapore companies included Crimson Logic, Eutech Cybernetics, FirstApex, Genovate Solutions, NCS, Pacific Internet, Stratech Systems and System Access.' Mr Mirwani said three other local companies - iSoftel, Xinergy 21, and Clear Data Voice - have set up shop in India.
'Singapore is the gateway hub to help Indian companies reach out to the entire South-east Asia region,' he said. 'There are already about 300 Indian companies in Singapore and IDA is looking for more to join.'
Seah Chin Siong, Accenture's partner for government practice, said Singapore's eCitizen portal - www.ecitizen.gov.sg - receives 4.2 million hits a month on average.
'The eCitizen portal has more than 1,000 services available online, with 60 per cent of these services allowing transactions to be done without the need to visit a government office,' Mr Seah, who managed the Singapore side of the global study, said.
Singapore is investing big bucks in keeping its lead in e-government, according to research house International Data Corp (IDC).
'On a per capita basis, Singapore's e-government spending ranks highest among Asia-Pacific countries,' said Nathan Midler, an Internet analyst with IDC Asia-Pacific. 'We estimate that Singapore was set to spend US$780 million on e-government in 2003, up 30 per cent over 2002.'
Most governments in the Asia-Pacific are keen to beef up e-government offerings to their citizens and are willing to spend to make it happen. Mr Midler said China was set to spend US$9.38 billion - and Australia about US$3.26 billion - on public sector IT initiatives in 2003.
Quelle: Business Times Singapore, 06.01.2004
