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Harnessing IT to Enhance
Economic Competitiveness
and Quality of Life
| Leaving an office building
in downtown Singapore, a businessman stops at a conveniently located terminal
to order a taxi. He enters his PIN code, and the system recognises him
immediately as a regular customer. He presses another key to select his
office from the list of common destinations and heads for the main entrance.
On the street outside his taxi is just pulling up to the kerb.
Getting a taxi this easily is not a fantasy, it is becoming a reality. This is but one example of IT applications taking place in Singapore. It started with the telephone system which was the first in the World to become completely digitized so that all telephones are now push button. Cash is going the same way too. Singaporeans are already paying for their subway or bus ticket by inserting a stored-value plastic card into a machine at the train station or on the bus and the fare is deducted automatically. Newly launched is the CashCard, also a stored-value card which can be used to make payments at specific outlets and can be topped up when the card value is exhausted. This smart card will eventually be used for all transactions. Convenient for the users, it is to replace the notes and coins they normally carry. The benefit for banks and retailers is the increase in staff productivity as there would be less manual handling of notes and coins. Widespread applications of IT is designed to make work more efficient and chores less time-consuming. This will also increase discretionary time for Singaporeans to spend on leisure, kinship, social and civic pursuits. Some other examples of IT applications are: Library 2000, a project to electronically link all public libraries and allow users to access a variety of multimedia information databases from their homes, offices or libraries. Coronet, a network linking all the organisations in the construction and real-estate industry to improve turnaround time, productivity and quality in the submission of applications and plans for government approval, procurement of goods and services for construction projects and information access to support business operations. Tradenet, a nation-wide EDI system which allows the various parties from the public and private sectors to interchange trade documents and information in the conduct of international trade including import-export approvals. It helps to reduce the cost and turnaround time for the preparation, transmission and processing of documents and information.
For a smooth ride on the Information Superhighway, take a trip to Singapore. UPBOUND
organises the Learning Partnership programme to share the Singapore Experience
with overseas visitors who see Singapore as a
learning model. This study tour programme is customised to meet the specific
interest of individual organisations.
For more information, contact
the Programme Director at e-mail:
Sharing the Singapore Experience in ... Economic Management Sharing the Singapore Experience in ... Development Management Sharing the Singapore Experience in ... Transportation Management Sharing the Singapore Experience in ...
Environmental Management
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Booking and dispatching of this taxi has been handled completely automatically.
Assisted by the satellite-based Global Positioning System (GPS) and a Mobitex
wireless data network, the system has located the nearest available taxi,
transmitting the trip information to a terminal in the vehicle and forwarded
the order for invoicing.
Preparing Singapore to meet the new challenges of the Information Age is
the IT2000 masterplan which aims to transform Singapore into an Intelligent
Island, where the use of IT is pervasive in every aspect of its society
- at work, at home and at play. And to bring IT closer to the hearts of
people trial to test a new nation-wide multimedia network called Singapore
One has begun. Initially some 300 homes, and extended to 5000 families
by end 1997, will use it to access government services, electronic commerce
and entertainment programmes.
