Digital Reach

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public services. Some of the online public services include the
filing of income tax returns and retrieval of airline and flight infor-
mation.
These online public services have also been popular among
the citizens. According to the 2004 e-Government Perception
Survey by the Ministry of Finance and IDA, more than half the
population in Singapore (57 per cent) transacted with the
Government online in 2004. The latest survey shows that among
the total number who transacted with the Government, nearly
nine out of ten transacted at least once electronically in the past
12 months. Government electronic services also fared well in
terms of service quality, as eight out of ten Singaporeans who
transacted electronically with the Government were satisfied with
the overall quality of the electronic services.
Leaving no one behind in the digital age
To ensure that no one is left behind in the digital age, the
Singapore Government has been aggressively promoting and
raising awareness on the use of ICT. There have also been
measures in place to increase ICT literacy in Singapore, includ-
ing various ICT training and literacy programmes targeted at
citizens of all ages. There is also the NEU PC Programme, one of
several national infocomm usage education programmes that the
Government has implemented since 1999. To date, 18 000 PCs
have been given to needy families in Singapore.
The Singapore Government has also put in place measures to
engage older citizens to embrace ICT. One such measure is the
eCitizen Helper Programme, under which the Government aims
to provide Singaporeans, in particular older citizens, with the
means to transact electronically at designated eCitizen Helper
locations. If they need someone to show them how to use the
e-services, there will be trained helpers to lend a hand too. To
date, there are 83 eCitizen Helper outlets around Singapore and
more than one thousand helpers on these locations to assist
Singaporeans in government online transactions. In 2004, about
40 000 transactions were done with the assistance of the
eCitizen Helper.
The Singapore Government believes it is crucial to target the
population from a young age if it is to be comfortable and compe-
tent with ICT and the Internet. In 1997, Singapore launched the
Masterplan for IT in Education as a blueprint for the integration
of ICT in our education system to meet the challenges of the 21st
century. This was followed up by a second plan in 2002. The key
objective is to use ICT to help equip the young with learning,
creative thinking and communication skills. In doing so, all
schools in the country are wired up with broadband and the
student-to-PC ratio in schools has reached 2:1.
In the relentless spirit of driving research development and
testing of the use of innovative infocomm technologies, IDA and
Microsoft Singapore launched the IDA-Microsoft
initiative . This five-year undertaking will drive
the testing, development, research and showcasing of infocomm
technologies in education. It aims to enhance students’ learning
experiences through the use of tablet PCs, ‘digital ink’ and other
emerging infocomm technologies. Students could use the tablet
PCs for a variety of things, including ecology observations around
the schools’ pond, creating digital art in an open-air class, and
recording science experiments in a school laboratory.
The latest infocomm technologies have also been steadily
making their way into the healthcare sector. A three-year pilot
project between Alexandra Hospital, IDA and Microsoft Singapore
was launched in November 2004. Called the
initiative aims to deliver a patient-centric, seamless and cost effec-
tive healthcare system over the next three years.
The project will deliver critical information to healthcare
workers that will enable faster diagnoses, more effective treat-
ment and an enhanced experience for patients, using intuitive
‘digital dashboard’ user interfaces. Patients will be empowered
with healthcare information for preventative and post-illness care
as well as their treatment in hospital. The dashboards will provide
a consistent interface that allows users – whether patients or
healthcare workers – to intuitively start using the system with
minimal training, and share information where appropriate.
Singapore’s ICT efforts gain international recognition
Singapore’s efforts in promoting and encouraging ICT adoption
have gained international recognition. The World Economic
Forum has ranked Singapore first in its 2004-2005 Global
Information Technology Report. Singapore was listed as the
world’s most successful economy in exploiting ICT develop-
ments.
Accenture has also consistently ranked Singapore among the
top three countries in the world in its e-Government Leadership
Study. Projects such as the Online Business Licensing Service
(OBLS) have been recognized by the United Nations for the use
of ICT to enhance service delivery to citizens. OBLS is a one-stop
integrated e-service that allows businesses to apply for licences
with ease and convenience. This award represents a significant
milestone in the Government’s journey towards the ‘many agen-
cies, one government’ vision.
As with the pace of change in technology, Singapore’s infocomm
landscape is set to witness exciting developments in the years to
come. This is the premise of Intelligent Nation 2015, or iN2015
– a ten year masterplan to grow the infocomm sector and chart
the use of technology for work, life and leisure. Spearheaded by
IDA, iN2015 will be conceived through a national co-creation
effort by all who have a stake in the future of Singapore. This
includes the industry, Government and the people.
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Leaving no-one behind in the digital age Photo: Monk’s Hill Secondary School