Singapore reigns supreme in ICT development

It was ahead of Denmark, USA, and Japan.

For the third consecutive year, Singapore topped the global list for its use of ICT technology in improving the quality of services.

According to a study by the Waseda University Institute of e-Government, Singapore garnered a total score of 91.057, ahead of Denmark (88.739), USA (87.117), Japan, (81.236) and Estonia (81.198).

This survey is conducted by the distinguished experts from Waseda University and 10 world class universities under International Academy of CIO in the field.

"Among APEC Countries, all indicators of D-Government in Singapore are above the average score of APEC members. The Government CIO (GCIO) indicator of Singapore was exceeded by the United States although Singapore is the best country in the global ranking as well in APEC.

Amongst ASEAN countries, Singapore is very outstanding. There is a big gap between Singapore and other ASEAN Countries in all aspects," the report said.

The report pointed out that the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) has recently reorganized to become GovTech.

"It is now taking a lead in developing Singapore to become a Smart Nation through tech-enabled solutions. It aims to rally the collective efforts of people, businesses and government to work together to support better living, create more opportunities and support stronger communities by harnessing infocomm technologies, networks and big data," the report said.

It furthered, "A Smart Nation Platform (or SNP) is being developed by GovTech with common infrastructure and services such as a data sharing gateway, video and data analytics capabilities. This helps public agencies optimize their sensor deployment needs, the sharing of data collected and data analytics to support needs like urban planning and incident response."

Additionally, the study said the city-state still has potential on the growth of the use of emerging technologies.

"Due to the fact that many countries are still at the start-up phase, direction for expanding the new technologies into public service sector needs more endeavor to be clarified. Singapore could seize the opportunity to formulate policies and standards, not only guide domestic innovation, but also delight international co-development," it concluded.