The initiative “Data for All” shows the multiplicative contributions of Digital for Life (DFL) Private Public-People partners and will benefit about 30,000 children, youths, and seniors from low-income families, as well as persons with disabilities and their caregivers.
The effort, which is part of the DFL movement, seeks to mobilise the community to pledge their support and supply individuals from vulnerable sectors with more than $3 million worth of mobile data lines. It was made feasible by the collaboration of seven public organisations, social service agencies, and community partners with the telecommunications industry.
Lim Teck Kiat, Senior Director of Social Policy and Services Group, Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) said that through the united efforts of corporations, community organisations, the government, and individuals, they will be able to provide citizens with a higher quality of life facilitated by technology.
“The free mobile and data plans for the families will help enhance digital connectivity for them-a one-step forward to uplifting their lives and building a caring community,” Kiat said. He added that the MSF is delighted to partner with IMDA and other private sectors in the Data for All initiative in support of the Digital for Life movement.
Some telecommunications companies have pledged to raise awareness of the Data for All campaign and encourage their consumers to join them by pledging their support or donating their unused data. Each telecommunications company has also pledged to provide 10,000 mobile data lines, which will support a total of 30,000 beneficiaries.
The Digital for Life initiative aims to inspire Singaporeans to adopt digital as a lifetime ambition and to enrich their lives. It builds on the momentum of the various community efforts witnessed during COVID-19 and engages additional community partners and resources to help all Singaporeans feel enthusiastic, empowered, and enhanced by digital technologies.
To aid in the development of a digitally inclusive society, the Digital for Life movement has been developed to promote: Digital Technology and Inclusion, which will emphasise strengthening digital resilience and excite many parts of society about how new digital technology can improve their daily life; and Digital Literacy and Wellness – which will focus on fostering healthy digital habits as society enters the digital domain, including cyber safety, media literacy, and limiting the dangers of online harms.
Since the introduction of the Digital First Movement which was backed by the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA), the Singapore Digital Office (SDO) has been walking the ground to support individuals who might require a bit more hands-on aid, so that they can benefit from going digital.
On top of the 47 community hubs that are already in place, the SDO has announced late last year that it will be setting up more than 200 roving community counters across the entire island to bring its services closer to seniors. This was done to broaden its reach to a greater number of seniors.
Contributions from businesses and individuals in the community are funnelled through the DFL Fund and all of the money that is donated will be used to assist Singaporeans in embracing digital for life, particularly in the areas of digital wellness and widespread adoption of technology and digital inclusion. The last-mile support that is provided for recipients in need as part of IMDA’s digital access programmes is also funded through donations.
The Hong Kong Government is carrying out the preparatory work to clearly define the cyber security obligations of critical infrastructure operators through legislation, to strengthen the cyber security of this infrastructure in Hong Kong.
The Secretary for Innovation & Technology made the remarks in the Legislative Council recently, saying that a public consultation exercise is expected to be launched by the end of this year. He emphasised that critical infrastructure is of great significance to the normal operation of society. If information systems, networks or computer systems are disrupted or sabotaged, the operation of major facilities may be affected and this will seriously jeopardise the economy, people’s livelihood, public safety and even national security.
Noting that the increase in cyberattacks in recent years has brought substantial challenges to the cyber security of critical infrastructure around the world, the official noted that Hong Kong does not have specific legal requirements on the cyber security of such infrastructure.
Therefore, in addition to industry best practices as well as guidelines and requirements on cyber security imposed by individual regulatory authorities, the Government is making preparations to clearly define the cyber security obligations of critical infrastructure operators through legislation to enhance the cyber security of critical infrastructure in the city.
It will also refer to the cyber security standards adopted worldwide and by other jurisdictions in formulating relevant standards. The government emphasised that it has been closely monitoring the trends of cyber attacks and the associated security threats around the globe.
The Office of the Government Chief Information Officer has formulated a comprehensive set of Government IT Security Policy & Guidelines which are reviewed and updated regularly. All bureaus and departments must strictly abide by the policy and guidelines to ensure the security of government data and information systems. Moreover, government websites and systems have adopted multiple layers of security measures to detect, block and tackle different types of security threats.
