Smart Nation is a term that many are familiar with now, and many are starting to imagine how life in a Smart Nation would be. So, the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) and several Singapore companies, as well as Institutes of Higher Learning, have come together to put up a Smart Nation showcase at IExperience – the Information and Communications Technology Experience Centre at Esplanade Xchange, to demonstrate the possibilities in a Smart Nation.
Unveiled today by Dr Yaacob Ibrahim, Minister for Communications and Information and the Guest-of-Honour at the ceremony, the Smart Nation showcase features how Smart Nation capabilities, enabled seamlessly by technology, can improve lives and businesses, and promotes the benefits of various citizen-centric Smart Nation services to businesses and general public.
This event was hosted by Emcee Lester Leo.
Dr Yaacob said, “IExperience gives a preview of Singapore as a Smart Nation – one where the extensive and systematic use of technology enables government and business to improve their operations and deliver their services seamlessly, and makes a difference to people’s lives. It will offer exciting opportunities for all. The Smart Nation vision can only be developed to its full potential with participation from all sectors. I encourage our agencies and partners to come together to demonstrate how technologies can be used to connect to one another and strengthen our society.”
IExperience is easily accessible given its location right at heart of town in Singapore – outside Esplanade MRT Station on the Circle Line. IExperience aims to be a venue to showcase the convenience and benefits that technology can bring to citizens, especially to children and seniors, who were also present at the unveiling ceremony today. IExperience will also be a place where community groups can visit to acquaint and familiarise themselves with the Smart Nation vision, bringing everyone on board the technology train to bridge the technology divide.
Mr Steve Leonard, Executive Deputy Chairman of IDA, shared, “First opened in June 2010, IExperience was set up to educate the public about Singapore’s Next Generation Nationwide Broadband Network, and the possible services on that platform. Now, five years on, it has a new Smart Nation mission: to bring the possibilities and benefits of Smart Nation services to life. IExperience aims to create awareness, excite and engage industry, government, businesses and citizens on the convenience and possibilities when everyone and everything are connected everywhere all the time.”
At the event today are industry partners, Institutes of Higher Learning and government agencies’ representatives who have worked with IDA on their products and applications that are showcased at IExperience, as well as senior citizens and preschoolers.