Smart Nation

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The Smart Nation is an initiative by the Government of Singapore to harness infocomm technologies, networks and big data to create tech-enabled solutions. [1] [2]

Contents

Overview

The Smart Nation was an initiative launched by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on 24 November 2014. [3] In financial year 2017, the government had set aside $2.4 billion to support the initiative, [4] which involves the government purchasing services from technology startups rather than offering grants to support them. [5] To support development, open data is made available at government portals such as Data.gov.sg. [6]

Some areas of focus include enhancing public transport networks, enabling successful aging and ensuring a secure but open data marketplace. The Smart Nation Sensor Platform (SNSP) tracks and analyses data related to housing, amenities and public infrastructure. Former civil servant, Peter Ong, explained that this “encompasses hardware like lamp-posts and public cameras, as well as software that enables sensor data exchange and data and video analytics”. An interconnected network of 110,000 lampposts with wireless sensors will collate data that will be used for urban and operational planning, maintenance and incident response. [7]

The Smart Nation and Digital Government Office (SNDGO) and Government Technology Agency (GovTech) under the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) lead the development of a National Digital Identity framework for online transactions between citizens and businesses, building on the current SingPass system. [8]

Recognition

Singapore emerged top in the 2017 Global Smart City Performance Index by Juniper Research and Intel. The ranking is based on the integration of Internet of Things (IoT) technologies and connected services, and which the nation came out tops in all four of the key areas measured—mobility, healthcare, public safety and productivity. [9] [10]

Ministerial committee

The initiative is coordinated by the SNDGO and supported by other government agencies. GovTech is also placed under the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) as the implementing agency of SNDGO. Collectively, the SNDGO and GovTech form the Smart Nation and Digital Government Group (SNDGG).

The SNDGG is overseen by a Ministerial Committee chaired by Teo Chee Hean. The other members of the Ministerial Committee are Josephine Teo, Vivian Balakrishnan, Chan Chun Sing and Janil Puthucheary and will also coordinate GovTech's strategy with Info-communications Media Development Authority's (IMDA) industry development efforts. [11] [12]

Ministerial Committee

NoNamePosition
1 Teo Chee Hean Senior Minister
Coordinating Minister for National Security
2 Josephine Teo Minister for Communication and Information
Second Minister for Home Affairs
Minister-in-Charge of Smart Nation and Cyber Security
3 Vivian Balakrishnan Minister for Foreign Affairs
4 Chan Chun Sing Minister for Education
Minister-in-Charge of Public Service
5 Janil Puthucheary Senior Minister of State for Communication and Information
Senior Minister of State of Health
Minister In Charge of GovTech

Smart Nation Initiative

Smart Nation Initiative
Agency overview
Formed24 November 2014;9 years ago (2014-11-24)
Jurisdiction Government of Singapore
Headquarters109 North Bridge Rd, #06-01 Funan, O2 Office, City Hall, 179097
Ministers responsible
Parent agency Prime Minister's Office (Singapore)
Website https://www.smartnation.gov.sg

As part of the Smart Nation initiative, the Government of Singapore has been introducing cashless payments on a large scale. Various efforts have been made to incorporate the use of cashless payment into citizens' lives.

Land Transport Authority Initiative

In March 2017, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) began an account-based ticketing pilot that allowed Mastercard users to use their debit and credit cards to pay for public transportation. [13] In August, the LTA and TransitLink announced plans to have a fully cashless public transport system by 2020. [13] [14] Beginning in September 2017, cash top up services were removed from MRT stations, [14] and they were fully phased out by March 2018. [15] In April 2019, commuters could begin using Mastercard contactless bank cards to pay for their fares and this payment method was extended to Visa cardholders in May. [16]

Cashless system at hawker centres

During the National Day Rally speech in 2017, plans for a unified cashless payment system in Singapore were unveiled, especially in regard to payments at hawker centres. [17] DBS Bank, OCBC Bank and United Overseas Bank, which jointly own the existing electronic transaction system NETS, had collaborated with other banks such as HSBC, Maybank, Standard Chartered Bank and Citibank to unify the cashless system in Singapore. Consumer from all seven banks will be able to use Nets' QR code system to make payments at hawker stalls. More than 600 stalls had implemented the system in 2017. [18]

