Ever since Singapore embarked on a unique initiative to take the lessons learnt from its forays into eGovernment and eCitizen enablement, a slew of governments from around the world are seeking Singapore’s help to get their ICT schemes up to speed in the public space.
Much of the initiative to export Singapore’s success in the ICT arena comes from IDA International that was set up as an arm of the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore in February 2009. IDA International is the first such government initiative in the public service ICT space worldwide and is attracting interest from both big and small countries.
“We have received interest from more than 30 countries so far,” IDA International’s CEO Seah Chin Siong told BizIT in an interview.
“We’ve been engaged by 10 of them in the areas such as eGovernment master planning, consultancy and program management. We have tied up to do eGovernment-based projects in the Middle East, South-east Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and we have also received interest from large countries such as China and Russia.”
Mr Seah, who previously helmed Accenture Singapore, said IDA International currently offers consultancy to governments in areas such as ICT master-planning, program management and ICT infrastructure.
However, emerging areas of interest include cloud computing, intelligent land transport systems, online business licensing systems, smart power grids, and integrated healthcare.
“IDA International draws on Singapore’s ICT experience from both the public and private sectors to deliver expertise and skills that are transforming Singapore into an intelligent digital nation,” Mr Seah said. “We are also in an ideal position to sense and identify the market demand for eGovernment solutions and service.”
In November 2010, IDA International signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the World Bank to develop support programmes for countries sponsored by the bank to use ICT to sharpen their eGovernment capabilities.
The initiative is called STAP (Strategic Technology Accelerator Program) and has Singapore providing assistance to the public sector on technical issues. STAP does seminars, workshops and study trips for officials from selected countries to come to Singapore and learn from its ICT experience and expertise.
“It is not just the smaller states that seek Singapore’s help,” Mr Seah said. “In June 2010, IDA International and Singbridge International (part of Temasek Holdings) tied up with the Guangzhou Municipal Government for the Sino-Singapore Guangzhou Knowledge City. The aim is to develop next-generation economic and social sectors using leading-edge ICT. In effect, the three entities will work on a ‘Knowledge City Digital City Masterplan’, including building a vibrant and globally competitive ICT industry as an engine of economic growth for Guangzhou.”
And in September 2010, an MoU was signed with Russia’s Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications to help boost eGovernment programmes in Russia through master planning, diagnostic workshops, and consultancy services including business process re-engineering and enterprise architecture design.
The collaboration will run for three years.
Over the years, Singapore has achieved consistently high rankings in global ICT and eGovernment surveys. Singapore retained its top position in the 2010 Waseda University World e-Government Ranking and was ranked second in the World Economic Forum’s Global Information Technology Report.
According to Chan Lai Fung, Permanent Secretary (Finance Performance) in Singapore’s Ministry of Finance, the government is building on this foundation to move to the next level of eGovernment.
“Singapore’s eGovernment efforts have evolved over the years,” Ms Chan said at the iGov Forum in May 2010. “We have moved from simply harnessing the power of ICT for task automation to providing integrated e-services to the public. In the next phase, we hope to see greater collaboration with the industry and the wider community to create even more compelling e-services for our citizens and businesses.”
Going after consulting projects abroad is a new phase of Singapore’s ICT exports. So far Singapore has always focused on exports of infocomm products more than services.
In 1998, out of a total of $20 billion in ICT revenues, about 46 per cent ($9.2 billion) came from exports. Exactly a decade later in 2008, of the $58 billion in total ICT revenues, about 61 per cent ($35.4 billion) came from exports.
“That’s an excellent showing and proves that the ‘Made in Singapore’ brand is well accepted worldwide,” Mr Seah said. “It is high time that we focused on exports of services, especially eGovernment related where we have a unique edge.”
