Microsoft to help build framework for system to enable better sharing of public information
People at a Smart Nation exhibition during last year’s National Day Rally. With the common IT operating system, public agencies will be able to share information among themselves and with businesses and the public. Today file photo
SINGAPORE — Underpinning the Government’s ambitious Smart Nation initiative, the framework for a common information technology operating system for all public agencies will be developed by technology giant Microsoft and research agency A*STAR that would enable the agencies to easily share information not only among themselves, but also with businesses and the public.
For example, motorists could receive a message alerting them to locations with flash floods and suggesting alternative routes, with information supplied by national water agency PUB and the Land Transport Authority (LTA).
The system would also enable agencies such as the Housing and Development Board, the National Environment Agency and town councils to identify estates with litter problems and deploy more cleaners to these places.
Currently, agencies work with disparate IT systems and they monitor one another’s social media feed to keep up to date with dynamic situations. Before data can be shared, it also has to be reconfigured and processed.
Dr Lee Shiang Long, executive director of A*STAR’s Institute of Infocomm Research (I2R), said: “With (the) common platform, you can do it in a much simpler and quicker way. And that is where we can leverage on the power of data from all sources, as well as to bring value to the people we need,”
Microsoft and A*STAR signed a Memorandum of Understanding yesterday to build a standard framework for the operating system. A prototype is expected to be ready by the end of the year.
Microsoft is no stranger to helping cities address urbanisation challenges through technological innovation. Under its CityNext initiative, it has developed projects in cities such as Beijing, Rome, Buenos Aires and New York. Together with the New York Police Department, for example, it built a city-wide crime fighting surveillance system that allowed police to collate and visualise vast amounts of data from cameras, licence plate readers, 911 calls, police databases and other sources. In Singapore, Microsoft has already partnered the LTA to create MyTransport.SG, which provides users with information on bus arrivals, available car parks and traffic conditions on roads.
The collaboration with I2R to build an operating system for the entire country will be a world-first for Microsoft, said Dr Hon Hsiao-Wuen, Chairman of Asia-Pacific R&D Group in Microsoft Research Asia. He said: “We really want to build a platform with solutions, some of (which) will be provided by government agencies... and some of them even provided by consumers themselves. That’s really our ambition, which I can assure is the most ambitious one in the whole world.”
Ms Jessica Tan, Microsoft Singapore managing director, reiterated that the company’s “wide experience in building smart cities” meant that it was well-placed to leverage its research and development capabilities in the collaboration with I2R.
To make Smart Nation a reality, a common operating system is necessary, said Dr Lee. “You need a platform where people can do software (and) app development, where data can flow and (be) shared across the government; and also with the citizens … (who can) contribute data as well as contribute apps.”
CLARIFICATION: It was previously reported that the IDA would be appointed as the overseeing regulatory body for the collaboration. A*STAR’s Institute of Infocomm Research has since clarified that this will not be the case.
