Page 28 - Enhancing innovation and participation in smart sustainable cities

United for Smart Sustainable Cities
Enhancing Innovation and Participation

1 Introduction

The Smart Nation initiative was officially launched in Singapore in November 2014. This initiative aims to enrich
citizens’ lives by capitalizing on the potential of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to improve
environment sustainability, resilience and equitable social and economic growth. After launching this ambitious
Smart Nation Singapore initiative, Singapore joined a two-year pilot project to assess the smartness and
sustainability of their smart-city operations using the key performance indicators developed by the International
Telecommunications Union (ITU) for smart sustainable cities. This collaboration with ITU will help Singapore to
measure its progress vis-à-vis its smart-city goals.
The results from this pilot project will also contribute to the international standardization process and the
subsequent development of a ‘Global Smart Sustainable Cities Index’, derived from the existing set of ITU
indicators.

Increasingly, governments across the globe are recognizing the opportunities and benefits associated with smart-
city initiatives as a means to address denser, more diverse and growing urban populations. Singapore is unique as
it has been engaged in what could be considered ‘smart-city activities’ as early as the 1980s. As such, the Smart
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Nation model places people at the centre of four enablers; governance, manpower, partnership and technology.
Singapore is known to be a technology-savvy city-state, which is now implementing a plan to be the world’s first
Smart Nation, underpinning the use of data and analytics to improve people’s lives. The country is also carrying
out various other activities in this domain, which complement its Smart Nation vision.
Currently, Singapore is engaged in the following activities:
(i) leveraging the capabilities of its leading open access fibre networks;
(ii) expanding the intelligent urban infrastructure to improve street level coverage; and
(iii) exploring a new heterogeneous network across fixed and mobile infrastructures.
Singapore’s existing urban operating system enables the government and city service providers to quickly address
urban challenges and empower citizens with data insights to improve their lives.
There are five key domains that will have a significant impact on citizens and society, as well as Singapore’s overall
smart-city vision. In each of these key domains, digital technologies can have “a needle moving” impact. These key
domains are as follows:

▪ transport
▪ home and environment
▪ business productivity

▪ health and enabled ageing; and
▪ public sector services.
With the assistance of its partnership with ITU, Singapore hopes to disperse the lessons learned along with their
best practices in national ICT planning. These best practices and lessons based on the ITU key performance
indicators will serve as important guidelines for urban policymakers and practitioners in countries and cities
around the world. This case study will examine a few aspects of the Smart Nation vision and will explore a few
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existing elements and initiatives which could complement this vision.

3 ITU has been closely involved in a pilot project to assess the smartness and sustainability of Singapore. This model has been
derived from ITU’s work during the pilot project.
4 This case study does not intend do provide an extensive overview of Singapore’s activities within the Smart Nation
Singapore vision. The main features and analysis on the Smart Nation Singapore initiatives will be examined in the ITU case
study on Singapore, which will be published following the pilot project in Singapore.

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