Loh Woon Sien, Cluster Director, Infrastructure Planning & Facilitation, Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA), Singapore

1. How do you use technology/policy to improve citizens’ lives? Tell us about your role or organisation.  

I work with my team to draw up master plans and strengthen the digital infrastructure for Singapore’s digital economy. We oversee the nationwide broadband network (NBN), ensuring high-speed fibre broadband services to homes and businesses across Singapore.  

We also manage the deployment of mobile infrastructure to provide nationwide mobile coverage. On the international front, we develop and maintain our submarine cable network, which links Singapore to the global internet and carries over 95 per cent of our internet traffic. 

Data centres (DCs) have been a more recent focus in our digital infrastructure portfolio – driven by the growth of the digital economy. DCs support the growth of our Digital Economy, a sector that contributes around 17.7 per cent to Singapore's gross domestic product (GDP) and is set to continue growing strongly.

However, DCs require a significant amount of power to operate, and many countries are now recognising the need to manage the growth of DCs sustainably.  

In Singapore, we recognised this early on, and hence had taken a review of our strategy and approach to develop this space – this led to the DC-Call For Application exercise in 2022-2023, where we sought applications from the industry to build best-in-class, sustainable DCs.

This was a multi-agency collaboration with our colleagues from other agencies such as EDB, MTI, EMA, JTC, that brought in DCs that support our digital economy in a sustainable manner, consistent with our climate change commitments. 

Looking ahead, we're working to develop Singapore standards for energy-efficient IT equipment and liquid cooling, which are emerging approaches to enhance DC energy efficiency.  

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2. What was the most impactful project you worked on this year?  

I would have to say the Green Data Centre Roadmap (GDCR), which we launched earlier this year. This comprehensive strategy is crucial for Singapore as it charts a sustainable growth pathway for DCs while supporting our Digital Economy. 

While we drive economic growth for citizens and businesses, as a small nation, we remain committed to meeting our climate goals. 

The roadmap was a collective effort between government and industry, to explore ways and opportunities to manage our limited resources and accelerate energy efficiencies and green energy pathways for growth of our digital economy, through pulling together the DC industry ecosystem to collaborate and innovate.

I was heartened by the commitment our industry partners expressed towards pushing boundaries, especially in forging green-energy pathways for DCs. 

3. What was one unexpected learning from 2024?  

I’m more of a planner, and while I’ve learnt the importance of planning ahead, it is also important to be adaptable and adjust to changes. This year has brought about many unexpected developments, twists and turns in various projects, that I’m now prepared to adjust agilely – as they say, 随机应变" (suí jī yìng biàn), which essentially means "to adapt to changing circumstances". 

Plans can change, but what is critical is to keep the desired end outcome in mind and sight.  

4. What’s a tool or technique you’re excited to explore in 2025?  

Continue to practise “re-framing”. It's about looking at issues from another perspective, or opening up different levels of perspectives, and reframing them when I run into challenges. It's not always easy but it’s always a useful tool, and hence, I’ve been trying to practice this. 

5. Everybody’s talking about AI today – give us your hot take on AI and what it means for the public sector.  

We are starting to see AI bring value to industries and across economies – this is where it is truly impactful. This year, IMDA partnered with the Singapore Academy of Law (SAL) to co-develop GPT-Legal, a large language model contextualised to the local legal context, that streamlines legal processes and summarises court judgements. 

The government's role in Singapore's AI landscape is twofold. Firstly, we must support businesses in leveraging AI effectively, across the spectrum of digital maturity. We've implemented programmes like the CTO-as-a-service (CTOaaS) platform for the broad base of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to access digitalisation resources, the Digital Leaders Programme (DLP) for the digitally mature SMEs to deepen digitalisation, and the Open Innovation Platform (OIP) where we match innovative tech solutions to real-world business challenges. 

But equally important is our responsibility to drive AI governance. While AI has significant transformative potential, especially now with Generative AI, it also comes with risks. Hence it is also crucial that we work with businesses and users to create a trusted environment that enables the use of AI confidently and safely. We've developed and updated the AI Governance Framework to guide businesses in the responsible use of both traditional and Generative AI.  

6. What are your priorities for 2025?

Continue to strengthen Singapore’s digital infrastructure. We will continue to double-down our efforts in driving sustainable growth of DCs, and another focus area is also to work with the industry on the upgrade of Singapore’s National Broadband Network (NBN) to 10Gbps.  

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Singapore's early investment in the NBN in 2006 proved crucial, enabling seamless digital connectivity nationwide, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic. Looking ahead, the upgraded NBN will provide the foundation to support the increasing importance and use of AI and immersive digital experiences. By offering speeds up to 10 times faster than today, it will not only enable future innovations but also maintain Singapore's global competitiveness and unlock further economic opportunities. 

Another priority is the continuous expansion of our international submarine cable networks to maintain Singapore as a regional digital connectivity hub. 

7. What advice do you have for public sector innovators?  

My advice would be to broaden your horizons. Engage with partners outside of the public sector, and also outside of Singapore. There's so much happening out there, and things are changing faster than ever. The world moves fast and there are lots to learn out there. 

8. Who inspires you today? 

My children are my greatest inspiration. Their curiosity and appetite to learn constantly challenge me. They keep me on my toes, train my patience, and push me to strive to learn something new every day!