Singapore shows the way

Business Times - 03 Jun 2009

It is one of the most impressive examples of a smarter city that IBM has seen to-date

By TERESA LIM

IN WHAT many are calling the worst of times, let me offer a different perspective. I believe that the current economic crisis represents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to transform our current world, to build more intelligent cities, infrastructures and systems that will not just repair, but prepare our economy for the 21st century.

Consider this. In 1900, only 13 per cent of the world's population lived in cities. By 2050, that number will be 75 per cent. We are adding the equivalent of seven New Yorks to the planet every year.

While this unprecedented urbanisation is both an emblem of our economic and societal progress, it is stressing the planet's infrastructure with challenges including traffic congestion, water and waste management, sanitation, food and nutrition security.

We therefore need to start building a smarter world - one city at a time. The process has already begun. Intelligence is being infused into the way our cities work.

Malta, Germany and Denmark are applying smart meters and instrumentation to make the power grid more stable, adaptable and less costly. Masdar City, being built from scratch near Abu Dhabi, will be the world's first economically and environmentally sustainable city, with zero carbon emissions.

Asian countries are going through an even faster urbanisation frenzy. And its emerging nations are struggling with the resulting strain on their crumbling infrastructures.

Singapore is at the nexus of these changes. Singapore is one of the most impressive examples of a smarter city that IBM has seen to-date. It is transforming a world-class infrastructure managed by world-class professionals into a smarter city powered by the world's most advanced technologies.

By identifying the right opportunities and targeting investments in smarter systems, the government and businesses can drive the next wave of economic growth, while making life in Singapore better for all its citizens.

Singapore's recent stimulus package was clearly designed to fully exploit the potential of the future - rightly focused on investing in training to make its people more competitive, and creating more intelligent systems for transport and water management, and a more integrated health infrastructure.

Sam Palmisano, IBM chairman, president and chief executive officer, defines a smarter city as one with economic, technological and social systems that are sustainable, and are truly systems that come together to make the community more productive, more efficient, safer, more vibrant and more responsive to opportunities.

In our view, Singapore is doing many things right in becoming a smarter city. The Republic's systems currently come together efficiently and effectively for its residents and businesses.

These are some proof points:

Smarter transport: Cities in Sweden, Australia and England are using smarter transport systems to reduce both congestion and pollution. Stockholm has introduced a dynamic toll system that has reduced traffic by 20 per cent, decreased wait time by 25 per cent and cut emissions by 12 per cent.

Locally, we partnered with the Land Transport Authority (LTA) to build smarter transport systems to address traffic management challenges. We leveraged our research asset, the Traffic Prediction Tool, providing LTA with the ability to predict traffic flow up to 60 minutes into the future with an accuracy of about 85 per cent. Another collaboration is the LTA Green IT initiative where LTA achieved savings of at least 20 per cent in energy consumption for its IT environment.

Last November, LTA and IBM embarked on an initiative aimed at promoting Singapore as a centre for research for world-class urban transport solutions.

Smarter healthcare: Technology alone will not solve all the problems in healthcare, but we believe that they provide the building blocks for creating more integrated, more intelligent healthcare systems.

Smarter healthcare means integrating data and centring it on the patient, so patients 'own' their information and have access to a networked team of collaborative care. It means moving away from paper records, reducing medical errors and improving efficiencies. And it means applying advanced analytics to vast amounts of data, to improve outcomes.

Singapore continues to lead the region in healthcare with significant investment in healthcare infrastructure, including funds to develop a national electronic health records system, based on the principle of 'one citizen, one health record', accessible by all hospitals and polyclinics.

This is a bold and far-reaching move that will deliver smarter, more effective healthcare to its residents, especially those who need care from a variety of healthcare providers. This is an important first step towards the creation of an integrated intelligent healthcare system - linking diagnosis, drug discovery and healthcare providers to insurers, employers, patients and communities.

Smarter water: The theme at the inaugural Singapore International Water Week 2007 was 'Sustainable Water Solutions for Cities' with good reason. In Asia, 700 million people do not have access to safe drinking water. But Singapore already has in place a resilient infrastructure that delivers safe drinking water to every resident on tap, and a strategy that will provide adequate supply for both its residents and industrial needs.

Singapore's water management efforts have been widely recognised on the global water stage. Its Deep Tunnel Sewerage System (DTSS), a superhighway for used water management, was recently crowned the 'Water Project of the Year' at the prestigious Global Water Awards 2009 in Zurich, Switzerland. PUB Singapore was also honoured with the prestigious 2007 Stockholm Industry Water Award for its holistic approach to water resources management.

Singapore is clearly well positioned to seize the opportunities to lead in this area. This is precisely why we chose Singapore to be one of six worldwide locations to hold IBM's Global Innovation Outlook (GIO), specifically on oceans and water management. We brought together private and public sector, academic and commercial participants from 12 countries last October, to brainstorm on sustaining the world's water systems.

Another GIO will be held in Singapore this July, focusing on Smarter Cities - building intelligence into systems and processes that enable people to work, recreate and govern themselves.

Smarter people: Today's global economy is a giant service system, comprising billions of people, millions of businesses, and millions of technology products. In Singapore, the services industry accounted for 68 per cent of its 2008 GDP, and continues to grow.

We know that the service-oriented world calls for a new breed of workers of the 21st century. Our vision is to develop T-shaped professionals with deep proficiency in one area - engineering for instance - and a breadth of multi-disciplinary skills that will enable them to collaborate productively and fuel the growth of our services economy.

This new field is called Service Science, Management and Engineering (SSME). IBM worked with Singapore's top universities resulting in Nanyang Technological University, the National University of Singapore, Singapore Management University and the Institute of Systems Science introducing SSME into their curricula.

Partnering the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore, we rallied leading industry partners to jointly sponsor the National Infocomm Scholarship, which supports students to pursue infocomm and SSME-related degrees.

Smarter cities are the result of years of planning and execution by a strong government with a single- minded focus on citizen welfare and business growth, coupled with the passion and responsible behaviour of a people with a thirst for innovation.

Singapore clearly possesses the blueprints of a smarter city, and more importantly, the opportunity to level the playing field and create economic value and vitality for its nation and a better quality of life for its population.

The Republic has achieved incredible economic success while maintaining social harmony in less than a generation's lifetime. Today, it is timely for Singapore to seize the global stage as here lives and breathes a smarter city model that many others in Asia and the rest of the world can follow.

The writer is managing director, IBM Singapore