Singapore companies stand to gain from new global digital resource platform: Josephine Teo

[SINGAPORE] Singapore companies may gain new business opportunities from the newly launched Singapore Digital Gateway, said Minister for Digital Development and Information Josephine Teo.

First announced by Teo on Sep 25, the gateway aims to benefit policymakers from other countries and multilateral organisations by freely providing access to more than 30 digital resources.

While it is not conceptualised as a marketing platform, Teo said international partners interested in the resources provided within may reach out to local businesses for further collaboration.

“If our colleagues around the world express an interest to be connected to Singapore businesses that are active in the various fields that we described, we are happy to be a bridge,” she said during a virtual interview from San Francisco, California, on Monday (Sep 29).

Teo said that sharing Singapore’s digital development experiences and approaches through the gateway will give countries working with technology service providers here additional confidence.

“As other countries get to know Singapore’s philosophy and its approaches and capabilities, and when they have the opportunity to work with Singapore companies – all these will give them additional confidence to work with us,” she explained.

Teo’s announcement of the Singapore Digital Gateway took place at the High-level Multi-stakeholder Informal Meeting to Launch the Global Dialogue on Artificial Intelligence (AI) Governance in New York.

This meeting, organised by the United Nations General Assembly, convened UN member states, observers, UN agencies and other stakeholders to discuss inclusive and accountable AI governance.

Among the 36 digital resources to be included in the gateway are local tech initiatives such as personal authentication system SingPass and national voucher platform RedeemSG, said the Ministry of Digital Development and Information.

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Other resources will cover areas such as Singapore’s digital and AI strategies and blueprints, governance frameworks, guides, playbooks and open-source tools.

No personal data will be shared through the digital resources. Instead, only the frameworks, best practices and open-source code for certain government technology products will be shared.

Teo is currently on a seven-day visit to the US; she will be visiting New York, Washington, DC and San Francisco.

During her speech on Sep 25, the minister said Singapore has been contributing to digital capacity-building through programmes under the Digital Forum of Small States, and in partnership with organisations such as the International Telecommunication Union – the UN’s specialised agency for digital technologies – and the UN Development Programme.