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The World Government Summit kicked off yesterday in Dubai. The three-day forum offers a platform to show the world how sharing knowledge and ideas for the greater good can make the world a better place.
The seventh session of the World Government Summit kicked off on Sunday in Dubai with the participation of more than 4,000 people from 140 countries, including heads of state, ministers and officials who will gather to redefine the future of governments and unite efforts to shape the future of the world.
How Governments can make a difference
The World Government Summit began with a video highlighting the potential of the governments to make a difference to the seven billion people living in the world. The video brought climate change, population movements and technological problems at the forefront of the issues facing humanity. The video ended with the phrase, “be the one for the seven billion.”
Sustainability and environmental concerns were a key focus, along with how governments are adapting to technology and the rise of artificial intelligence.
Data is Key to the future
Data is key to the future, the UAE’s Minister for Cabinet Affairs and the Future said at the opening of the World Government Summit. Minister Gergawi also stressed the power the private sector holds over people’s personal data, encouraging governments to innovate.
He said “As we shift from an age of information to an age of imagination, the role of technology will slowly dominate government shift and focus, however an immigration of ideas is what will drive talent in the future. And it is that which will separate human beings from Artificial Intelligence (AI). “
Mr Gergawi, Minister of Cabinet Affairs and the Future and Chairman of the WGS also said that the difference between “humans and AI is imagination”.
He also stated that governments must also respond to new areas of innovation. Legislation is lagging in key areas of technological change like driverless cars and 3D printing.
Founder of World Economic Forum calls for multi-stakeholder society
Klaus Schwab, the founder of the World Economic Forum, said we must rebuild trust in our global system. Mr Schwab also pushed for a multi-stakeholder society – not just governments but businesses, NGOs and intergovernmental organisations.
He also said we have to regain control of the global system, moving from managing crises to constructing effective government.
The summit will also be the setting for the award for best minister in the world. The award acknowledges the exceptional efforts of government ministers in implementing successful reform. Former winners include Sri Mulyani Indrawati, Minister of Finance of Indonesia, and Australian environment minister Greg Hunt.
The Summit will last three days and closes this week on Tuesday 12 February.
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The Land Transport Industry Transformation Map (ITM) 2025 was unveiled by Minister of Transport S Iswaran. Developed by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) in close collaboration with industry and union partners, the updated Land Transport ITM aims to create a sustainable and resilient land transport sector, a workforce that is future-ready, and a thriving ecosystem.
The Land Transport ITM 2025 will assist the industry in overcoming the immediate challenges of labour shortages and decarbonisation. It aims to accomplish three strategic outcomes, including A Future-Ready Workforce, A Sustainable and Resilient Land Transport Sector, and A Reliable and Cost-Effective Transport System through Innovation and Technology.
“Talent development and skills upgrading for workers remain key to the land transport sector’s transformation and resilience,” says Chee Hong Tat, Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Transport and Co-Chair of the Future Economy Council (FEC) Connectivity Cluster. The LTA is collaborating with public transportation operators and unions to prepare workers for new challenges, ensuring that the workforce remains productive and future-ready.
The land transport industry, a critical pillar in enabling connectivity that supports the economy, can only do so thanks to the efforts of its employees. With over 100,000 employees, the workers perform a variety of roles such as bus captains, bus mechanics, customer service officers, railway engineers, station managers, and point-to-point (P2P) drivers.
The nature of work will also change as technology and digitalisation advance. As a result, under the revised ITM, the LTA will collaborate with the National Transport Workers Union (NTWU) and public transportation operators to train rail workers to use new and emerging technologies such as data and statistical analytics, as well as condition monitoring, to increase efficiency and productivity.
Since 2020, the Rail Manpower Development Incentive has helped over 2,900 workers improve their skills. Faults, for example, can be detected and physical checks reduced using video monitoring and image analysis.