As a subsidiary of Land Transport Authority, contactless transport payment card operator EZ-Link has also partnered up with NETS to introduce e-payment methods in local hawker centres. [19] Starting from April 2018, payment at hawker centres can be carried out using EZ-Link or Nets card using a single Nets terminal. [20]

There were mixed responses from the food vendors. Several stall owners expressed their opinions on the efficiency of the system, stating that sometimes the cashless electronic transactions do not go through, causing delays in the queue of the business. [21] Others mentioned that the new system can prevent hygiene issues, which might occur when cash is involved. [21]

Surveillance concerns and issues

With the gradual implementation of the Smart Nation initiatives, there are new concerns raised by security experts that the ubiquitous surveillance, with the proposed "Lamppost-as-a-Platform" (LaaP) with extensive facial recognition technology, could undermine individual privacy. [22] There were also concerns that the expectation of mass surveillance by the government could also result in "self-surveillance, self-monitoring, self-censorship", and a general aversion to "improvise, innovate and take risks". [23]

The government responded by stating that the Public Sector (Governance) Act passed in January 2018 clarifies when data sharing is allowed across government agencies, as well as which agency is responsible for the request and sharing of data. Public servants' data access rights is given based on security clearance and authorisation. The Act also criminalises the sharing of personal data without authorisation and the using of data for self-benefit or for the re-identification of anonymised data without authorisation. [24] The government also stated that it has no plans to use the surveillance methods for the purposes of social credit scoring or moral policing. [25]

Cybersecurity

The failure of the government in securing data in recent years, such as in the SingHealth data breach in July 2018, is causing critics to push for a rethink of the Smart Nation drive. [26]

Further reading

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Debit card</span> Card used for financial transactions, usually without a credit line

A debit card, also known as a check card or bank card, is a payment card that can be used in place of cash to make purchases. The card usually consists of the bank's name, a card number, the cardholder's name, and an expiration date, on either the front or the back. Many of the new cards now have a chip on them, which allows people to use their card by touch (contactless), or by inserting the card and keying in a PIN as with swiping the magnetic stripe. These are similar to a credit card, but unlike a credit card, the money for the purchase must be in the cardholder's bank account at the time of the purchase and is immediately transferred directly from that account to the merchant's account to pay for the purchase.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">EFTPOS</span> Type of electronic payment system

Electronic funds transfer at point of sale is an electronic payment system involving electronic funds transfers based on the use of payment cards, such as debit cards or credit cards, at payment terminals located at points of sale. EFTPOS technology was developed during the 1980s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Smart card</span> Pocket-sized card with embedded integrated circuits for identification or payment functions

A smart card (SC), chip card, or integrated circuit card, is a card used to control access to a resource. It is typically a plastic credit card-sized card with an embedded integrated circuit (IC) chip. Many smart cards include a pattern of metal contacts to electrically connect to the internal chip. Others are contactless, and some are both. Smart cards can provide personal identification, authentication, data storage, and application processing. Applications include identification, financial, public transit, computer security, schools, and healthcare. Smart cards may provide strong security authentication for single sign-on (SSO) within organizations. Numerous nations have deployed smart cards throughout their populations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Near-field communication</span> Radio communication established between devices by bringing them into proximity

Near-field communication (NFC) is a set of communication protocols that enables communication between two electronic devices over a distance of 4 centimetres (1.6 in) or less. NFC offers a low-speed connection through a simple setup that can be used for the bootstrapping of capable wireless connections. Like other proximity card technologies, NFC is based on inductive coupling between two electromagnetic coils present on a NFC-enabled device such as a smartphone. NFC communicating in one or both directions uses a frequency of 13.56 MHz in the globally available unlicensed radio frequency ISM band, compliant with the ISO/IEC 18000-3 air interface standard at data rates ranging from 106 to 848 kbit/s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">EZ-Link</span> Contactless smart card used in Singapore

