Moderating at a panel on Singapore’s Smart Nation journey at the East-West Centre International Media Conference co-hosted by SMU at the School of Law, SMU Vice-Provost of Research and Professor of Information Systems (Practice) Steven Miller said that Singapore is integrated to an extent that very few countries are. He said, “Having the multiplicity of different layers of government under one unified system is helpful and has allowed the country to do special things.”
He added that the key to successfully executing smart city plans rests on getting the population to re-think some of its fundamental social contract assumptions related to what a person might want to do to satisfy individual interest and desires versus what works sustainably for the community at large. He surmised, “A trusted government that has good relationships with its residents and that can hold the social fabric together is key to nurturing this type of change and transformation. That is the essence of what will enable Singapore to truly transform itself into a people-centric smart nation.”