iN2015: The New “Game” of Singapore

• Posted: Friday, June 23, 2006
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• Author: pradhana

Singapore today (20/6) launched a new ten-year infocomm masterplan that will propel the nation into 2015 and beyond (iN2015), with a line-up of activities and goals that spell benefits for the people, businesses and the global community. The vision is to turn the country into an Intelligent Nation and Global City, Powered by infocomm. The masterplan recommends the way forward for Singapore, into a future where infocomm will bring a sea change and become intrinsic in the way people live, learn, work and play.

During his opening address at the launch of CommunicAsia 2006, Singapore's Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts, Dr Lee Boon Yang, said: "Innovation, integration and internationalisation will be the basis of our masterplan. The capacity to innovate and create new business models, solutions and services will enable Singapore to be more competitive in a globalised environment."

The iN2015 masterplan is developed in the past year with inputs from the People, Private and Public sectors. A steering committee chaired by IDA with representatives from the infocomm industry, sectors like education, healthcare, manufacturing & logistics, finance, tourism & retail and digital media, as well as the government, guided the development. The masterplan sets bold targets for 2015:

• Singapore to be No. 1 in the world in harnessing infocomm to add value to the economy and society.
• Achieve a two-fold increase in value-added1 of the infocomm industry to S$26 billion.
• See a three-fold increase in infocomm export revenue to S$60 billion (US$37.6 billion).
• Create 80,000 additional jobs in the local infocomm market (55,000 jobs are expected to be infocomm jobs in both infocomm and user sectors, 25,000 jobs are supporting jobs in infocomm industry).
• Have at least 90 per cent of homes using broadband
• Ensure 100 per cent computer ownership for all homes with school-going children

While Chan Yeng Kit, CEO of the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA), had declined to say how much will be set aside to roll out all the initiatives that have been lined up in iN2015. But, Chan did indicate that it is likely to be a "multi-billion dollar" investment, going by the investments that the government had unveiled so far.

Before the launch this morning, the Singapore government had over the past months unraveled some details in the multifaceted "intelligent nation" roadmap, including a US$1.3 billion e-government plan, a US$70 million program to beef up manpower resources in the infocomm industry and plans for a new wired, and wireless, national broadband network.

Thirty three proposals had already submitted to IDA for the wired broadband network --with cost estimates ranging from S$500 million (US$314 million) to more than S$5 billion (US$3.1 billion) -- from local and foreign vendors, including Hutchinson Global, MobileOne, StarHub, Skycom Satelite Systems and SMRT Engineering.

The country's telecom regulator is targeting to award contracts for the wired broadband network in 2007, and is expecting the infrastructure to be completed by 2012. When it is up and running, the network will provide access speeds of at least 1Gbps.

During a media briefing, members of the iN2015 steering committee noted that while the island-state cannot compete with the likes of Asia's powerhouses China and India in some areas, Singapore can still differentiate itself in other ways.

On the other hand, to develop a globally competitive infocomm industry, initiatives are being worked out to strengthen the domain and technology capabilities within the industry. Local infocomm enterprises will be nurtured for expansion and growth beyond the domestic markets, and infocomm solutions developed for export.

To support the growth of the economy and the infocomm industry, the infocomm competencies of the general workforce will be raised. Techno-strategists who have both the technical and business expertise will also be groomed to achieve business and organisational goals through the strategic and innovative use of infocomm. To build a pipeline of infocomm professionals, there will be initiatives to attract the best from schools to take up infocomm as a career.

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