Additionally, they are gradually enhancing the skills of their bus captains and technicians to operate electric buses. To create appropriate training programmes on cleaner energy buses for the bus workforce, the Singapore Bus Academy (SGBA) has been collaborating with pertinent stakeholders, including bus suppliers, Institutes of Higher Learning, NTWU, and bus operators.
To prepare the workforce to support Singapore’s push for vehicle electrification, LTA will also keep up its close collaboration with partners in the private transportation sector, such as tertiary institutions. Also, LTA will keep urging commuters to use public transportation or active transportation options under Walk Cycle Ride. By enhancing the infrastructure for EV charging and fortifying the EV regulatory framework, LTA is also encouraging greater adoption of EVs.
To increase the effectiveness of the land transportation system, industry and academic partners will use an open innovation strategy to draw on outside ideas. This includes decentralising data and working with others to develop creative solutions that will improve operational procedures and promote environmental sustainability.
To simplify outreach to industry partners, the LTA introduced the Land Transport Innovation Portal in September 2022 as a one-stop shop for all innovation-related issues. To assist partners in better understanding LTA’s requirements and identifying opportunities for co-innovation and collaboration, the portal disseminates operational problem statements from LTA as well as details on upcoming innovation events.
Additionally, it points potential innovators to the LTA DataMall’s data resources, which include over 130 static and dynamic datasets as well as a newly expanded catalogue of “On-Request Datasets” in an effort to spur more original ideas that can meet the needs of the land transportation industry.
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A provider of Electronic Manufacturing Services (EMS) has announced plans to construct a Smart ‘Lights-Out’ Factory 4.0 in Batu Kawan, Penang, with an estimated cost of RM180 million. This development is expected to bring about significant changes in the Northern Peninsular region.
The factory will be involved in the production of Optical Modules, which are new 5G Advanced High Speed Optical Signal Transmitter and Receiver components for 5G wireless networks. The factory will use photonics and semiconductor technologies acquired through technology transfer from its US-based customer.
Construction of the Batu Kawan plant began in January 2023 and is expected to facilitate the first-ever technology transfer in Southeast Asia. This development is expected to enhance the skillset and competitiveness of the local workforce, and the plant is anticipated to hire around 1,000 highly skilled individuals once completed in the first half of 2024.
As part of their expansion plan announcement, the provider welcomed a delegation from the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA) to their location in Sg. Petani. The delegation was led by the Deputy Chief Executive Officer (Investment Development) and included the Senior State Executive Council Member (Kedah) and a Member of Parliament from Kubang Pasu, Kedah.
The EMS provider which currently employs approximately 3,000 staff, (representing about 1% of the Sg. Petani population), has expressed its intention to collaborate with local universities and colleges in actively training fresh graduates to become industry-savvy. Their “hire local first” policy prioritises employing Malaysians from the surrounding area, thus reducing their dependency on foreign labour.
The Deputy Chief Executive Officer (Investment Development) of MIDA extended congratulations to the EMS provider, stating that they are pleased to see the company actively collaborating with local universities and colleges to train fresh graduates and improve their industry knowledge.
The company’s “hire local first” policy was also applauded for providing job opportunities to Malaysians in the surrounding area and reducing dependency on foreign labour, which in turn enhances the livelihoods of locals. These expansion plans are in line with the National Investment Aspirations (NIA) of attracting high-value investments to promote sustainable and comprehensive economic growth.
She added that Malaysia welcomes the firm’s expansion project, which utilises cutting-edge 5G technology, aligning with the government’s mandate for MIDA to drive the rapid digital transformation of the manufacturing sector. This development is expected to lead to improvements in productivity, job creation, and the enhancement of the skill set of Malaysians.
The new plant will implement the Lights-Out methodology, creating a fully networked environment that digitises material flow for autonomous manufacturing. A remote team of highly specialised experts will be responsible for data management, production planning, and quality control.
In addition to the Batu Kawan plant, the EMS provider is expanding its presence by constructing Smart Warehouses and an International Procurement Centre, which will feature Kedah’s first Vendor Management Inventory (VMI) system. These facilities, with a total cost of RM40 million, will cater to the provider’s own growing requirements and those of the surrounding industrial clusters in Sg Petani, Kedah, and Batu Kawan, Penang. The completion of these facilities is expected to be in 2024.