The Secretary for Innovation & Technology made further comments in the Legislative Council meeting and stated that in the past five years, the current-term Government has unprecedentedly invested over $150 billion to support I&T development. Various initiatives are gradually taking effect, and the overall I&T ecosystem is becoming more vibrant. For example, the gross domestic expenditure on research and development (R&D) has increased by more than 45 per cent in the past five years; the number of start-ups rose from around 1 500 in 2015 to around 4 000 in 2021; the venture capital investment substantially increased from $3.4 billion to over $40 billion during the period. The region also saw the establishment of over 10 unicorns in the same period.
In the 2021 Policy Address and 2022-23 Budget, the Government has put forward several future-focused and groundbreaking initiatives. In terms of land supply, having regard to the continuous increase in Hong Kong’s demand for land dedicated to scientific research and advanced industries, the Government is continuing to increase infrastructure, including consolidating the Hong Kong-Shenzhen Innovation and Technology Park (HSITP) in the Lok Ma Chau Loop and the areas around Lok Ma Chau/San Tin to form the San Tin Technopole, building landmark I&T facilities with a scale comparable to Cyberport in Lau Fau Shan, reviving the Ma Liu Shui reclamation project, planning for the construction of the second Advanced Manufacturing Centre, etc.
In this way, the HKSAR Government is working to boost various I&T infrastructures across the region in a bid to future-proof Hong Kong.
The NSW Government announced that it is investing AU$ 2.4 million in a partnership with two Sydney Universities aimed at supporting regional councils to reap the benefits of smart cities technology. In partnership with local councils, the Smart Places Acceleration Program continues to deliver smart technological capabilities to fix problems that people are facing every day.
The Minister for Local Government stated that said 91 regional councils in NSW could benefit from the Smart Regional Spaces: Ready, Set, Go! partnership with the University of Sydney and UNSW Sydney under the Smart Places Strategy launch. She noted that this innovative partnership with regional councils, the University of Sydney and UNSW will see them connect with industry experts, and empower investment in new technology and data-driven solutions to help address the substantial divide in digital inclusion between Australians living in rural and urban areas.
The Minister stated that examples of smart place initiatives include smart street lighting, real-time bus schedules available on digital screens or through apps, using smart sensors to gather waste management data or smart sensors installed on parking spaces.
Minister for Customer Service and Digital Government noted that digital uplift and inclusion is a key pillar of the Smart Places Strategy, especially making sure regional communities can take advantage of emerging smart technology.
The Dean of the Sydney School of Architecture, Design and Planning at the University of Sydney said smart technology was ready to be expanded into the state’s regional communities. Smart technology solutions in transport, communications and energy efficiency are already a reality in metropolitan cities and there is an incredible opportunity to bring more of these initiatives into our rural and regional areas.
The Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Design and Architecture at UNSW said the project is an example of the University’s commitment to transforming the lives of people in regional communities, with the Smart Places movement offering social, economic and environmentally sustainable advantages. She added that many of the ideas generated by this movement to date relate to the challenges of dense urban living that do not necessarily translate to regional spatial scales, assets and geographically dispersed communities, and why a tailored regional focus is so important.
The Smart Regional Spaces: Ready, Set, Go!, is funded through the Digital Restart Fund under the Smart Places Acceleration Program and expertise and contributions from UNSW and the University of Sydney.
About the Smart Places Strategy
Building on Government’s long term planning frameworks, the Smart Places Strategy will enhance existing economic and technological strategies by streamlining policy and plans across all levels of Government in NSW. The NSW Government will play an important role in ensuring its customers realise the full benefits Smart Places have to offer.
This includes:
The Smart Places Strategy aligns with and brings together the outcomes sought within the NSW Government’s metropolitan and regional infrastructure, economic, land use and digital strategies. This helps achieve their overall liveability objectives in regional and metropolitan places.
The Ministry of Communication and Information Technology of Indonesia’s most recent initiative is the Digital Technology 4.0 Adoption Programme for MSMEs, which is a long-term assistance programme for MSME producers in the processing sector in 13 priority areas -a part of their digital transformation promotion for Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).
North Sumatra, Bangka Belitung, Banten, Greater Jakarta and the Thousand Islands, Central Java and the Special Region of Yogyakarta, East Java, West Kalimantan, West Nusa Tenggara, East Nusa Tenggara, Southeast Sulawesi, North Maluku, West Papua, and Papua are among the thirteen provinces.
This programme will be carried out for 6 months offline and online, involving 165 facilitators or local heroes, and implemented in 15 Training Centre locations spread across 13 priority areas.
