According to Ministry of Communications and
Information (MCI)’s Addendum
to the President’s Address, the
mission of MCI is to connect people to community, Government, and
opportunity. In support of Singapore’s Smart Nation vision, MCI will grow the
digital economy, strengthen Singaporeans’ digital readiness, and secure the cyberspace.
Growing
the InfoComm, Media, and Design
sectors
As the future will
be increasingly shaped by digital technologies, MCI targets to strengthen the
InfoComm, Media, and Design (ICMD) sectors as growth multipliers for Singapore
and to create more opportunities for Singaporeans.
According to Minister
for Communications and Information Mr S Iswaran, a stronger ICMD sector
will enable Singapore to accelerate digital transformation across the economy. As such, MCI will implement the InfoComm
Media Industry Transformation Map to deepen capabilities in digital
technologies, grow the sector and create new jobs. It will also implement the Design
2025 Masterplan to leverage design as an enabler of innovation and value
creation for businesses and the economy.
To support such efforts, the SMEs
Go Digital programme will be expanded to further assist SMEs ride the new
wave of growth, and develop more targeted Industry Digital Plans. MCI will also
launch the Open
Innovation Platform (OIP) to promote innovation and enterprise.
The OIP
is a crowd-sourcing platform that is supported by a curated innovation process,
to enable the ICM companies to collaboratively build new solutions that address
real business problems. It aims to: (1) facilitate the collaboration to accelerate
the development of innovative and scalable solutions, (2) operate a curated
innovation process that brings together different expertise from across the innovation
ecosystem, (3) support the co-creation of solutions that are currently not
commercially available and address business or sector requirements, (4) support
the digitalisation efforts of sectors and companies, and (5) enhance the
capabilities of Singapore’s ICM companies and grow new digital champions.
For skills development to nurture talents for
an innovation-driven digital economy the Ministry will
ramp up the TechSkills
Accelerator (TeSA) efforts to equip more Singaporeans with relevant skills.
More Digital Leadership programmes will be launched with the objective of grooming
the next generation of leaders in digital transformation.
Building
a digitally ready community
According
to MCI, Singapore’s digital economy will be supported by world-class
infrastructure and regulations by improving connectivity with 5G and increasing
international data flows. The Ministry will ensure that the regulations remain “fit
for purpose”, including the Broadcasting
Act and the Personal
Data Protection Act.
Minister
Mr S. Iswaran announced that the Ministry will introduce a Digital Readiness
Blueprint to enable all Singaporeans to fully participate in and benefit from
digital opportunities in their everyday lives. The MCI will look into
developing a basic digital access package and setting up touchpoints in the
community to provide basic one-on-one assistance on using digital devices and
accessing digital services.
“We
will help Singaporeans build information and media literacy skills so that they
are able to discern, evaluate, and manage information in an increasingly complex
digital environment. This will also allow Singaporeans to guard against the
proliferation of falsehoods. We will also partner schools to equip students
with coding, computational thinking, and digital making skills to develop the
next generation of future-ready Singaporeans,” Minister said.
Keeping
Singapore’s cyberspace safe and secure
The
National Cybersecurity Strategy sets out that keeping the cyberspace secure
is the foundation of a Smart Nation. The Ministry will implement the Strategy
to strengthen Singapore’s critical information infrastructure and develop cybersecurity
ecosystem. It will also grow international partnerships, as “cyber threats do
not respect geographical boundaries”.
According
to Minister S. Iswaran, the Ministry will continue to contribute to
multilateral efforts to develop cyber norms and work with international
partners to drive the development of cybersecurity standards for emerging
technologies.
“Even
as we encourage Singaporeans to embrace digital technologies to improve their
lives, we must be on guard against threats and risks that propagate through
such technologies. One such threat is from deliberate online falsehoods that
threaten our multi-racial society by sowing discord, exploiting fault lines,
and undermining public institutions,” he said.
Apart
from building Singaporeans’ info-literacy skills, the Ministry will also leverage
technology to swiftly respond to such threats, including building up the
Government’s Factually platform.
Strengthening government communications
In
light of an increasingly complex communications landscape, the Singapore
Government will develop a Whole-of-Government Communications Roadmap to
transform government communications capabilities and leverage technology to
improve the way the government engages different age groups and communities. Public
Service Broadcasting will focus on local content reflective of Singapore’s rich
cultural heritage, and delivering it through traditional and digital platforms.
At the same time, MCI will also enhance government
communications and develop libraries of the future. It will continue to build Singapore’s
Libraries of the Future and conduct more programmes to make every Singaporean
an active library user. This includes the digitalisation of more library
services to make the currently National Library Board mobile
app even more user-friendly.