In Pursuit of a Smart Nation
Singapore Envisions to be
a City of the Future
On March 30 to 31, 2016,
Singapore held one of Southeast
Asia's biggest technology events
this year, the Internet of Things
(IoT) Asia 2016 Expo. More than
20 sponsors backed the event
including leading ICT companies
Intel, Accenture and IBM. The
two-day affair gathered more than
60 exhibitors and around 2,500
participants to unite Singaporeans
on the future of the Internet of
Things in the Asian region.
But the gathering did not stop at a
lively discussion of the future. It
was a preparation.
In 2014, Singapore Prime Minister
Lee Hsien Loong, signaled the
intention of the city-state to be the
region's "smart nation." And by
smart, it doesn't just mean
educating children. In this case, he
intended this as a sign to upgrade
Singapore into a world-class
"smart city" that employs the
Internet of Things as a key driver in
running the whole country.
The ambition of the country's chief
was nonetheless supported by
Singapore's Foreign Minister,
Vivian Balakrishnan, who is now
spearheading the "Singapore
Smart Nation" initiative. In his
opening remarks during the IoT
event, he highlighted the country's
Photo by Simon Gray from www.freeimages.com
role in paving the digital silk road
of the future. This could mean that
the country intends to be a worldclass smart city model in the
ASEAN Region and to the world.
Balakrishnan's bold ambition
comes with the financial figures to
back him up. The government has
allocated S$19 billion for research
and development in the next five
years. That's a fairly large amount
in comparison to the S$22 billion
spent in the last 10 years in R&D.
Nonetheless, the budget itself
speaks a lot for a country that
anchors itself to science and
technology development.
A vision for tomorrow's cities
In the world of technology, the Internet of Things is the next phase in urban development. The phrase has been
abuzz since 2014 with claims from the World Economic Forum that around 50 billion things will be connected by
2020. This means that gadgets will be able to communicate, not just smartphones and computers, but also lamp
posts, appliances, and even light bulbs.
In the case of Singapore, this means that their already organized system of running the city will be further refined
with the support of technology through the IoT. Balakrishnan outlined that in the future, he envisions a Singapore
that is able to:
Control autonomous vehicles to help citizens commute more efficiently
Leverage on the use of robots to accomplish routine tasks and jobs
Manage street lighting individually and remotely
Utilize sensors to gather city data
cont...
Asean Life APR 2016 29