– Johnny G. Plate, Minister of Communication, and Information
To support the MSME assistance facility, a starter kit in the form of a data package will be provided for 30,000 MSMEs for 6 months, equipped with a learning management system and a Point of Sales (PoS) system aggregator application. It is hoped that the MSME digital technology adoption programme 4.0 will result in an increase in the level or scaling-up of MSMEs in terms of digital technology adoption, which is divided into four levels: beginner, observer, adopter, and leader.
The beginner level is designed for MSMEs with limited business, financial, and technological dimensions. The first level is for those who are just starting out with social media. Second, observe or use a marketplace for businesses that have been managed in a relatively modern but low-tech manner. The third category is adopters, which are businesses that have a good level of technology adoption and knowledge but still use traditional business management, such as fintech platforms and aggregators and a Point of Sales system.
Meanwhile, level leaders are companies that have been managed in a relatively modern manner and have a relatively high level of technology adoption and knowledge, such as using Big Data 3D modelling, QR Code, Augmented Reality, or Virtual Reality.
The Minister of Communication and Information explained that this programme is a more intensive version of the MSME go digital or digital onboarding programme. Through this sustainable assistance facility, it is hoped that MSMEs in the manufacturing sector will be able to increase their access to marketing, income, the competitiveness of innovation, as well as the efficiency and effectiveness of their business operations, allowing them to advance to class and contribute more to the economy, particularly during the post-pandemic economic recovery.
As a result, the Minister of Communication and Information Technology believes that commitment to strategic policy support from various parties is required. This includes regional heads, ministries, and institutions, as well as industry support, including both domestic and global technology companies, as well as the national digital ecosystem.
The Role of Small and Medium-Sized Businesses in the Post-Covid-19 Recovery
According to Minister Johnny, the public is currently taking sides and prioritising job creation, and MSMEs are an important node for job creation. The number and qualifications of available jobs, as well as the quality of the jobs themselves.
“To be carried out in a sustainable manner, because our national MSMEs are very large and the foundation of our national GDP rests on MSMEs, which contribute more than 97% of jobs,” he said. This was demonstrated by the consistent increase in the contribution of the digital economy to Indonesia’s GDP.
In 2019, the contributions of the new digital economy were around 2.9%, rising to around 4% in 2020, and they are collaborating to make the digital economy’s contribution to GDP in 2030 around 18.8%. Joint efforts to gradually increase the digital economy’s contribution to the gross domestic product from year to year continue to increase and will significantly contribute to Indonesia’s GDP.
The Inter-Ministry Committee on Scams (IMCS) of Singapore has initiated two new programmes with the goal of protecting e-commerce marketplaces from fraudulent activity. These are E-commerce Marketplace Transaction Safety Ratings (“TSR”) and the Revised Technical Reference 76 on Guidelines for Electronic Commerce Transactions (“TR 76”).
The E-commerce Marketplace Transaction Safety Ratings build on these guidelines, by raising consumer awareness of the anti-scam measures on major e-commerce marketplaces in Singapore. MHA would like to thank our partners from the e-commerce industry for working with us on these initiatives to combat e-commerce scams.
– Desmond Tan, Chairman, the Inter-Ministry Committee of Scams & Minister of State, Ministry of Home Affairs & Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment
Desmond said that the adoption of anti-scam procedures in the amended TR 76 recommendations by e-commerce businesses and marketplaces would increase the security of e-commerce transactions and protect customers from e-commerce fraud.
TSR aims to provide consumers with information on anti-scam measures that major e-commerce marketplaces have in place while the TR 76 seeks to provide e-retailers and online intermediaries such as additional requirements for e-commerce marketplaces to protect e-commerce transactions from fraud.
The TSR provides consumers with information regarding the transactional security of various e-commerce marketplaces based on the range of anti-scam methods in place. It encompasses big e-commerce marketplaces that support online transactions between numerous sellers and multiple buyers and has a considerable local reach or a significant number of reported e-commerce frauds.
Major e-commerce marketplaces have been rated for their overall security. The ranking indicates the level to which anti-scam measures have been adopted to assure user authenticity; transaction safety; the availability of loss reparation channels for consumers; and the effectiveness of their anti-scam procedures. One to four ticks are available, with four ticks being the highest and best rating and will be awarded to e-commerce marketplaces that implement all essential anti-scam procedures. Annually, these ratings will be evaluated.
Consumers can also refer to the TSR microsite for safety feature warnings and specialised marketplace features. The goal of the TSR microsite is to improve consumer awareness of security measures that safeguard e-commerce transactions and to encourage the use of such features and best practises when conducting business online.
