Singapore is all about big data, says Maggie Hanson-Muse, the U.S.‘s minister counselor for commercial affairs based in the city-state. And she should know.
Having worked for the U.S. Commercial Service since 1990 in half a dozen countries, she currently is responsible for U.S. commercial initiatives for seven countries in the ASEAN region including Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand and Myanmar.
On the top of her agenda these days is promoting the upcoming “Building Smart Cities” conference, a forum to learn about “connecting, innovating and sustaining with 21st century infrastructure” that is to be held Nov. 1-3 in Chicago.
Since she arrived in Singapore in December 2014, Ms. Hanson-Muse has had a front row seat on developments in perhaps the most advanced “Smart City” in the world. “Singapore is unique,” she told Global Atlanta following a breakfast meeting Sept. 16 at the Metro Atlanta Chamber. The city-state is composed of the island of Singapore and about 54 smaller islands, and has a population of only about 5.5 million people.
“That’s about the size of the population of Costa Rica,” she added, where she has served in the past. But unlike Costa Rica, the island nation of Singapore has no more room for growth. “It’s a small island so everything has to be measured and thought out carefully,” she added. “There’s no place to go but up.”
Singapore’s commitment to adapting the latest “Smart City” technology boils down to “a cost issue,” she said. “When you live on an island with no resources, you have to manage everything including electricity, utilities. It’s not just one application but a whole policy has been developed around it.”
The policy is run out of the prime minister’s office, proof-positive of the island government’s commitment. But equally impressive is the extent to which an awareness of preserving resources has permeated daily life.
“As resources become more scarce and incomes are limited, you become very, very conscious of having to share resources and limited incomes,” she said. As examples, she cited the instruction children receive to turn off and on the water when they brush their teeth so as not to waste any, and the same attention is focused on conserving water when taking a bath or shower.
Dassault Systèmes, a European multinational software company that develops 3D design, 3D digital mock-up, and product lifecycle management software, which has offices around the world including in Atlanta, is in the middle of Singapore’s “Smart City’ initiative.
The company is developing “Virtual Singapore,” a platform bringing data acquisition and visualization techniques to be used by Singapore’s citizens, businesses, government and research community to develop tools and services addressing the city-state’s emerging challenges.
According to company descriptions of the program, Virtual Singapore users will be able to digitally explore the impact of urbanization on the city-state and develop solutions that optimize logistics, governance and operations related to environmental and disaster management, infrastructure, homeland security and community services. All thanks to its collection and application of big data.
Bernard Charles, president and CEO of Dassault Systèmes, said in his announcement of the project, “Singapore is the most advanced city in the world in terms of leveraging technology to plan and manage its transformation over the next decades, and its government’s forward-thinking vision towards a “Smart Nation” parallels our own mission to harmonize product, nature and life through 3D universes.”
Already there are many examples of “Smart City” attributes, according to Ms. Hanson-Muse. She pulled out of a handbag her credit card that performs any number of services including easy access to Singapore’s advanced transportation system.
The Building Smart Cities conference that she is promoting will expose attendees to best practices and feature experts in high speed telecom networks providing innovative approaches to managing traffic and developing ecologically balanced, yet economically viable waste management plants.
It also will have panels on smart governance including ways of facilitating interactions between city residents and their governments, and techniques for disaster risk reduction and cyber-security strategies.
For more information about the Chicago conference, click here. Ms. Hanson-Muse may be reached by email at mhansonm@trade.gov