Singapore has made significant progress over the years to realise its Smart Nation vision. Today, it is recognised as a city-state that is effectively harnessing technology to transform how its people and businesses live, work and play. Since a Smart Nation journey is continuous, what else should Singapore do to become a smart city with endless possibilities? Leaders from various industries share their thoughts.

Glenn Gore, CEO, Affinidi

As one of the leading smart nations globally, Singapore is uniquely positioned to capitalise on the potential for progress in digital identity. In a world where privacy and control over personal data are diminishing, legacy platforms often require individuals to give up their privacy and data for access. Whether it's booking a ride-hail service or shopping online, our digital identities are fragmented across numerous platforms, depriving us of control and ownership over our digital selves.

At Affinidi, we envision a world where individuals own and control their data by establishing end-to-end network trust in data and fostering a privacy-preserving, open, interoperable, and portable data exchange experience across borders and industries. As reliance on digital services becomes more prominent in line with rapid digitalisation, together with Singapore, we can create a future where individuals thrive in a smart nation while maintaining control over their digital identities.

Andy Sim, vice president and managing director for Singapore, Dell Technologies

As emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), 5G, edge and machine Learning converge, they will enable new capabilities that power the development of cities.

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In cities such as Singapore, the urban ecosystem is complex, interconnected and dynamic. To help Singapore further its Smart Nation vision, we need to maximise the value of data, which forms the backbone of these cities of the future. Doing so requires an iterative transformation framework across people, process and technology. We need to equip people with the right skillsets, develop an agile mindset to pursue an outcome-focused and iterative process, and harness a modern, secure, open and scalable technology approach.

Ensuring trust and safety is one of the focus areas for the next phase of development for Singapore’s Smart Nation vision, and it requires proactive collaboration between the government, the wider industry, and organisations, especially tech companies, to build a nation that is not just smart, but safe for all.

Fuji Foo, chief executive officer, EVCo

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In support of Singapore’s vision of becoming a world-class, tech-driven city-state, EVCo will enable businesses to switch to a fully electric fleet of vehicles in a seamless manner, shaping mobility for a greener future.

At EVCo, technology and digitalisation underscore our key commitment to enable decarbonisation for our B2B and B2G customers. We are building an ecosystem to accelerate transition to cleaner energy transportation, and we want to help as many companies as possible and transition their existing fleets to EVs quickly and productively.

EVCo offers flexible electric mobility services for companies that want to accelerate the decarbonisation of their vehicle usage, while enhancing their productivity and efficiency. AI and data analytics are some key technologies that drive the operationalisation of EVs, optimisation of assets and resources.

With services that are tailored for operational needs and scalable according to phases of business growth, we will help companies to focus on their core business and, at the same time, achieve their sustainability aspirations.

Simon Chan, managing director – Sales, Marketing & Communications Group for Southeast Asia, South Asia and ANZ, Intel

Singapore’s Smart Nation journey recognises AI as the next frontier of technology opportunities, as it is poised to augment and enhance various aspects of our lives, leading to a growing demand for AI skills across industries that require critical thinking and creativity.

Intel shares this vision and has developed and implemented various Digital Readiness Programs across the Asia Pacific region in collaboration with governments, academia, civil society, and industry to help create a more digitally inclusive and equitable society. These programmes help demystify and democratise technologies like AI for diverse and non-technical audiences, irrespective of their location, gender, and ethnicity to help accelerate a more connected and digitally enabled future for everyone. In Singapore specifically, we have introduced programmes such as AI for Youth, AI for Citizens, AI for Current Workforce, and AI for Future Workforce.

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By prioritising digital readiness and emphasising human capabilities in AI development, Singapore can maintain its global competitiveness as a Smart Nation and lead in leveraging emerging technologies for economic growth and societal progress.

Ronald Tan, country director for Singapore, Veritas Technologies

To progress further as a Smart Nation, it is critical for Singapore to create new opportunities with the use of technology. For instance, businesses can embrace autonomous cloud data management to enhance their operational efficiency and unlock new opportunities by focusing on more transformative activities. Deploying a multi-cloud strategy will also help to bolster cyber resilience and keep critical sectors such as healthcare and transportation humming seamlessly.

Notwithstanding the promises of technology, Singapore must not lose sight of the need to balance between innovation and security risks, especially when cyber-criminals are enabling technology for bad. There are also growing fears that new technologies such as AI are replacing human roles or sparking ethical concerns when applied in certain areas such as law enforcement.

Drawing lessons from the recent spate of CPF malware scams, it is imperative for Singapore to implement long-term preventive measures and public education with urgency to safeguard our digital spaces. Our smart nation’s efforts will be derailed if citizens start to lose trust and shy away from digitalisation as the best form of defence.

Tan Siew San, country leader for Singapore, VMware

Embracing emerging technologies like AI, blockchain, and IoT and adopting a cloud-smart approach while simultaneously playing offence and defence can help Singapore enhance its digital capabilities, accelerate innovation across various sectors, empower the distributed workforce and stay competitive in an increasingly uncertain world.

From an offence standpoint, a cloud-smart strategy enables organisations to modernise and automate their entire infrastructure, optimise efficiency, and proactively leverage the emerging technologies for greater growth and digital transformation. On the defence side, a cloud-smart strategy can provide enhanced security measures and cost-efficiency, particularly with cloud platforms that offer built-in security features, such as zero-trust model.

Additionally, a cloud-smart strategy also offers greater visibility and control over cloud spend. By optimising cloud resources and utilising tools for monitoring and cost management, businesses can effectively manage their cloud expenses and achieve their strategic objectives whilst navigating the evolving digital landscape.

Moving to the next phase of Smart Nation (Part 2)

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