The future of Singapore as an even more connected city

Singapore aims to be the world’s first “smart nation”, tapping the potential of transformational infocomm technologies and nurturing innovation. Having already established the underlying infrastructure to support big data, analytics, and the Internet of Things, the country is pushing for even greater intelligence through connecting, collecting, and comprehending[1].

As the means for the instant exchange of information becomes increasingly pervasive, cities like Singapore have the potential to become more connected, and through these connections, become more intelligent and more people-centric.

Opportunities abound for city planners and enterprises to create meaningful engagements with residents. In turn, these residents will have a new relationship with the city, where information flow and decision-making are collaborative and responsive.

We see the rapid pace of digital disruption continuing to alter how people interact with cities and their surroundings. Intelligent interfaces are already emerging to allow decisions to be made on the “edge”, where digital and physical worlds converge.

Social networks, virtual communities, crowdsourcing, and the preference for mobile technology solutions are just manifestations of the power of the network even as we move towards more intimate and intuitive user interfaces, increasingly pervasive and smarter connected sensors, and more creative and surprising uses of the Internet.

The interplay between citizens and their city will cause the anatomy of the connected city to evolve, creating yet more demand for further connectivity and improving the city’s liveability.

This new layer of connected intelligence will transform city transport, a key area of focus for a connected city. Even for Singapore, which already has a best-in-class public transportation infrastructure, overall satisfaction can fall while ridership rises.

Capacity limitations, land constraints, and lag time in creating new infrastructure calls for further optimisation to reduce travel and waiting time while enhancing reliability.

New opportunities are emerging to change the user experience and bring riders back to public transit. Static schedules and limited visibility to alternative transportation modes are giving way to dynamic real-time engines to drive effective decision-making and planning in transportation networks.

This intelligent “brain” matches commuter needs with transport supply, drawing on a detailed knowledge base built on network information sourced through monitoring vehicle and road sensors, passenger volumes, spare capacity, journey times and delays, the average speed of buses, trains, and taxis, and even real-time influencers such as weather and public events.

Fast decision making capability, combined with sophisticated technologies, harnesses the knowledge base, delivering actionable insights. By learning and evolving to predict what can happen across transport networks, optimal recommendations are given to commuters, operators, authorities, and service providers in advance of anticipated events, putting the traveller back in control.

Commuters can receive contextual and predictive suggestions via their smart devices, constantly assessing their individual travel preferences against network conditions. Operators and authorities will get up-to-the-minute information on how and where to deploy assets, boosting network efficiency and enhancing commuter experience.

Service providers such as retailers can provide targeted offers and location-based updates to commuters, increasing their business flow while giving commuters added convenience. 

Digital payment systems that manage fare collection and customer service across multiple transit authorities, operators, transport modes, and payment media will be the first step to realising such seamless mobility.

They are designed with the capabilities to connect with customers at each step of their journey, allowing operators to offer a consistent customer experience and the ability to better inform, respond to, and anticipate customers needs.

Cities adapting and taking advantage of the new technologies will create novel connections to deliver enhanced services to meet its members’ technological, economic, and social needs, and beyond.

The future of the connected city is already on its way and promises to be a renaissance for the country, creating new dimensions in how Singaporeans work, play, and learn.