Commentary

Government policy, a receptive public and innovative segment combine to make Singapore Asia’s burgeoning tech hub.

Against a backdrop of disruptive megatrends and rapid advancements in technologies, recent initiatives have cast the spotlight back on the utilities industry. This includes the recently announced carbon tax as part of Singapore’s Year of Climate Action, where facilities which produce 25,000 tonnes or more of greenhouse gas emissions in a year will have to pay a carbon tax from 2020.

Chinese New Year has come and gone, and Singapore is getting back to work after the festivities. Most executives in private companies and public organisations will have a long list of priorities from sales targets that they have to hit to company expansion and budgeting. Anything concerning poor quality data coming out of the Data Economy is unlikely to make that list. But given Singapore’s trajectory and ambitions to position itself as a global data and Artificial Intelligence (AI) leader, there are good reasons why we should push cleaning up the Data Economy higher on our list of priorities – otherwise we risk our position as a leading data hub.

Online and social shopping, plus health and freshness, are amongst the top five trends set to influence Singapore’s grocery retail market over the next five years. 

Singapore remains a leader in making healthcare more accessible for its growing pioneer generation. The focus now is likely to shift towards taking the digital route to making healthcare more affordable and accessible. 

A new year is a time for change – could this year be the one which sees women in Singapore put a sizeable crack in the glass ceiling? A new council, The Council for Board Diversity, has been established which is focused on getting more women onto boards and into top jobs.

Through 2021, Singapore is expected to experience a 3.4% growth in annual visitors as it extends a positive streak from 2014 and 2017 where the tourism industry saw an overall 15.4% increase in international visitor numbers. To handle the sustained growth in tourism levels, Changi Airport opened its new-look Terminal 4, helping it to accommodate more flights, and when Terminal 5 opens in 2030, the airport will be equipped to handle 150 million passengers annually, almost doubling its current capacity.

With the global increase in data breaches, like the biggest data fiasco of Facebook and locally the massive cyber attack on SingHealth’s database, the simple question of “Where is my data?” now requires answers that derive from the complex universe of data governance. 

When the internal network of a local commodities trading firm was hit by a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack in early 2018, the network's performance dropped for several hours and lost millions in daily revenue due to the network performance issue as daily trades came to a standstill.

The recently announced Payment Services Act by the Singapore government seeks to address the balance between supporting the shift to a cashless society, enabling technology companies to run fast and develop innovative new solutions, whilst at the same time protecting the public.

Singapore’s growing dependence on technology, coupled with the expanding scale of its national digital environment, exposes it to a broad range of sophisticated threats. The profile of attackers range from state-sponsored hackers to tech-savvy criminals. Their existence has also contributed to the growing fear of a skills gap, limiting the effectiveness of the existing cyber security teams.

According to the Economic Development Board, there are roughly 37,400 international companies operating out of Singapore, which includes 7,000 multinationals, attesting to the fact that Singapore has steadily made a name for itself in recent years as a hub for businesses big and small. Much of this growth can be attributed to the country’s innovation-led economy, generous tax regime, labour laws and a strong emphasis on supporting businesses of all sizes.

A thriving fintech capital, Singapore has always taken a supportive stance on emerging technologies, and its positive inclination towards cryptocurrencies and blockchain is no exception. However, as issues surrounding security, fraud, and regulation remain at the forefront of crypto conversations, mainstream adoption has dwindled – both in the Lion City and as part of a much larger, global conversation.

It’s hard to remember a time when people could “shop” off catalogues that came in the mail, or phoned-in to order from a TV shopping program. There were much less variety to choose from, and things generally took a little longer to arrive. What’s more, the potential for damaged or lost goods were also much higher back then.

The Ministry of Health is currently considering measures to reduce Singaporeans’ consumption of sugar which is a factor in obesity and diabetes here. These include a total ban on the sales and advertising of high-sugar drinks, mandatory labelling as well as a tax.

As savvy shoppers look to the internet for their deals, the last quarter of the year is increasingly a crucial period for online retailers in Singapore. A runway of shopping festivals -- beginning in September with 9/9 followed by Singles Day in November, and then 12/12 -- is eclipsing the traditional Christmas shopping season.