According to the firm’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), the development of smart facilities is timely, given the Group’s expansion journey. The company has progressed from providing Printed Circuit Board Assembly (PCBA) and full-product box-build assembly to producing upstream 5G routers and soon 5G optical modules.
The provider aims to collaborate more closely with government authorities and agencies such as MIDA to increase the economic value of the state. Their current plant in Sg. Petani has already benefited from grants that encourage exports and innovation, and they hope to receive continued support for their future expansion plans.
In addition to grants, they appreciate open sessions for dialogue and feedback on current policies, so that government agencies can stay informed about the latest developments and challenges faced by industry players and formulate mutually-beneficial solutions.
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President Jokowi stressed the need for constant innovation for ministries, agencies and regional governments to speed up services. Rising public expectations will be challenging to achieve without creative problem-solving.
Abdullah Azwar Anas, Minister of Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform (PANRB) said that new ideas are essential to enhancing the standard of government services. However, Anas emphasised that creating a new application for every breakthrough is unnecessary. Since there are presently over 27,000 applications for various public services from several government organisations, they have already been developed.
“It’s encouraging to see the government adopting new approaches to delivering services to make life easier for its constituents. But a new app development effort is not mandatory. No longer is there a ‘one invention, one use’,” he said when inaugurating the 2023 Public Service Innovation Competition (KIPP) Launch.
According to Anas, innovation should simplify people’s lives, not make them more difficult. Minister Anas has stated that integration and interoperability are essential in the future. Both are following the plans of the SPBE Electronic-Based Government System, as directed by President Joko Widodo. Single sign-on at digital public service malls (MPP) is a step towards simplifying all kinds of processes.
“In other words, gone are the days when locals seeking service A first downloaded app A, then manually created account A by entering extensive personal information. Accessing Service B requires using Application B; if you don’t already have a Service B account, you must make one and enter your information again. As well as the others. The populace is in disarray with thousands of service applications today,” he noted.
Furthermore, the government has carried out a digital transformation of public services using artificial intelligence to give convenient services to the community (AI). Diah Natalisa, Deputy for Public Services at the Ministry of Apparatus Empowerment and Bureaucratic Reform (PANRB), has emphasised the importance of digital services and how they improve the efficiency and accessibility of government programmes.
Diah explained that the Indonesian National Artificial Intelligence Strategy 2020-2045 has already been formed. It identifies five priority sectors with promising prospects for AI’s advancement, application, and exploitation. Artificial intelligence innovations are first used in the healthcare industry to improve response times, increase patient numbers served, and lower overall healthcare costs.
Patients can allegedly access medical care via telemedicine without physically going to a clinic or doctor’s office. In addition, there are various ways to employ AI in the realm of bureaucratic reform, such as creating ChatBots that can provide 24-hour, two-way dialogue with the general public.
Meanwhile, Diah argued that the potential for the future growth of artificial intelligence would lead to precision learning in education. Learners’ routine actions are considered with their mental and emotional faculties and physical abilities.
Then, artificial intelligence can be applied to satellite photos in food security to determine which locations have access to electricity and which do not. It’s been theorised that this hypothetical can also be used to catalogue the crops cultivated in a particular region and forecast the yield of each crop.
AI will also help the future of transportation and intelligent urban planning. Diah presented the example of using AI for smart traffic management solutions to guarantee locals’ safe and efficient movement from one place to another.
The Ministry of Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform is developing the Public Service Portal. The portal system’s AI will be optimised to predict and fulfil each user’s needs based on their unique traits.
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A significant partnership between a leading Victorian university and a top global hospital is poised to elevate MedTech breakthroughs and contribute to the enhancement of healthcare. The Minister for Industry and Innovation, Ben Carroll, witnessed the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Monash University and Sheba Medical Center in Tel Aviv, Israel. The MoU aims to foster research and development of more inclusive healthcare systems and MedTech manufacturing prospects in Victoria.
