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Singapore to push digital
envelope
By Tony Sitathan
SINGAPORE - As the rest of Asia is suffering
from the effects of the severe acute respiratory
syndrome (SARS) virus, and the economic slowdown caused
by the Iraq war, Singapore is undeterred in launching an
ambitious three-year program under its Infocomm
Development Authority (IDA) in order to generate more
than 3,000 jobs and more than US$56 million worth of
projects.
The three-year program launched by the
IDA is called the "Connected Singapore" plan. In effect,
its aim is to transform Singapore into a digital
exchange or trading hub where all digitized information
be exchanged especially via the information and
communication (infocomm) industry.
"The
Connected Singapore plan is another initiative by the
government to transform Singapore into a virtual living
lab as well as to assist it in setting new standards in
a very nascent industry that has only recently built the
infrastructure needed to drive its applications and
services," said Andrew Low, an economist with Axiom
Consulting in Hong Kong.
It couldn't come at a
more opportune time for Singapore, Low noted, as
Singapore is facing its worst economic challenge since
its recession in the mid-1970s and early 1980s.
Many economists predict that first-quarter gross
domestic product (GDP) growth - to be released next
month - will be markedly lower than the projection of
1.5 percent. One clear signal came from Prime Minister
Goh Chok Tong, who estimated that SARS will shave 0.5-1
percentage point off the growth figures of Singapore,
China, Hong Kong and other affected economies. Arunan
Boonavadji, a regional economist with a private bank
based in Singapore, said: "The fallout of SARS is indeed
a sore point in the economies of Asia where tourism, the
hospitality industry, the airline industry [and]
consumer confidence have been badly impacted. It will
take at least two quarters of 2003 before Asia recovers
and consumer confidence returns."
Singapore has
taken steps to arrest this decline in its economy.
Several analysts have predicted that unemployment will
increase to 5 percent, the highest ever recorded in
Singapore, while official growth estimates of 2-5
percent for 2003 have to be revised downward to a more
conservative 2-3 percent instead. Hence it makes sense
to harness other engines of growth in Singapore while
there have been occasional slowdowns in its
manufacturing and biomedical-sciences industries.
The infocomm industry has been identified by the
Economic Review Committee (ERC) as one of the seven
sectors having the potential to power growth in services
in Singapore. David Lim, acting minister for
information, communication and the arts, says the IDA
intends to take Singapore to greater heights, including
more connectivity among people and businesses, and at
the same time to play a more active role in helping to
shape international standards. "Singapore is now ranked
the third most network-ready country in the world
according to WEF's [World Economic Forum] Global IT
Report for 2003. And ICT [information and communication
technology] is one of our key competitive advantages,"
he said.
The IDA has identified five specific
clusters in the infocomm sector that offer high growth
potential, or "good bets" for Singapore in the next one
to three years. They are value-added mobile services;
infrastructure for wireless and wired networks;
multimedia processing and management; web services and
portals; and security and trust infrastructure.
By developing the infocomm industry to be
independent from the other engines of growth, it hopes
to boost Singapore's GDP, to which the infocomm industry
contributed about 7 percent in 2001 and is expected to
contribute 10 percent by 2012, a target set by the ERC's
services subcommittee. On average the infocomm industry
has been expanding at an annual rate of 13 percent since
1986, with total revenue for 2001 averaging close to
US$15.9 billion.
To realize the Connected
Singapore vision, there are four broad strategies, said
Lim. "The first is to leverage on existing network
readiness and capabilities for wireless pervasiveness,
[to] develop content and promote infocomm literacy. The
second is to develop Singapore as a leading global
digital distribution and trading center. The third is to
grow new economic activities and create jobs in infocomm
through developing innovation capabilities, encouraging
technological development and expanding access to
overseas markets. The fourth is to help businesses and
government agencies use infocomm to re-engineer key
business clusters and government services," Lim said.
He also stressed the need to develop Singapore
into a globalized, diversified and entrepreneurial
economy, where there was a need to go beyond a
government driven process, to even a closer
industry-government cooperation and partnership. There
are already plans to encourage more entrepreneurs to
take full advantage of the new networks and
capabilities, and efforts to better seed and support
start-ups and help companies grow beyond Singapore.
To embrace its multi-dimensional role, the IDA
has launched an overseas development program that aims
to nurture 50 globally competitive local companies to
achieve export revenue of more than US$28.4 million
through partnerships with multinational corporations
over the next two years. It also intends to sink as much
as $17 million a year to provide crucial seed capital
for expensive pilots and trials of new innovative
technologies that are developed or co-developed in
Singapore.
It all looks good on paper, Low
maintained, but it is another thing when it comes to
delegating authority and taking a bottom-up approach to
learning and adopting to the infocomm standards of the
international community. "The IDA plan is well
intentioned, but can it be widely adopted and will its
benefits trickle down to the smaller companies that need
such experimental venture funding without any strings
attached?" he asked.
While Singapore grapples
with its centrally planned past, it will be an
interesting lesson for future technocrats in the island
republic. As Lim argued regarding creating the right
conditions to succeed, Singapore should think beyond
corporate to entrepreneurial, beyond government-led to
an industry-government partnership, and beyond the
shores of Singapore. He summed up the need to
regionalize the infocomm industry despite all the
uncertainties of a globalized economy today.
"Whether we succeed or fail depends on how
willing and able we are to go beyond our success thus
far. For over 20 years, we have built the ship. It is
time to set sail. There are storms and rocks in the
ocean, and it will be safer to stay in the harbor. But
that is not what ships are made for. We must [therefore]
sail," he said.
(©2003 Asia Times Online Co,
Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact content@atimes.com
for information on our sales and syndication policies.)
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