New Smart Nation 2.0 initiatives include S$120 million set aside for AI adoption
Measures include getting AI into classrooms through teachers and modules, and equipping more Singaporeans with digital skills
SMART Nation (SN) 2.0 will include a sum of S$120 million set aside for artificial intelligence (AI) adoption and the setting up of a new agency to tackle online harms.
The next lap of the Smart Nation initiative, launched in 2014, was announced on Tuesday (Oct 1) by Prime Minister Lawrence Wong at Punggol Digital District.
There are three key goals for SN 2.0 – trust, growth and community, and direct digital developments to benefit Singaporeans. New initiatives include getting AI into the classroom through teachers and modules, equipping more Singaporeans with digital skills, and utilising technology to enhance community connections.
As part of the trust goals, a new Digital Infrastructure Act will be introduced in 2025 to address a broader set of security risks across important digital infrastructure. These include technical misconfigurations to physical hazards such as cooling system failures and fires.
Singapore will need to embrace the ethos of experimenting with new approaches, including disrupting existing ways of doing things, said PM Wong in a speech at the SN 2.0 launch event.
“Not everything we try will succeed. Some efforts may fall short of the desired results. When that happens, we must have the courage and integrity to acknowledge the failure, learn from it, and quickly pivot to a new approach,” he said.
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The new S$120 million in “AI for Science” is separate from the amount set aside for Singapore’s national AI strategy. The National Research Foundation will lead the investment, which will focus on developing and the adoption of AI methods and tools to boost productivity in scientific research.
PM Wong noted that Singapore has over 150 AI research and development, and product teams, coming from a wide range of global companies and research institutions. The Republic is looking to grow this AI ecosystem and foster collaborations between AI researchers and scientists in other domains. The focus is not just on new breakthroughs but also on how technology is harnessed.
“The countries that gained the most were not always the ones that pioneered the latest invention, but those that successfully deployed these technologies across different industries,” he said.
Another key announcement from SN 2.0 is the formation of a new agency to tackle online harms, which will be backed by a new law to protect victims of such harms. While details are still scant on the agency or law that will be enacted, examples around the world such as Australia’s eSafety Commissioner have been studied.
The agency will act on behalf of victims to direct online service providers and perpetrators to stop online harms quickly and will add assurance on top of existing regulatory and court-based processes. The focus will be on the most serious and prevalent online harms affecting victims in Singapore, such as cyberbullying and the non-consensual sharing of intimate images with support in a timely and effective manner. More details will be available in due course.
“[Victims] must be able to turn to a trusted source of support, who can act on their behalf to direct perpetrators and service providers to put a stop to the harms,” said PM Wong.
Statistics from the last 10 years of the SN initiative have seen Singapore rise to No 1 in global rankings for digital infrastructure, and the digital economy accounting for 17.7 per cent of gross domestic product in 2023, up from 13.8 per cent in 2018. On the scams front, over S$100 million has been recovered by the Anti-Scam Command, and 390 million potential scam calls have been blocked in 2023.
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