The Australian government will provide approximately AU$ 200,000 to Monash University’s Victorian Heart Institute in support of the MoU. The funding will facilitate access to cutting-edge technology, accelerate the adoption of new treatments for cardiovascular diseases, and help combat one of the leading causes of mortality worldwide.
The largest university in Australia, Monash University earned the title of the world’s best in Pharmacy and Pharmacology in 2022, becoming the first Australian institution to achieve this distinction. Meanwhile, Sheba Medical Centre acknowledged as one of the top hospitals globally has gained expertise in artificial intelligence (AI), robotic surgery, digital imaging and telemedicine. These capabilities were established through its in-house innovation hub.
This partnership is anticipated to improve the delivery of healthcare in Victoria and create opportunities for local companies to generate employment in MedTech research, manufacturing, and export.
Australia has extended support to various significant MedTech initiatives, including the Australian Medtech Manufacturing Centre (AU$20 million), mRNA Victoria, and MedTech startups through LaunchVic and the Breakthrough Victoria Fund. Victoria’s MedTech sector contributes AU$ 21.4 billion in revenue, AU$ 3.5 billion in exports and sustains around 31,400 jobs.
The Minister for Industry and Innovation expressed his approval of the partnership between Monash University and Sheba Medical Center, citing its potential to attract more investment to Victoria’s MedTech sector and enhance healthcare for Victorians.
The Minister for Health remarked that partnering with a global leader in digital health innovation such as Sheba Medical Center presents an excellent opportunity for Victoria.
The Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Monash University highlighted the institution’s history of translating research into practical applications, underscoring that the partnership is another step towards improving health outcomes through the integration of research and translation.
The Director-General of Sheba Medical Centre stated that that the partnership aims to advance healthcare and promote economic growth while shifting the future of medicine towards prevention.
The Medical Technology market is expected to generate revenue of approximately US$579.40 billion by 2023. The largest segment of the market is Medical Devices, which is projected to reach a market volume of US$470.60 billion in 2023. Despite a regression in revenues in 2020 due to decreased routine medical treatments apart from COVID-19 treatments, the market has bounced back strongly in 2021. The market is expected to exhibit an annual growth rate of 4.91% between 2023-2027, resulting in a market volume of US$701.90 billion by 2027.
The increasing prevalence of chronic diseases and the emphasis on early diagnosis and treatment by healthcare agencies are among the factors driving growth in the medical technology market. The Medical Technology market is essential to the healthcare sector, with a focus on diagnosing and treating health problems, conducting genetic research and improving physical mobility. Its multifunctional usage and health improvement attributes make it a key player in the industry with steady growth.
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A developer of robotic applications and systems based in Hong Kong has announced the release of ARCS, a Robotic Control System developed in-house and powered by cloud technology from a multinational technology corporation based in the United States.
The company is a member of Hong Kong Science and Technology Park Corporation’s Leading Enterprises Acceleration Programme (LEAP) and has received full support from HKSTP. This has enabled them to establish their office and a state-of-the-art automated warehouse, called the RobEX Centre, within the campus.
In recent years, work automation has become increasingly popular. The widespread use of robots in our daily lives has made it possible to free up human labour through highly efficient execution abilities. However, there has been a lack of agnostic platforms to coordinate and control robots of different brands, functions, and systems, which has prevented our robots from creating synergy in the most efficient way possible.
Furthermore, there is an urgent need for society to proactively explore alternative approaches to maximising the potential of robots, especially with intensifying community issues such as an ageing population and declining birth rates, which further widen the local workforce gap. This could greatly elevate our quality of life, particularly for those with lower self-care ability, such as the elderly and the sick.
Moreover, with environmental, social, and governance (ESG) subjects becoming more prominent, organisations are increasing their investments in sustainability and environmental research to find solutions that can boost energy efficiency through robotic technologies.
