GI reflects: How paradigms in learning and innovation have evolved in the last decade

Innovation and education go hand-in-hand.  

Innovation requires knowledge and insights while education expands this knowledge base, providing the raw material from which new ideas and solutions can be developed. There cannot be one without the other. 

The digitalisation of government services and operations in the past decade has spun new paradigms in the way public officials perceive and refine almost every aspect of public service delivery. 

Most notably, digital government is a uniquely level playing field, where nimble and lean bureaucracies are just as likely to set the pace as the world’s largest economic actors. 

Public service over the next decade will be defined by the extent that governments globally can cooperate, co-create, and learn from the trove of challenges and wins.

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What we mean when we talk about innovation (cont’d) 

Around 10 years ago, a community platform was founded with a bold mission to support public servants across Asia Pacific in helping them create a better society. 

The premise was simple (enough). Public officials could solve the big problems of the next decade and by publishing stories and hosting events on public sector innovation, article-by-article and venue to venue, government innovators could get together and solve their problems, share their stories, and build the best for citizens. 

One of the first stories to hit the web under the GovInsider banner explored the changing sentiments towards innovation, from 16th century Europe where innovation was surrounded in folklore and dogmatic superstitions to 18th century American with a forewarning by George Washington on innovation’s place in politics. 

The coverage that followed kept up with the landscape of public sector innovation capturing important milestones and insights into the field like the establishment of new authorities, behind-the-scenes at innovation labs, exclusive interviews with key opinion leaders, self-published market reports, everyday innovation projects, and even internal coverage of GovInsider’s inaugural innovation event, (now known as the Festival of Innovation,) to name a few. 

It feels strange (and almost chilling) to say that the definition of innovation between 2015 and 2025 seems to have taken another evolution in the short window. 

With today’s innovations broaching the realms of artificial general intelligence (AGI), quantum computing, and digital twins, comparing what qualified as “hard” innovations 10 years ago with today is like night and day. 

That is not to trivialise the innovations of before, but rather to spotlight the somewhat compounding or even exponential rate of innovation that we could witness over the next ten years. 

Moreover, the discourse surrounding innovation seemed to have prompted a more “inward” look into why’s and how’s of innovation methodology. We believe that this reflects the diversity of citizens in today’s world and accordingly the need for innovations to serve the whole spectrum of society. 

The advent of AI especially seems to bring the promise of innovations that can provide outcomes for citizens on an equitable and scalable level.  

The role of public servants then is now more than ever key in ensuring that the innovations of today are translated services and outcomes that benefit all members of society.

Learning for the future 

The digital era took most aspects of our life by storm. For better or worse, different sectors and industries adopted strategies to adapt to the changing landscape. Singapore’s education and talent sphere is one such case.  

A decade ago, Singapore introduced work-study programmes that set the tone for a vision of learning that extended beyond the classroom: lifelong learning.  

The now well-known SkillsFuture Programme started in 2015 as a way of helping Singaporeans aged 25 and above to access education and training in different sectors. Institutes of higher learning (IHL) were encouraged to create collaborations with industries and businesses as a way of developing internships and preparing for in-demand roles. 

These initiatives began to emphasise broad-based digital skills and industrial practice as the building blocks of continuous learning, already sensing the need for upskilling for the years to come.  

The pandemic accelerated digital transformation needs. Educational policies started to focus on how to prepare students for the unpredictable, and universities began to introduce emerging technologies to enhance remote learning. 

The work of the past five years advanced with new demands, particularly for mid-careerists and roles that had been impacted by the shifting economic demands of the time. 

This resulted in more targeted support for different age groups as a way of ensuring job permanence – an effort that continues today. Last year, Singapore launched a collaboratory for adult learning to meet future workforce needs. 

Thanks to the building blocks that established the infrastructure for lifelong learning in Singapore, what we are seeing now is a shift to more specialised initiatives that target specific emerging technologies, such as AI. 

AI fluency is the current imperative for the Singaporean workforce across different industries with the purpose of advancing national ambitions. New initiatives announced this year aim to enhance quality of life and prepare workers for the future. 

What remains constant throughout these past 10 years is a steadfast commitment to collaboration between government, educational institutions, and industry players – and the results may suggest a continued pattern for the upcoming decade. 

As GovInsider looks forward to the next decade, we believe that the extent to which you can walk in someone else's shoes or at least learn from someone’s lesson, is a plus for everybody.  

Public sector innovation in Singapore and around the world is only bound for more exciting stories and we look forward to reporting and commenting on that for the benefit of our readers.