On the other hand, TR 76 as the national standard for e-commerce transactions, has been updated to incorporate additional anti-scam rules for e-retailers and e-commerce platforms in order to provide enhanced safety for online customers. Enterprise Singapore oversaw its development through a multi-stakeholder Working Group constituted by the Singapore Standards Council.
The additional anti-scam regulations will outline recommended practices for e-commerce companies and marketplaces. These best practices encompass the pre-, during-, and post-purchase phases of transactions, as well as customer assistance and merchant verification.
One of the key recommendations for TR 76 is that e-marketplaces should determine the information to acquire from merchants and the verification processes to follow. Wherever possible, e-marketplaces should check their merchant’s information against Government records or compare it to the identification document(s) provided; while the merchant verification is outsourced to a third-party service provider, the e-marketplace shall implement measures to facilitate, whenever possible, the prompt retrieval of records.
The goal is to improve merchant authentication, transaction security, and enforcement against e-commerce fraud. The new rules in TR76 are graded as part of the TSR’s safety features. In general, e-commerce platforms that adhere to TR76 standards would receive a higher TSR score.
These rules encompass the end-to-end process of e-commerce transactions and believe they will assist e-retailers and e-marketplaces in improving the traceability and security of customer transactions.
The development of enterprise-class applications has become increasingly important for enterprises seeking to access high-quality data. As they attempt to manage a data-driven organisation to achieve their corporate purpose, enterprise leaders must create frameworks to connect dependencies across processes for reliable information. When data is effectively interpreted, it becomes the key to unlocking critical business insights.
Today’s enterprises are attempting to optimise and exploit data – which they rightly regard as a valuable asset – for actionable insights. It is necessary to be secure and accurate to better support decision-making and satisfy demanding customer requirements. Not only that, but this data must be easily accessible, with exploration functions that provide analytics for obtaining actionable insights.
Recent advances in data analytics, business intelligence, machine learning and artificial intelligence have enabled enterprise organisations to better detect and accurately forecast operational difficulties. This exponential improvement in the ability to analyse enormous historical data sets and millions of pages of unstructured text to track patterns and identify potential problems is revolutionary.
By creating business intelligence dashboards, organisations can instantly understand where to increase efficiencies, when to manage costs and how to impress customers with the right financial solutions in the long run. Businesses should also focus on new methods using data to predict and mitigate risk effectively to ensure business success. Further, data analytics tool develops a single source of truth for compliance and method to build trust among customers.
Digital transformation leads to improved analysis and use of data. Through this transformation, enterprises can implement more effective business and finance practices. Although many enterprises recognise the importance of having an adequate data infrastructure, it is not yet reliable enough in many countries.
The rate at which data is generated is increasing all the time. People are preparing themselves to function and engage with data in the larger environment. In addition, the necessity to improve usable data analysis while becoming increasingly data-driven in decision-making is unanimously acknowledged.
This cannot be done without reliable analytics tools capable of desegregating and connecting previously siloed data, making it manageable from a single place.
Enterprises must be more perceptive in times of business uncertainty to detect and respond to new technology opportunities that drive digital transformation. Hyperintelligence – a term that has only lately been coined – makes data accessible to employees at their convenience.
For forecasting and strategising, data must be gathered from reliable and personalised sources. The simple card, which is considered the future of Data Analytics, aims to give important data insights for specified keywords across most web apps.
OpenGov Breakfast Insight on 25 May 2022 at Sheraton Towers Singapore aimed to provide the latest information on how enterprise is using data analytics to drive mission outcomes.
Data as the new oil
To kickstart the session, Mohit Sagar, Group Managing Director, and Editor-in-Chief, OpenGov Asia delivered the opening address.
Data on a global scale has taken on an entirely different dimension and Singapore is no different. In fact, compared to other countries in the region, the nation is well ahead of the curve and leads in data analytics. The public sector has spent a huge amount of money on technological innovations.
“Data can enable governments to make informed decisions,” Mohit asserts,” but people use data for different reasons.”
Data is no longer confined to technical departments. Successful projects must be partnerships between lots of different groups with different goals, mindsets, levels of understanding and ways of working. Breaking down silos is vital to collaboration and innovation.
Mohit believes that access is not enough – people need to possess the tools and skills. He believes that people have been looking at data abundantly but are looking for new insights. “You must look at the same thing from a different perspective. To do so, you need a new lens and develop a new culture.”
