Using technology to change lives Sunday, 18 July 2010 03:08

By Pramod Prabhakaran

It is one thing to boast about having cutting edge technology solutions and another to use it for the development of people – to make day-to-day life easier. Singapore has done pioneering services in the field of e-Governance. They have managed to connect the whole island and its citizens to a single network through which they are dispensing various services, which is the perfect example of marrying technology with everyday life.

Some of the technological solutions on offer may not be state-of-the-art, which even the officials agree, but the way they harnessed technology to lift the lives of the people is commendable and any state or government can learn from these projects.

Many countries are engaging citizens through various e-government operations. What sets Singapore apart is the way they are integrating various arms of the government and involving citizens in these programmes to leverage the maximum out of technology.

They are not shying away from learning from the experiments of other nations in various sectors and are also involving new age entities like social networking sites to get the young involved in the nation building process.

Singapore government has set up a department, Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA), which looks into these programmes by which they are trying to implement their vision of developing Singapore into an intelligent nation - a global city, powered by Infocomm.

To achieve this goal a programme named iN2015 was launched in 2006 with a target date of 2015. IDA works as a catalyst to help integrate various arms of government and industry and bring about a seamless approach to harness technology. The success of these programmes can be gauged by spending a few days in this island nation.

“Singapore continues to perform well in the various international rankings for infocomm. In general, Singapore has usually been the top ranked country in Asia and in the top 10 globally. In particular, Singapore has performed well in the e-government area, topping the Waseda University World e-Gov ranking in 2009 and 2010, and the government readiness sub-index in the WEF Global IT report.  In the recently released IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook 2010 Report, Singapore gained two places to be ranked in first position,” said Ronnie Tay, Chief Executive Officer, IDA.

You can see that technology has percolated into every aspect of their life.

In its effort to get everyone on to the Internet bandwagon and to make them use the various facilities on offer, Singapore government through IDA has made the whole island one big hotspot. 7,500 plus free wifi hotspots in and around the city helps you stay connected.

With a mobile penetration of more than 137 percent and craze for smart phones, especially iPhones, getting the citizens onto the network is not a problem, keeping them engaged is. The IDA has thought about that also and has incubated many companies who are developing mobile content solutions. The initial support is very crucial that is helping companies come up with out-of-the box products and solutions. This has helped them develop lot of applications based on new-age mobile phones. Lot of Singapore based firms are doing innovative work in the m-Gov segment, which is going to be the next big thing as smart phones are becoming the norm.

In addition to all this the IDA is busy connecting the whole city to a new broadband infrastructure, which can eventually deliver downlink access speeds of 1Gbps and more per end-user connection.

Once this network is complete the end-user will be entering a new world of connectivity. Many facilities which are already in existence like video-calling, consulting a doctor over the Internet and e-learning will get a new lease of life. Clogged networks and access problems made people reluctant to use these facilities. With the new generation network Singapore is hoping to overcome the problem of accessibility.

To get everyone on to the bandwagon fibre is laid till your door step for free, provided you sign up in the early stage.

“Singapore’s Next Gen NBN is a strategic enabler that will transform our economy and society. Businesses can exploit the reach and richness enabled by Next Gen NBN to enhance their services to customers and create new market opportunities,” said an official.

Beyond faster download and upload speeds, the availability of pervasive, cost-effective and ultra-high speed broadband will unveil greater opportunities. Businesses will find it more cost-effective to access next generation services such as cloud computing, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and other bandwidth-intensive remote back-up and collaborations that will help increase their operational efficiency. For example, companies will be able to leverage applications such as high-definition video conferencing and real-time collaboration platforms with employees from home or at remote sites. This will not only help reduce costs, but also enable interaction with partners and potential customers around the world.

“The Next Gen NBN will transform the way we go about our daily lives through richer media delivery, seamless communications, networked equipment and appliances. It is expected that service providers can provide innovative services such as interactive IPTV, telehealth, remote office, and hi-definition video conference to consumers. They can also enjoy benefits such as enhanced interactivity and collaboration from the comfort of their homes.” Most Gulf countries can adapt a lot of these programmes in the e-Gov segment implemented by Singapore. The international wing of IDA is already coordinating with many countries in this region to help them adapt the e-Gov practices and facilities introduced in Singapore.

IDA International was established in February 2009 to provide e-Government consultancy to foreign governments and to support the implementation of infocomm solutions overseas.  IDA-I has provided local companies market connections to countries as far as the Caribbean, Africa and South America which are interested in adopting and adapting Singapore’s experience in using ICT solutions to provide world-class public services.

“To help more of our local companies make inroads into overseas markets, IDA has in place various internationalisation programmes.  “Made-in-Singapore” infocomm solutions have earned a good reputation for being of high quality. To extend this mindshare internationally, the Infocomm Singapore Brand was created to help iLEs market their products and solutions overseas. The Overseas Development Programme or ODP serves as a platform for iLEs to team up with leading infocomm MNCs to establish an international presence,” said Ronnie Tay.

IDA is already working with ictQatar in various projects like eSchoolBag.

In 2006, Amdon, a singapore based e-content solution provider, was appointed by ictQatar as the provider of e-content for its inaugural e-Schoolbag initiative in Independent Schools. e-Schoolbag is a concept of using the tablet PC to drive instruction for each student in and outside of the classroom.

In this project, Amdon developed the necessary interactive content covering English, Mathematics and Science, specifically for use on the tablet PC and the interactive whiteboard.

Many other Singapore firms are working along with various government departments in Qatar to introduce e-Gov facilities. According to Shaik Umar Abdul Salam, Centre Director (Middle East) International Operations, IDA, “Qatar is moving forward at a great pace in offering various e-Gov services. We are partnering with various Qatar bodies to share our experience in this field and are helping them adapt the right processes and technologies.”

The public-private partnership followed by Singapore is a great model to achieve inclusive growth. The govt plays the role of a strong and nurturing mentor and the private sector is allowed to compete and blossom within a set framework and government arms like IDA helps promote the brand Singapore products and services internationally.

THE PENINSULA

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