The EZ-Link card is a rechargeable contactless smart card and electronic money system that is primarily used as a payment method for public transport such as bus and rail lines in Singapore. A standard EZ-Link card is a credit-card-sized stored-value contact-less smart-card that comes in a variety of colours, as well as limited edition designs. It is sold by TransitLink Pte Ltd, a subsidiary of the Land Transport Authority (LTA), and can be used on travel modes across Singapore, including the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT), the Light Rail Transit (LRT), public buses which are operated by SBS Transit, SMRT Buses, Tower Transit Singapore and Go-Ahead Singapore, as well as the Sentosa Express.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Digital currency</span> Currency stored on electronic systems

Digital currency is any currency, money, or money-like asset that is primarily managed, stored or exchanged on digital computer systems, especially over the internet. Types of digital currencies include cryptocurrency, virtual currency and central bank digital currency. Digital currency may be recorded on a distributed database on the internet, a centralized electronic computer database owned by a company or bank, within digital files or even on a stored-value card.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fares and ticketing on the Mass Rapid Transit (Singapore)</span>

Rail operators are government-assisted profit-based corporations, fares and ticketing on Singapore's Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system are aimed to break-even or exceed operating expenses. Rail operators collect fares based on account-based (ABT) and card-based ticketing options, the prices of which are calculated based on the distances travelled between the origin and destination. These prices increase in stages for standard non-concessionary travel, according to the distances travelled. In account-based ticketing, the fare is automatically calculated in the back-end and charged to the passenger post journey. On the other hand, card-based ticketing is proprietary to the transport network and the fare is computed by the system based on the store values recorded in the cards. The public transit system is harmonising towards full ABT.

A contactless smart card is a contactless credential whose dimensions are credit card size. Its embedded integrated circuits can store data and communicate with a terminal via NFC. Commonplace uses include transit tickets, bank cards and passports.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gemalto</span> International digital security company

Gemalto was an international digital security company providing software applications, secure personal devices such as smart cards and tokens, e-wallets and managed services. It was formed in June 2006 by the merger of two companies, Axalto and Gemplus International. Gemalto N.V.'s revenue in 2018 was €2.969 billion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NETS (company)</span> Singaporean electronic payment service provider

Network for Electronic Transfers, colloquially known as NETS, is a Singaporean electronic payment service provider. Founded in 1986 by a consortium of local banks, it aims to establish the debit network and drive the adoption of electronic payments in Singapore. It is owned by DBS Bank, OCBC Bank and United Overseas Bank (UOB).

CEPAS, the Specification for Contactless e-Purse Application, is a Singaporean specification for an electronic money smart card. The specification was prepared by the Cards and Personnel Identification Technical Committee (CPITC), under the purview of the IT Standard Committee of Singapore (ITSCS). It has been gazetted as Singapore Standard SS 518 by Enterprise Singapore. CEPAS has been deployed island-wide, replacing the previous original EZ-Link card effective 1 October 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Contactless payment</span> Technology enabling payment without physical contact

Contactless payment systems are credit cards and debit cards, key fobs, smart cards, or other devices, including smartphones and other mobile devices, that use radio-frequency identification (RFID) or near-field communication (NFC) for making secure payments. The embedded integrated circuit chip and antenna enable consumers to wave their card, fob, or handheld device over a reader at the Point-of-sale terminal. Contactless payments are made in close physical proximity, unlike other types of mobile payments which use broad-area cellular or Wi-Fi networks and do not involve close physical proximity.