The crux of the matter is, he says, “Are organisations asking the right questions and maximising the use of data?”
In closing, Mohit emphasises the importance of partnerships that could help leverage data analytics for an organisation. “Use technology and minimise customisation. Do not try to customise technology – use readily available tools.”
By working with the right people, a company can accelerate its digital journey towards effective digital transformation. In light of this, he encouraged delegates to look for experts to partner with who could ease their transformation journey.
Value creation through data analytics
Ram Kumar, Chief Data and Analytics Officer, Cigna spoke next on how to create value through data analytics.
Ram begins with a definition of a data-driven organisation: it performs analytics/advanced analytics and builds data-driven intelligent (AI) solutions to drive business outcomes. Using data does not necessarily mean an organisation is “data-driven” or has a “data-driven culture”.
Expanding on what a data-driven culture means, Ram adds that it is related to how the “lifecycle of data” is managed and governed effectively and efficiently which would enable an organisation to organise, enable/democratise its data for consumption to drive activities acceptably. Ultimately, it is to use data to make informed decisions, create value, resolve conflicts and manage risks.
Ram shared his organisation’s data and analytics vision: a data-driven culture that is built on democratised data and intelligent data-driven insights that drive affordable, simple and predictable healthcare for our partners, customers and communities.
People often take data for granted, Ram feels. Organisations need to recognise that data is an enabler and should democratise it – make it accessible and available. Once data is democratised, anything is possible.
A true data culture for Ram is when data is on the balance sheet and information is more valuable than hardware and software.
He also shared what a data-driven value creation prioritisation framework looks like:
Organisation Priorities
Data and Analytics Capability Maturity Assessment
IM Data and Analytics Strategy and Roadmap
Data strategy should be agile and reviewed every three months to ensure that it aligns with value creation.
Business Use Cases Prioritisation
There are criteria that the business has to meet before looking at the use case that the organisation wants to implement. This is to ensure that it can be operationalised:
Business Use Cases Execution and Operationalisation
In conclusion, Ram is a true believer that organisations need to own their data strategy. True transformation can only happen when organisations focus on business value creation through use cases or data foundational work.
Deepening organisational use of data analytics
Kyung-Whu Chung, Director, Sales Engineering, APAC at MicroStrategy spoke next on the different stages of data analytics and maturity.
“Why do we do analytics?” Kyung-Whu begins. “There are different reasons, ranging from growth, efficiency, user experience, quality, risk.“
There are huge benefits for organisations to using data analytics, including improved efficiency and productivity. Better data analytics leads to faster and more effective decision-making and results in better financial performance. Data analytics also assist organisations to identify and create new promising products and services.
While benefits are clear internally, there are advantages for the consumer as well. Customer satisfaction and experience are both critical for a company to thrive was the key. Data analytics help better understand consumer behaviour, trends, demand and identify issues. It improves customer acquisition and retention with enhanced customer experience.
Kyung-Whu acknowledges that in the past, most might have used data analytics for efficiency, but mature organisations today are using data to increase customer services and drive topline growth. The way that data is being used today is in driving more significant business outcomes.
As Kyung-Whu shares the different stages of data maturity, he explains that stages one to three are based on business requirements and the building of a trusted environment. However, stages four and five are looking at data as an asset and zooming in on data adoption, working the data as a life cycle.
In closing, Kyung-Whu agrees with Ram that data strategy has to be owned by the organisation. Everyone will be at a different stage, he believes. What is important is knowing where organisations are at and how they would like to move forward. He encouraged delegates to expand their thinking and embrace a multi-tool environment. A data-driven culture can only be built on data democratisation, enabling everyone to access every process and every app. Collecting data is only a start, organisations need to enrich the data to gain deeper insights.
Interactive Discussions
After the informative presentations, delegates participated in interactive discussions facilitated by polling questions. This session is designed to provide live-audience interaction, promote engagement, hear real-life experiences, and impart professional learning and development to the participants.
It is an opportunity for delegates to gain insight from subject matter experts, share their stories and take back strategies that can be implemented in their organisations.
The opening polling inquired on the stage in which organisations are at based on the Business Intelligence Maturity Assessment. Most (61%) are at level 3 (strategic) while the remaining delegates are either at level 2 (tactical) (11%), level 5 (transformative) (11%), or level 4 (mission-critical) (17%).