The HKSTP company is dedicated to developing a range of robotic solutions that address specific challenges, with the ultimate aim of integrating these technologies into daily life and supporting various sectors such as healthcare, smart city, logistics, and education.
With a vision to transform Hong Kong into a smart city, the company developed ARCS. Today, ARCS has been implemented in the fields of rehabilitation and healthcare, offering more autonomous and sophisticated care services, while also alleviating the workload of healthcare professionals through the assistance of smart technologies.
ARCS offers more than just improved efficiency and cost savings for enterprises and organisations. Its distinctive feature of centralised management streamlines the process of data management and analysis, resolving the isolation deadlock of different types of robots.
In the near future, ARCS will integrate artificial intelligence to cater to different scenarios, create the most suitable application plans, and provide tailor-made suggestions derived from the analysis of environmental data collected by robots. This will take the sustainability performance of corporations and organisations to the next level.
During the press conference, the company demonstrated a series of collaborative tasks performed by robots managed by ARCS in three simulated scenes. The first scenario applies to the retail and catering industry: when a store receives an online order, ARCS immediately obtains data from elevators and turnstiles through the Internet of Things (IoT) and delivers the product to the customer using a managed robot.
The second scene is suitable for public places with heavier traffic, such as malls and hospitals. When a patrol robot detects a mass gathering, ARCS can coordinate and send the concierge robot with its camera open for a live stream. This helps users to have a better understanding of the incident with minimised reaction time, while simultaneously instructing the patrol robot to resume its original task.
The third scene is designed for people with disabilities in various public venues. ARCS remotely controls the wheelchair robot, allowing one or a group of robots to safely carry those in need to their destinations.
Additionally, the company showcased the use of ARCS to analyse centralised data, illustrating the system’s capability to streamline the data collection and analysis process, as well as its great potential to incorporate the use of business intelligence.
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In Australia’s upcoming renewable energy landscape, there will be fresh prospects for cooperation between electricity networks and retailers to assist customers in optimising the potential of their own energy resources.
The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), acting on behalf of the government, has revealed that it will grant AU$1.02 million to SA Power Networks along with two energy companies to collaborate on creating and testing retailer solar management offers that are capable of functioning alongside the flexible connection offers of electricity networks (also known as ‘dynamic operating envelopes’). The aim is to provide customers with Consumer Energy Resources and a smooth and seamless experience.
Despite rooftop solar being the biggest source of energy generation in South Australia, the majority of systems are not capable of reacting to market signals. However, energy companies are striving to transform this by introducing innovative offers that incentivise customers to make their solar power responsive to pricing signals in the wholesale energy market.
The primary objective of the AU$ 2.1 million project is to facilitate the development of an integrated design for the new customer offers and SA Power Networks’ Flexible Export connections for rooftop solar. The rollout of this integration will begin in July 2023 as a standard service offering.
The integration of flexible export connections with innovative retail market offers is intended to optimise customers’ market participation opportunities while maintaining power flows within the technical limits of the network. This approach could potentially be expanded in the future to support other “behind-the-meter” equipment, such as batteries and electric vehicles.
Should the solutions developed prove effective, they could be adopted by other states within the National Electricity Market, thereby potentially unlocking wholesale market and network benefits.
Demand and generation flexibility present opportunities to lower energy costs, regulate peak and minimum demand, and shift energy loads to times when renewable energy is most abundant. This flexibility can be put into action in real-time, as a response to market signals, generation shortages, or network limitations.
According to the CEO of ARENA, intelligent management of rooftop solar has the potential to serve as a long-term solution for accommodating the growing influx of renewable energy into the market. He added that the project undertaken by SA Power Networks is a targeted and limited trial that will aid in shaping the development of future mechanisms for managing rooftop solar PV and other energy assets owned by customers.
According to the latest statistics from the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water In the year 2020-21, renewable energy sources constituted 8% of Australia’s total energy consumption. While the production of renewable electricity has more than doubled over the last ten years, the combustion of biomass such as firewood and bagasse (the leftover pulp from sugar cane crushing) accounts for just under 40% (38%) of Australia’s overall renewable energy consumption.
