Fundamental changes needed to stay competitive in ICT sector

OVER the next 10 years, ICT (infocomm technology) can play a transformational role in Singapore's development into an innovative society where world-class content, ideas and products are created.

This is the central message of the Infocomm and Media 2025 (IMM) roadmap which was accepted by Minister for Communication and Information Yaacob Ibrahim on Tuesday. As Dr Yaacob said, the bold use of technology, guided by past infocomm and media masterplans, has been one of the contributing factors in Singapore's success till now.

The IMM comes at a time when the technology world is witnessing what is a perfect storm. The combination of social, mobile, cloud computing and big data analytics is changing the way we work and even live our lives. It is creating new industries and destroying old ones. This is reflected in the very thrust of the report which combines what till now has been two distinct industries: Infocomm and Media. Increasingly, technology is bringing these two closer together and making them virtually the same.