Page 32 - Enhancing innovation and participation in smart sustainable cities

United for Smart Sustainable Cities
Enhancing Innovation and Participation

this innovation boom by creating policies that serve to ease the start-up process, as well as connecting
researchers and inventors with investors, and providing matching grants. For example, for every S$1
invested, the National Research Foundation will add S$5, up to a maximum of S$500 000. All of this spurs
innovation, and entrepreneurs can get matching grants of up to S$50 000. In addition, Singapore is
almost the perfect laboratory for testing smart technology concepts. For example, due to its water
scarcity, it is now a leader in desalination and filtration systems.
ƒ Business environment
Singapore’s business-courting apparatus, the Economic Development Board (EDB), created an enticing
environment for foreign business and world-renowned companies like Texas Instruments, Hewlett-
Packard and General Electric to come and set up. In more than one way, Singapore has rapidly evolved
from borrowing innovation to attracting and seeding the brains to create it. Working under this
expanding business environment, Singapore has integrated smart planning into its ICT and other
technology and business-related areas. This is also evident in its innovation of advanced material
manufacturing and green buildings among many others. For example, Sky Greens is the world’s first ever
low-carbon, hydraulic water-driven vertical farming system. It occupies one hectare and yields more than
10 times the amount of crops as conventional cultivation at just the fraction of the cost. This is just one
example of a Singaporean success story that benefitted from government support, corporate
matchmaking and diffusion of capital.
ƒ Creative communities

a
Singapore’s skilled workforce is shining example that ranges from arts to sciences. With a high number
of millennials running entrepreneurship enterprises, Singapore is quickly becoming a creative hot spot
for young professionals. By encouraging projects and initiatives that span across sectors and not just
tech-related fields, the country wants to build its workforce to inculcate the idea of smart working into
its relatively diverse workforce.

BOX 1 – ITU and Singapore smart-city pilot project

ITU smart-city pilot project in Singapore
The city of Singapore has entered into a unique partnership with ITU, which is the United Nations specialized
agency for information and communication technologies. This collaboration involves the implementation of the
ITU key performance indicators (KPIs) for smart sustainable cities in Singapore, in line with its Smart Nation
initiative.
This pilot project will allow Singapore to measure its progress vis-à-vis its smart-city goals and will determine
the level of smartness and sustainability of the city. The results from this pilot project will be utilized by the
Advisory Board for Smart Sustainable Cities, which consists of 16 United Nations Agencies, to upgrade the
existing KPIs and create the first Global Smart Sustainable City Index. This index is expected to serve as the
universal basis for assessing smart and sustainable city transitions worldwide, thereby allowing urban
stakeholders to accurately deduce the extent to which their city can be referred to as a smart sustainable city.

3 Conclusions

Within 50 years, Singapore has not only evolved into one of the world’s wealthiest nations, but also one of the
most business-friendly countries, with a government that fosters growth and innovation. The city has done so by
using and capitalizing on its well-integrated, well-educated and forward-looking population. It has also brought
and invested in talent (local and international) from various fields to help grow its industries. Keeping the citizens
and stakeholders in mind is an important factor for the building of any smart city or nation. Accordingly, Singapore
has invested in the liveability of a nation and created world-renowned living standards for its citizens. This has not
only improved local economic and social growth, but has also attracted top talent from around the world.
A Smart Nation is about fostering an innovation environment and overcoming challenges such as connectivity or
working in silos, which are faced by most governments around the world. Overcoming these challenges will
subsequently lead to an ecosystem that is supportive of innovation, sustainable economic growth and
environmental protection/conservation. Singapore also has various national-level coordinating agencies that

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