Singapore Working On Having More 'Open Data Architecture'

At the Roundtable of Thought Leaders on Innovation in Cities, Minister-in-Charge of the Smart Nation Programme Office Dr Vivian Balakrishnan said the wider availability of data will benefit society as a whole.

As Singapore works towards having a more 'open data architecture’ - this means more data will be available and verifiable to the Government, private sector and individuals. This could be beneficial for society as a whole Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister-in-Charge of the Smart Nation Programme Office said at the Roundtable of Thought Leaders on Innovation in Cities meeting on Monday (Jan 19).  The two-day event is organised by the Lee Kuan Yew Centre for Innovative Cities at the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD), and brings together 90 leading thinkers from around the world to look at how big data can affect social behaviour and government policy.

Dr Balakrishnan, who is also Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, cited the example of how the Government is using a more open approach in its handling of floods in the country. He said real-time data picked up from hundreds of sensors placed in drains was released, which allowed experts like engineers and academics to study the information and propose new solutions.

”This is really part of a larger effort to open up our society, to provide opportunities for everyone to put their best ideas forward, to co-create solutions to deal with the many challenges that we are going to confront in the future," said Dr Balakrishnan. "So it's about openness, it's about trust, it's about sharing, and it's about a collective commitment to honesty and transparency.”  Professor Chan Heng Chee, Chairman of the Lee Kuan Yew Centre for Innovative Cities at SUTD, said she would like to see more open data and bureaucracies sharing data and analysis because of the emphasis on big data...