Kyung-Whu remarks that it is often not a neat distinction in stages. There are a few dimensions: people, process, technology and the data itself.
The next poll inquired about the main challenge delegates face in their data strategy journey. Half (50%) chose a lack of data culture/literacy/skill across employees as their primary concern. Under a third (31%) thought that missing an overall strategy that crosses departments and teams is their biggest obstacle. Just over a tenth (13%) indicated data governance, data privacy and security concerns, while the lack of a centralised tool for sharing and collaboration was troubling for 6% of the delegates.
One delegate felt that it is easy to get the tool in place, but the challenge lies in getting people to use data to generate insights and share insights. Mohit echoed that it is a cultural issue on top of the possibility of needing to navigate legacy technology.
Kyung-Whu agrees that data culture and literacy are important. He is glad that organisations are looking into people because it shows a shift in the maturity of organisations.
Another delegate said that the level of maturity and adoption varies across the different agencies in his group of organisations. To analyse data, organisations need to have common data dictionaries as well as a governance structure that is agile enough to adapt.
On the top analytic adoption challenge in their agency, most (41%) found unstated factors to be the issue. Over one-third (35%) found data quality and accuracy concern the biggest obstacle. The remaining thought that the lack of talent and training (18%) or found the limited access to analytics challenging (6%).
Kyung-Whu commented that it is important to ensure that people are speaking the same language. There needs to be more bridging between business and IT.
When asked about their agency’s biggest data management barrier, 38% found data accessibility and sharing the biggest stumbling block. A quarter (25%) found the ability to analyse data in real-time the biggest challenge. The remaining delegates found providing trusted data to be a hindrance (19%), regulatory compliance (12%) or data collection/cleansing (6%) their biggest barriers.
Mohit believes that if businesses learn to use data, they will become ten times stronger. Kyung-Whu adds that the key is to get people to use data through trigger points. At the right moment, if the data shows up and is pushed to people, it can prompt people to ask the next or the right questions. The more people are enabled, the more data regulation becomes important.
Inquiring as to what business users do when they have new data requirements, an overwhelming majority (80%) would approach data analysts in their business unit for support. Of the remaining, 13% would raise a Helpdesk ticket for IT (Information Technology) support, while 7% would go with their gut feeling.
On being queried about the application that delegates spend most of their working days on, just over half (53%) spent their time on productivity applications (like Microsoft Office), followed by email (29%) and then business intelligence applications (18%).
Looking to know whether delegates have considered zero-click experience for data, over two thirds (67%) need more information, 22% have not considered it while 11% have.
Conclusion
The Breakfast Insight concluded with remarks from Kyung-Whu who reiterated the role of data analytics and the need for agencies to begin leveraging it. He urged agencies to become data-driven and advised them to accelerate their digital transformation.
Kyung-Whu suggests a paradigm shift that would help with the use of data analytics – bringing intelligence to the general audience (70%) who would not ask questions about data. The key is to offer them “answers to their first questions.”
Instead of getting people to reach out to analytics platforms, the strategy should be about injecting intelligence to where people are – through zero-click analytics to solve the problem that we just discussed.
In closing, he invited the delegates to reach out to his team to explore ways they could deepen the data analytics maturity in their organisation. He emphasised that it is a long-term journey that MicroStrategy has walked and would be willing to undertake.
India recently launched a single national portal for biotech researchers and start-ups that are seeking regulatory approval for biological research and development projects. The Biological Research Regulatory Approval Portal (BioRRAP) will allow stakeholders to see the approvals accorded against a particular application through a unique BioRRAP ID.
According to the Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for the Ministry of Science and Technology, Jitendra Singh, the portal is expected to strengthen interdepartmental cooperation and enhance accountability, transparency, and efficacy in the functioning of agencies that regulate and issue permissions for biological research.
BioRRAP is the first public mechanism that tracks requisite regulatory approvals for research proposals online. The portal will keep researchers notified on the stage of their application in terms of regulatory clearances. It allows users to see preliminary information on all research work carried out by a particular researcher/organisation.
Singh pointed out that other than biotechnology, biodiversity research, the latest methods of ecological conservation, and bio-surveys are gaining momentum in India due to the effect of climate change on them. Research in various biological fields is continuously expanding, supported by grants from both the public and private sectors. Many of these projects fall under the purview of regulatory agencies that must first approve them before they can be launched. BioRRAP makes the approval process easier and quicker.
