Expansive digital infrastructure stack to place island-state as a ‘smart city’ leader in the era of the metaverse.
Ahead of Asia Tech x Singapore (ATxSG), Josephine Teo, Singapore’s Minister for Communications and Information launched Singapore’s Digital Connectivity Blueprint (DCB), a master-plan that sets the direction for the next bound of Singapore’s growth and development in the digital economy.
Derived in consultation with the Advisory Panel on Digital Infrastructure, co-chaired by Dr Janil Puthucheary, Singapore’s Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Communications and Information, and Irving Tan, Executive Vice President of Global Operations at Western Digital, and other industry partners, the blueprint outlines Singapore’s strategic priorities and moves into new frontiers to stay ahead of the curve.
Singapore’s Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) has also partnered Amazon Web Services (AWS) to launch a Joint Innovation Centre (JIC), a first in Southeast Asia. This physical space housed within IMDA’s Innovation Hub, PIXEL – one of the leading innovation launchpads in the region – is equipped with specialized labs including AR/VR, 5G, and usability testing facilities, and will connect corporates and startups across Southeast Asia.
IMDA has also appointed 18 high potential professionals from 16 companies as SG Digital Leaders under the SG Digital Leadership Accelerator. The SG Digital Leaders are founders of high-growth tech startups, leaders in large companies (MNCs), and innovators building tech products for the world. These leaders come from diverse backgrounds, lead regional teams, and specialize in product development with backgrounds in Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), data, software, and engineering.
Architecting Singapore’s digital future
Whatever benefits the business and consumer metaverses can bring to the island-state, or if the metaverse actually comes to fruition, the digital economy need to be ready for them.
With digital connectivity as the ‘invisible infrastructure’ powering the growth of the digital economy, Singapore will continue to invest ahead of demand, and holistically plan for the entire digital infrastructure stack – hard infrastructure, physical-digital infrastructure, and soft infrastructure, to ensure that its digital infrastructure is future-ready.
The city-state intends to stay ahead by expanding its digital connectivity to create better lives and exciting opportunities for its people and enterprises, doubling down on the following strategic priorities:
- Provide capacity to enable submarine cable landings to double within the next 10 years.
- Build seamless end-to-end 10Gbps domestic connectivity within the next five years.
- Ensure world-class resilience and security for our digital infrastructure.
- Pioneer a roadmap for growth of new green data centers and push the sustainability envelope.
- Drive greater adoption of the Singapore Digital Utility Stack, to expand the benefits of seamless digital transactions with secure cross-border digital identities.
In addition, Singapore will make moves in more nascent and frontier areas to reap future opportunities:
- Advance the vision of a quantum-safe Singapore within the next 10 years.
- Put in place foundations for pervasive autonomy.
- “Green software” to mitigate intensified compute by building the nascent ecosystem for sustainable technology.
- Enable innovative solutions in key industries with Low Earth Orbit satellite services.
According to the Advisory Panel on Digital Infrastructure, the Blueprint serves as a strong foundation upon which Singapore residents and organizations can realize better opportunities, stronger trust and empowered communities.