RuPay is an Indian multinational financial services and payment service system, conceived and launched by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) in 2014. It was created to fulfil the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) vision of establishing a domestic, open and multilateral system of payments. RuPay facilitates electronic payment at all Indian banks and financial institutions. NPCI maintains ties with Discover Financial and JCB to enable the RuPay Card scheme to gain international acceptance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vivian Balakrishnan</span> Singaporean politician

Vivian Balakrishnan is a Singaporean politician, diplomat and former ophthalmologist who has been serving as Minister for Foreign Affairs since 2015. A member of the governing People's Action Party (PAP), he has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Cashew division of Holland–Bukit Timah GRC since 2006, and previously the Ulu Pandan division of Holland–Bukit Panjang GRC between 2001 and 2006.

The following lists events that happened during 2017 in the Republic of Singapore.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cashless society</span> Economic state

In a cashless society, financial transactions are not conducted with physical banknotes or coins, but instead with digital information. Cashless societies have existed from the time when human society came into existence, based on barter and other methods of exchange, and cashless transactions have also become possible in modern times using credit cards, debit cards, mobile payments, and digital currencies such as bitcoin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mi-Pay</span> It is a mobile payment system launched by Xiaomi

Mi-Pay is a contactless NFC-based mobile payment system that supports credit, debit and public transportation cards in China. The service was launched by Xiaomi in partnership with UnionPay.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Government Technology Agency</span>

The Government Technology Agency (GovTech) is a statutory board of the Government of Singapore, under the Prime Minister's Office. It was restructured from Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IMDA) in 2016, and officially legislated in Parliament on 18 August that year.

QR code payment is a contactless payment method where payment is performed by scanning a QR code from a mobile app. This is an alternative to doing electronic funds transfer at point of sale using a payment terminal. This avoids a lot of the infrastructure traditionally associated with electronic payments such as payment cards, payment networks, payment terminal and merchant accounts.

TraceTogether was a digital system implemented by the Government of Singapore to facilitate contact tracing efforts in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Singapore. The main goal was a quick identification of persons who may have come into close contact with anyone who has tested positive for COVID-19. The system helps in identifying contacts such as strangers encountered in public one would not otherwise be able to identify or remember. Together with SafeEntry, it allows the identification of specific locations where a spread between close contacts may occur.

