Singapore to soon launch updated Smart Nation policy

With 10 years having gone by since Singapore launched its Smart Nation initiative (November 2014), the government will soon announce an upgrade to the policy, Smart Nation 2.0. 

Speaking as the Guest-of-Honour at the NUS-ISS Annual Luncheon 2024 on Tuesday, the Minister in charge of the Ministry of Digital Development and Information (MDDI), Josephine Teo, said the details of the updated policy would be announced in the “not-too distant future” by the Singapore Prime Minister, Lawrence Wong. 

Artificial intelligence (AI) will be an important part of the updated Smart Nation policy.  

Teo, who is also the Minister-in-charge of Smart Nation and Cybersecurity, noted that when it came to growing the AI ecosystem in Singapore, the government applied the same principles as those used for achieving excellence in digital governance.  

Five pillars in digital governance 

She noted that there were five pillars in digital governance.  

The first was developing infrastructure to provide world-class connectivity. The second was to develop a workforce that could take advantage of the infrastructure.  

This would include capability development within enterprises, research communities and investment in building up the government’s capabilities, the Minister said. 

The other major pillar was to develop the laws and regulations to ensure that “they were not behind the curve” in terms of technology developments.  

“We try to always ask what’s over the horizon… There is a careful balance we must strike,” Teo noted. 

The last two pillars were about partnerships, the Minister said, noting that, for example, in terms of digital inclusion, it would be much better to consult a social service agency, while formulating policy, to “tell us [government] what the people’s needs are and [how] to match their needs”. 

The other aspect of partnerships was related to how Singapore engaged with international “colleagues”, she added.  

“Whether it is in cybersecurity, seeking cross border data flows or developing AI CPUs, we cannot seek to do it alone, because of the global nature of the innovations as well as their consequences,” the Minister said. 

Centre of AI excellence 

Explaining how Singapore would like to position itself as a centre of AI excellence, Teo compared this to the aerospace and semiconductor sectors. 

She noted that while Singapore is not associated with aircraft technology, “we have managed to develop a vibrant aviation and aerospace hub”.  

The Minister added: “It has required us to think strategically about what makes sense for Singapore.”  

The Minister noted that it was the same in the case of semiconductors.  

“We are not very much into leading-edge chips, but overall, in terms of global supply to the world, Singapore takes up maybe about 10 per cent, and about 20 per cent for semiconductor equipment,” she said.  

The Minister said these two sectors “serve as a good reference point” when thinking about what Singapore hopes to achieve in developing its AI ecosystem.  

“We are going to find those niches that make sense for Singapore and encourage them to the fullest extent possible,” she said.  

Teo noted that in charting Singapore’s path forward for AI, “we know that AI applications and innovations take time and resources”.  

She added that it must make sense for the companies [to invest in Singapore] that are driving these activities.  

“They must want to have these AI solutions implemented in Singapore”, she said.  

Giving the examples of Singapore’s “very competitive” financial services, manufacturing and logistics sectors, the Minister noted that the desire is there to do more.  

“Hence, we are encouraging companies in these sectors to build our AI centres of excellence, and we’ve gained a lot of support,” she said.  

Big role for public sector 

Indicating that the government also envisages a big role for itself in AI innovation, Teo said: “We would like to see AI innovations in the public sector and for the public good.  

“AI and machine learning (ML) are very good for things that deliver precision and personalisation.

So, whether it is the rail system, corrective maintenance and preventative maintenance, prescriptive medication or cancer treatments, to a very personalised extent we are already seeing some of these innovations take place,” the Minister said.  

All in all, the government can hopefully bring these together to achieve their vision of AI economic growth in Singapore, Teo said.  

“We hope to grow some of these AI innovations in Singapore so that some of them may catalyse innovation elsewhere in the world and make contributions to the broader global ecosystem,” she added.  

The NUS-ISS Annual Luncheon 2024 was attended by over 200 industry partners, stakeholders, alumni and distinguished guests.