News Room

Ladies and Gentlemen

       It is with great pleasure that I welcome you to Singapore.  Here at IBM’s SmarterCities Track, our dialogue today will revolve around how we can “build a smarter planet – one city at a time”.

2     We are at a turning point in human history where more people in the world today live in urban centers rather than rural areas. The challenges that face cities today are numerous and complex. Rapid urbanisation places significant strain on the infrastructure within cities, as well as on the environment.  Rapid population growth poses challenges to cities in terms of sustaining economic activity to provide enough jobs and to manage the social divide between the “haves” and “have not”s. Globalisation presents cities with potentially diverse populations with varying needs and aspirations.

3     To me, a “smart” city is one that achieves both economic vibrancy and a high quality of life for the majority, and not just the privileged few, of its residents. Technology is central in building a smart city in a few ways.  First, technology can help cities overcome resource constraints and transcend the limits to growth. NEWater is an example of how Singapore, a land scarce city-state with limited land for water catchment, achieves greater water security by “recycling water” and closing the water loop.

4     Second, technology can revolutionalise the way we live, work and play, while reducing the environmental footprint of cities. The breakthroughs in alternative and clean energy are an example of this.

5     Third, technology, where it can be used to scale the provision of services to reduce the costs of service provision and to enhance connectivity, can serve as social levelers.  In Singapore for instance, IT has been used to increase social capital – such as the formation of virtual communities within our public housing estates.  In our public healthcare system, IT is also used to facilitate case management while our transportation system leverages on IT to price the use of roads and provide timely information on bus and train services to the masses that use public transport.

6     However, technology alone will not make a smart city. The potential of technology can only be maximised where policies and systems are in place to support the adoption and integration of technology into daily life.  Above all, a smart city is one where the necessary talents and skills exist to innovate new technology, to apply technology to improve urban life and to maintain systems and processes. But above all, we still need the people and communities to breathe life into the soul of the city.

7     With this, let me end here and I look forward to a fruitful discussion. Thank you.