In the year 2021, 29% of Australia’s overall electricity generation was derived from renewable energy sources, which comprised solar (12%), wind (10%) and hydro (6%). This represented the highest percentage of renewables in the country’s total electricity generation to date, with the previous record of 26% having been set in the mid-1960s.
Over the past decade, solar and wind power have been the primary forces behind the expansion of renewable generation, with their output having more than doubled. Small-scale solar generation saw a growth of 29% in 2021 and an average of 28% per year over the last 10 years. Wind generation, on the other hand, grew by 19% in 2021 and by an average of 15% per year over the last decade. In contrast, hydropower output has remained relatively consistent, subject to fluctuations due to rainfall and market conditions, and has decreased in importance as other sources of generation have diversified.
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Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) has launched a new initiative to boost its innovation capabilities and accelerate research commercialisation to support Singapore’s drive toward an economy based on innovation and knowledge.
The University will ramp up its educational programmes to nurture entrepreneurs and create a more conducive environment for mentoring and supporting students, faculty, and alumni looking to turn their ideas into market-ready products through its NTU Innovation and Entrepreneurship (NTU I&E) initiative.
“Our vision is to create a vibrant innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem covering the entire spectrum of activity, from cultivating an entrepreneurial mindset through holistic education and experiential learning to starting a business,” says Professor Louis Phee, Vice President for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and Dean of the College of Engineering.
Prof Louis, who leads the NTU I&E initiative, stated that they aspire to be a fertile breeding ground where innovative ideas, supported by a solid foundation in education and research, blossom into successful commercial entities that ultimately benefit Singapore’s economy. With digitalisation and sustainability at the forefront of new industries, NTU believes that the skills and knowledge students require to be successful are also evolving rapidly.
The North and South Spines of the University’s main campus will house the new NTU Innovation Port, a physical and digital one-stop shop for all things innovation-related. The centre will provide a forum for the NTU community and external partners to discuss start-up and innovation concepts, as well as assist industry partners seeking to collaborate or license technologies.
NTU I&E consists of both the revamped NTU Entrepreneurship Academy (NTUpreneur) and the University’s existing innovation and enterprise company NTUitive, which focuses on commercialising innovations and incubating start-ups.
The I&E initiative is part of the NTU 2025 Strategic Plan, an ambitious road map announced in 2021 that guides NTU toward becoming a global university founded on science and technology and that cultivates leaders capable of making a positive societal impact through interdisciplinary education and research.
The Overseas Entrepreneurship Programme is one of NTU’s most successful entrepreneurship plans. More than 320 students participated in the programme, travelling to the United States, Europe, China, Southeast Asia, and Australia to work with start-ups and accelerators. After graduating, 45 of these students have been inspired to start their own businesses or join a start-up.
The NTU I&E initiative aims to build on these achievements. Students from all disciplines will benefit from improved and easier access to mentorship, entrepreneurship modules and courses, and more internships through NTUpreneur.
Students will participate in experiential learning programmes such as innovation challenges, training boot camps, and workshops as part of their journey of exploration and discovery. In addition, the Overseas Entrepreneurship Programme will be expanded to include more countries such as Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Sweden, and Finland. The number of available placements will also be increased.
Recently, over 40 NTU innovations and start-ups were showcased at the exhibition area of the I&E launch event to inspire students and faculty. Deep tech software powered by blockchain and artificial intelligence (AI) to robotics, food technology, and health and biomedical devices were among them.
NTU’s I&E efforts align with Singapore’s Research, Innovation, and Enterprise 2025 Plan and will contribute to the city-upcoming state’s Jurong Innovation District. Many of NTU’s start-ups and spin-offs are currently housed at the NTU Innovation Centre on the NTU Smart Campus and the nearby CleanTech Park, putting them at the epicentre of Singapore’s Industry 4.0 transformation.