References

  1. ↑ "National Digital Identity system to be cornerstone of Singapore's Smart Nation vision". Channel NewsAsia. Archived from the original on 2017-08-25. Retrieved 2017-08-25.
  2. ↑ "Vision of a smart nation is to make life better: PM Lee". The Straits Times. 25 November 2014. Archived from the original on 22 December 2014. Retrieved 22 December 2014.
  3. ↑ Singapore, Prime Minister‘s Office. "PM Lee Hsien Loong at launch of Smart Nation, 24 November". www.pmo.gov.sg. Archived from the original on 2016-03-18. Retrieved 2016-03-17.
  4. ↑ "Government to Partner Industry to Spark Innovation and Build Capabilities in a Smart Nation". www.tech.gov.sg. Archived from the original on 2017-08-25. Retrieved 2017-08-25.
  5. ↑ "Singapore Is Seeking Business With Startups to Spur Them". Bloomberg.com. 2017-08-22. Archived from the original on 2017-08-25. Retrieved 2017-08-25.
  6. ↑ "Salesforce opens AI research outfit in Singapore". ComputerWeekly.com. Retrieved 2019-10-04.
  7. ↑ "Commentary: Singapore's Smart Nation vision blurry without a success story". Channel NewsAsia. Archived from the original on 2017-08-25. Retrieved 2017-08-25.
  8. ↑ Kwang, Kevin (2017-08-20). "National Digital Identity system to be cornerstone of Singapore's Smart Nation vision". Channel NewsAsia. Archived from the original on 2017-08-25. Retrieved 2017-08-25.
  9. ↑ "Singapore pips London, NY to top global smart city ranking". The Straits Times. March 14, 2018. Archived from the original on May 18, 2018. Retrieved May 18, 2018.
  10. ↑ "Singapore tops charts again – this time for best performing global smart city". Business Insider. March 13, 2018. Archived from the original on May 19, 2018. Retrieved May 18, 2018.
  11. ↑ "New Smart Nation and Digital Government Office to be formed on May 1". Channel NewsAsia. 2017-03-20. Archived from the original on 2017-08-25. Retrieved 2017-08-25.
  12. ↑ "Smart Nation and Digital Government Group" . Retrieved 2019-02-23.
  13. 1 2 Lim, Adrian (2017-08-11). "Public transport system to go fully cashless by 2020". The Straits Times. Retrieved 2020-04-15.
  14. 1 2 Ong, Yunita (11 August 2017). "Singapore aims for fully cashless transport system by 2020: LTA". ChannelNewsAsia. Archived from the original on 12 April 2018. Retrieved 10 April 2018.
  15. ↑ Ting, Choo Yun (2019-05-19). "Fully cashless public transport system may not be implemented by 2020". The Straits Times. Retrieved 2020-04-15.
  16. ↑ Huiwen, Ng (2019-05-16). "Visa contactless cards can be used to pay train, bus fares from June 6". The Straits Times. Retrieved 2020-04-15.
  17. ↑ "National Day Rally 2017". 10 April 2018. Archived from the original on 21 October 2017. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  18. ↑ Ong, Yunita (21 November 2017). "Nets QR code to roll out to 120 hawker centres by 2018". The New Paper. Archived from the original on 12 April 2018. Retrieved 10 April 2018.
  19. ↑ Tham, Irene (25 January 2018). "Ez way to pay for food at hawker centres". The Straits Times. Archived from the original on 12 April 2018. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
  20. ↑ "Towards a Smart Cashless Society with Contactless Pay". 2 March 2018. Archived from the original on 12 April 2018. Retrieved 10 April 2018.
  21. 1 2 Phua, Rachel (14 March 2017). "Mixed response to cashless payment options at hawker centres". ChannelNewsAsia. Archived from the original on 25 April 2018. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
  22. ↑ Aravindan, Aradhana (13 April 2018). "Singapore to test facial recognition on lampposts, stoking privacy..." Reuters. Archived from the original on 25 April 2018. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
  23. ↑ Kuah, Adrian W. J. (24 April 2018). "Living in the gaze of the Smart Nation and its sensor-enabled lamp posts". The Straits Times. Archived from the original on 25 April 2018. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
  24. ↑ "Parliament: New laws on data sharing between public sector agencies". The Straits Times. 8 January 2018. Archived from the original on 26 April 2018. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
  25. ↑ "Govt takes data security, personal privacy seriously". The Straits Times. 17 April 2018. Archived from the original on 26 April 2018. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
  26. ↑ "Smart Nation agenda needs rethink on cybersecurity". 24 July 2018. Archived from the original on 2018-07-24. Retrieved 2018-07-25.
  27. ↑ "Big Data And Internet Of Things Are The Keys To Singapore's 'Smart Nation' Dream". Forbes. Archived from the original on 2016-03-24. Retrieved 2016-03-17.
  28. ↑ "MIS-Asia - Singapore is part of the digital Silk Road, a test bed for the world: Vivian Balakrishnan". www.mis-asia.com. Archived from the original on 2016-03-25. Retrieved 2016-03-17.
  29. ↑ "Singapore studies to get smarter". CNBC. Archived from the original on 2016-03-24. Retrieved 2016-03-17.
  30. ↑ Purnell, Newley (2015-05-05). "Singapore Prime Minister Posts His Own Puzzle-Solving Computer Code". WSJ Blogs - Digits. Archived from the original on 2016-03-20. Retrieved 2016-03-17.
  31. ↑ "4 Smart Cities That Put People First". WIRED. Archived from the original on 2016-03-24. Retrieved 2016-03-17.
  32. ↑ UTC, Singapore Tourism Board2015-11-02 10:37:10. "5 amazing healthcare innovations coming out of Singapore". Mashable. Archived from the original on 2016-03-22. Retrieved 2016-03-17.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  33. ↑ "Smart Nation not about technology but boosting quality of life: Vivian Balakrishnan". Channel NewsAsia. Archived from the original on 2016-03-24. Retrieved 2016-03-17.
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