India is poised to become a global bio-manufacturing hub and will figure among the top five countries of the world by 2025. Biotechnology has fast emerged as an academic and livelihood avenue for youth in India. There are over 2,700 biotech start-ups and more than 2,500 biotech companies currently active in the country. By 2025, the contribution of the Indian biotechnology industry to the global biotechnology market is expected to grow to 19% from 3% in 2017. The bio economy’s contribution to the national GDP has also grown steadily in the past years to 2.7% in 2020 from 1.7% in 2017.
The COVID-pandemic highlighted the need to link research applications submitted to various regulatory agencies for approval as well as the need to have a repository of the research works being undertaken in the public and private sectors. This not only helps to understand India’s scientific strength and expertise but to formulate policies to support and bolster scientific innovation.
Earlier this week, the Ministry for Communications, Electronics, and Information Technology (MietY) recently launched a portal for the centralised right of way (RoW) approvals called GatiShakti Sanchar. It enables telecom service providers (TSPs) and infrastructure providers (IPs) to apply for RoW permissions to lay down optical fibre cables and set up mobile towers. It is a collaborative institutional mechanism between central, state, and union territory governments, local bodies, and service providers, as reported by OpenGov Asia.
As all applicants can apply at a single common website, the portal makes the process of RoW permissions and the subsequent approvals faster and more efficient. This, in turn, could help rollout 5G services more quickly, for which base transceiver stations (BTS) are installed at short intervals, an official at the launch event noted. The portal has a dashboard displaying state and district-wise pendency statuses. It also offers automated alerts on application processing updates and centralised help desk availability.
Western Sydney will be at the heart of Australia’s high-tech manufacturing capability with the investment of AU$ 260 million in a national-first shared-use research facility to be built on the doorstep of the new Western Sydney International Airport. The full-scale Advanced Manufacturing Research Facility (AMRF) will be the focal point of the new Bradfield City Centre, the 115ha urban and employment area next to the airport.
The region’s Premier stated that the AMRF will be at the leading edge of Australia’s advanced manufacturing revolution helping to strengthen the region’s economy now and into the future. The Premier stated that the government is securing a brighter future for families and the country, right here in Western Sydney. The NSW Government is building what matters to make Western Sydney an even better place to live, work, learn, play and raise a family.
The AMRF will create new high-paying jobs of the future in Western Sydney by making Bradfield City Centre the national capital of advanced manufacturing bringing industry and universities together. The Minister for Enterprise, Investment and Trade and Minister for Western Sydney said the AMRF was planned to be operational in 2026.
It was noted that Western Sydney has one of the largest concentrations of manufacturing businesses in Australia. The AMRF will allow manufacturers from Western Sydney the support to transition to new ways of doing business, creating the high-value components for the next generation of space, aerospace, defence and medical technologies.
This means a greater number of jobs and further investment into Western Sydney. However, more importantly, the move places Western Sydney at the centre of some of the biggest global industrial trends of this century, the Minister said.
The region’s Treasurer stated that the facility will change the face of manufacturing in Australia on the doorstep of the new International Airport. He noted that the high-tech machines that are being purchased will provide businesses and researchers in Western Sydney access to some of the most advanced manufacturing technologies in the world. This investment will return dividends for the taxpayers of NSW through private investment and premium jobs as the new city and industries grow together.
Modelled on examples of successful precincts overseas, such as the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre in Sheffield UK, the AMRF will have a manufacturing hall and collaborative workspaces. It will bring together businesses, engineers and researchers to prove out new technologies, scale up and commercialise.
The Western Parkland City Authority will also be releasing the first of an AU$ 23 million package of tenders for advanced manufacturing equipment to be installed in the pilot of the AMRF due to open in 2023. The first tender package, released this week by the Western Parkland City Authority, is for precision additive manufacturing equipment to be used in the aerospace, defence, automotive and medical industries.
Over the next 20 years, Australia’s manufacturing industry will evolve into a highly integrated, collaborative and export-focused ecosystem that provides high-value customised solutions within global value chains. The sector will focus on pre-production (design, R&D) and post-production (after-sales services) value-adding, sustainable manufacturing and low volume, high margin customised manufacturing.
There are immense strategic growth opportunities for Australia’s manufacturing sector. Turning them into reality will require significant technological innovation by public and private research communities. The key science and technology areas include:
© 2022 OpenGov Asia – CIO Network Pte Ltd.
