How Singapore is Paving the Road to Becoming a “Smart Nation”

The tiny island nation of Singapore has long been known for keeping close tabs on their infrastructure, residents and tourists, but the Internet of Things might take things to a whole new level and enable innovative new services as they aim to become the world’s most advanced “smart nation.”

IoT is as much about the efficient collection, filtration and routing of real-time information as it is about the “things” themselves. Singapore clearly understands that, as they’ve announced plans to build a dedicated fiber network specifically to collect data from an island-wide network of sensors such as surveillance cameras, flood detection devices in storm drains, and in-home sensors that can monitor the medical condition of elderly citizens.

Some question the need to build a purpose-specific network instead of using the public Internet – something that’s sure to be a hot topic as more governments pursue smart nation initiatives and deploy an increasing number of sensors and surveillance devices.

Update:

On October 13, 2016, Sumeet Puri presented on Singapore’s smart city initiatives from his perspective as both a resident of Singapore, and an architect of some of the smart city services. Over 200 people came out to hear Sumeet’s insights and based on the conversation afterwards, it was very well received. Here are links to watch a recorded version, or see Sumeet’s slides.