Most popular GovInsider stories, March 2024

By Si Ying Thian

From Singapore's innovative approach to skills-based hiring and smart city advancements to AI innovations supporting localised experiences, these stories illuminate various paths towards citizen-centric solutions and resilient digital systems.

Most popular GovInsider stories, March 2024. Image: Canva.

Time flies! We’ve already reached the end of the first quarter. In March, readers flocked towards articles that showcased government evolution and resilience-building efforts across Southeast Asia.

1. ‘Beyond a piece of paper’: Singapore’s move towards skills-based hiring and training

Despite the talent shortage in Singapore, employers remain resistant to hiring beyond the degree requirements. HR speakers in a panel at an Accredify event pointed to the usefulness of SkillsFuture SG ’s national skills frameworks to guide employers towards skills-based hiring, and shared what else is needed for Singapore to close the remaining gaps to move employers to hire and train on skills and competencies.

While national skills frameworks can help employers transition to a skills-based hiring approach, observers question how such frameworks can keep up with rapidly evolving market demands.

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2. The robot will serve you now

Smart cities may soon move beyond facility management applications to enabling smart retail, says Tan James from GovTech Singapore and JTC Corporation. GovInsider gets an exclusive with Tan to find out how JTC’s Open Digital Platform, a plug-and-play smart city operating system, is enabling continued smart city innovation and what this tells us about the future of smart cities.

From autonomous delivery robots to facial recognition payments systems, a new trial by Singapore’s JTC Corporation demonstrates how smart cities can go beyond smart facilities management towards smart retail and other applications.

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3. SEA-LION: A diverse LLM for Southeast Asia

AI Singapore has built a family of open source LLMs trained on 11 major regional Southeast Asian languages to support businesses and government agencies in crafting more localised experiences. Leslie Teo with AI Singapore and Elsie Tan with Amazon Web Services (AWS) share more about this ambitious project.

GovInsider speaks to representatives from AI Singapore and Amazon Web Services to learn more about SEA-LION, Southeast Asia’s first multilingual large language model, and what it can offer businesses.

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4. Assistive tech, the secret sauce for seniors to ‘age in place’

Singapore launched its first community-based gerontechnology lab, an experiential space for caregivers and seniors to co-decide on adopting assistive tech to make lives easier for seniors. Adrian Tan from SG Assist and Carol Ma from Singapore University of Social Sciences share how the lab looks to address the resistance in adoption, and how such ‘ageing in place’ initiatives may be just the panacea to the country’s ageing population woes.

The Singapore University of Social Sciences and social enterprise SG Assist are partnering on Singapore’s first ‘gerontechnology’ lab to boost community-based adoption and collaboration around innovative solutions for the ageing population.

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5. ‘Risk manager’ turned risk advocate

Despite being a “risk manager” for the Department of Information and Communications Technology - Philippines, Yesly Recato Dy -Jaen has learnt over the years that having a greater risk tolerance allows governments to adapt and respond meaningfully to citizens' evolving needs. She tells us about the most promising opportunities for Philippines’ digital government and her public sector impact.