In this respect, the Government has been leading by example. To date, it has deployed about 1,600 e-Government services, making them easily accessible to Singaporeans round the clock. It is also taking advantage of Singapore’s high mobile penetration rate to deliver services to Singaporeans on their handphones. The aim is to increase the number of mobile government services from the current 200 to about 300 by the end of 2008.

These efforts have not gone unrecognised, and the island’s e-Government efforts have featured prominently in various global reports. In 2007, a Brown University study of 198 countries in e-Government placed Singapore second in the world in 2007, behind South Korea. Singapore was commended for having well-organised government websites with useful links and advanced
search engines.

The 2007 Accenture study on government customer service across 22 countries - including e-Government services - placed Singapore at the top. According to Accenture, Singapore's winning edge can be attributed to its "innovative approaches to proactively engage with its customers".

IDA’s former CEO Chan Yeng Kit (centre), together with senior officers Ng Sook Fun (left) and Pauline Tan, update vendors at a briefing on business opportunities for infocomm in the public sector.

Bringing SMEs up to speed

At the other end of the infocomm adoption spectrum lie the small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Speaking at the recent E50 Day Awards, RADM(NS) Ronnie Tay, Chief Executive Officer, Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA), noted that many smaller companies were not leveraging enough on infocomm for business advantage.

According to IDA’s 2006 Business Infocomm Usage Survey, about 38 per cent of companies with fewer than 10 employees still do not use the computer, 56 per cent of these companies do not use broadband while 77 per cent do not have a Web presence.

To address this, the Government has unveiled a slew of initiatives aimed at helping SMEs to embrace infocomm. “By 2010, we aim to have 80 per cent of SMEs adopt broadband usage and establish an online presence,” said
RADM(NS) Tay.

Under IDA’s Infocomm@SME programme, SMEs who need help with infocomm adoption can visit the SME Infocomm Resource Centre at the Singapore Polytechnic. There, they can attend workshops or get help in installing or configuring commonly used software, including operating systems, anti-virus and IP telephony applications. The centre also helps SMEs pilot innovative solutions before embarking on full-scale implementation. SMEs with innovative ideas on how infocomm can better their business can also apply for a grant under the Technology Innovation Programme jointly administered by IDA and SPRING Singapore.

IDA has also launched a Call for Collaboration (CFC), inviting companies to provide one-stop infocomm packages to help SMEs operate more efficiently and grow their businesses. IDA will even co-fund SMEs when they take up these packages.

The collaborative approach

About S$3 million will be invested under the health-care Call For Collaboration.

CFCs have also been launched to spur infocomm initiatives in other economic sectors. In healthcare, a CFC – the second for the sector - has been launched to identify solutions which will improve the quality of healthcare delivery and efficiency in Singapore’s public and private healthcare institutions.

About S$3 million will be invested in selected innovative projects under the CFC, which was issued by the Ministry of Health, IDA and The Enterprise Challenge (TEC). TEC is an initiative to harness innovative ideas for the Public Service under the Prime Minister's Office. Twelve projects from the healthcare and ICT sectors were supported under the first Healthcare CFC issued by IDA in
September 2005.

Within the transport sector, a CFC has been launched to bring together the seaport community and solution providers to develop and launch innovative content and applications on WISEPORT. WISEPORT (Wireless-broadband-access at SEaPORT) is a project to deploy a WiMAX network that will cover Singapore’s port waters and surrounding coastal areas.

In the digital media and entertainment arena, IDA is inviting industry players to submit information and concept proposals for a programme to harness Virtual Worlds technologies to realise the iN2015 Digital Media and Entertainment vision. The aim of the Request-for-Information is to gather feedback and to assess commercial interest and challenges faced by Virtual Worlds stakeholders.

Future Schools

In some other sectors, infocomm initiatives launched in 2007 are expected to gain traction in the coming year. In education for example, IDA is working with the Ministry of Education (MOE) to transform the educational experience through the FutureSchools@Singapore project.

The FutureSchools are a group of schools that will leverage on state-of-the-art technologies and innovative school designs to develop innovative curriculum, pedagogies and assessment programmes.

RADM(NS) Tay: New forms of content will be used to suit different students’ learning styles.

“New forms of content like videos and interactive textbooks will be used to suit different students’ learning styles,” said RADM(NS) Tay, in a keynote speech at the International Conference on Educational Technology 2007. “There will be significant progress in the area of game-based learning, where such learning content can be customised and easily replicated for other schools in the future. An augmented reality learning environment with multi-user interaction will also be weaved into their curriculum.”

Going forward, IDA and MOE intend to tap on the work with the FutureSchools to develop Games for Learning and Learning Trails. Also in the pipeline are plans for a Learning Digital Exchange, where teachers and students can access educational content provided by schools, MOE, the National Institute of Education and commercial content providers such as publishers, broadcasters and learning management systems. This network of content will also be linked to public resources from libraries and other archives. As an IT advisor, IDA will work out a plan on technology development for schools to guide their innovations, said RADM(NS) Tay.

In the tourism sector, the Digital Concierge initiative was launched in June 2007, leveraging on Singapore's new anytime-anywhere Internet Wi-Fi access or the available cellular network, to offer personalised and location-based services such as recommendations on where to go, where to eat and what to do. When fully implemented later this year, the Digital Concierge service will support the Tourism 2015 goal of achieving 17 million in visitor arrivals and S$30 billion in tourism receipts.