Singapore authorities are checking and patching government systems thoroughly to guard against a critical vulnerability in widely used software. Singapore then held emergency meetings with critical information infrastructure (CII) sectors to prepare them for the potential threats.
The software is an open-source Java package used to support activity-logging in many Java-based applications. As it is widely used by developers, this vulnerability can have very serious consequences. Successful exploitation of this vulnerability will allow an attacker to gain full control of the affected servers. The situation is evolving rapidly and there have already been numerous observations of ongoing attempts by threat actors to scan for and attack vulnerable systems.
The Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA) is monitoring the situation closely. There have been two emergency meetings by CSA with all the CII sector leads to issue directions and technical details, and to heighten monitoring for unusual activities. Aside from earlier advisories, CSA has also organised a briefing session this morning to trade associations and chambers to underscore the seriousness of the vulnerability and urgency of implementing mitigation measures for all businesses and SMEs.
Security researchers have flagged this incident as one of the most serious cyber vulnerabilities. We are taking this seriously. Our teams at CSA and GovTech are checking and patching our government systems thoroughly as we speak. But it will not be enough and we need to keep vigilant. While the situation is serious, there are always proactive steps we can take. I urge CII owners, business leaders or developers to identify the potential risks in your systems and close these gaps quickly.
– Minister for Communications and Information Josephine Teo
Users of the products should:
Product developers that use the products should:
While a security fix has been released by the non-profit organisation that developed the software some of the world’s largest technology companies are still struggling to make their products safe from the vulnerability. Thousands of other programs use the free logger, and those responsible for them must prepare and distribute their own patches to prevent takeovers.
That includes other free software, which is maintained by volunteers, as well as programs from companies big and small.
As reported by OpenGov Asia, CSA has launched a series of tool kits for enterprises, which provide guidance on cybersecurity issues tailored for senior business leaders, owners SMEs, as well as employees. The new toolkits help to simplify cybersecurity and enable businesses to make more informed trade-offs between security, system usability and cost.
The toolkit for enterprise leaders and SME owners will focus on the business reasons for business leaders and SME owners to invest in cybersecurity, such as rationalising investment in cybersecurity, and how fostering a culture of cybersecurity would enable enterprises to reap the benefits of digital transformation.
Although 80 per cent of Singapore SMEs embrace digital transformation and have digital transformation in place, cybersecurity has been the key reason for small enterprises not digitalising. Topics include the cultivation of cybersecurity leadership and guidance for employee cybersecurity education.
Beyond toolkits, CSA will also partner with the industry to further drive cybersecurity awareness to local businesses, individuals and the wider community. CSA launched a new partnership programme that aims to equip businesses and enterprises with tools and information to strengthen their cybersecurity.
As it becomes easier to create hyper-realistic digital characters using Artificial Intelligence (AI), much of the conversation around these tools could be misleading. But the technology can also be used for positive purposes – to revive Albert Einstein to teach a physics class, talk through a career change with older self, or anonymise people while preserving facial communication.
To encourage the technology’s positive possibilities, MIT Media Lab researchers and their collaborators at the University of California at Santa Barbara and Osaka University have compiled an open-source, easy-to-use character generation pipeline that combines AI models for facial gestures, voice, and motion and can be used to create a variety of audio and video outputs.
The pipeline also marks the resulting output with a traceable, as well as human-readable, watermark to distinguish it from authentic video content and to show how it was generated — an addition to help prevent its malicious use.
By making this pipeline easily available, the researchers hope to inspire teachers, students, and healthcare workers to explore how such tools can help them in their respective fields. If more students, educators, healthcare workers, and therapists have a chance to build and use these characters, the results could improve health and well-being and contribute to personalised education.
It will be a strange world indeed when AIs and humans begin to share identities. This study does an incredible job of thought leadership, mapping out the space of what is possible with AI-generated characters in domains ranging from education to health to close relationships while giving a tangible roadmap on how to avoid the ethical challenges around privacy and misrepresentation.
– Jeremy Bailenson, Founding Director, Stanford Virtual Human Interaction Lab
Generative adversarial networks, or GANs, a combination of two neural networks that compete against each other, have made it easier to create photorealistic images, clone voices, and animate faces. One researcher first explored its possibilities in a project called Machinoia, where he generated multiple alternative representations of himself — as a child, as an old man, as female — to have a self-dialogue of life choices from different perspectives. The unusual deep-faking experience made him aware of his “journey as a person,”.
Self-exploration is only one of the positive applications of AI-generated characters, the researchers say. Experiments show, for instance, that these characters can make students more enthusiastic about learning and improve cognitive task performance. The technology offers a way for instruction to be “personalised to people’s interest, their idols, their context, and can be changed over time.
Other applications might include characters who help deliver therapy, to alleviate a growing shortage of mental health professionals and reach the estimated 44% of Americans with mental health issues who never receive counselling or AI-generated content that delivers exposure therapy to people with social anxiety. In a related use case, the technology can be used to anonymise faces in the video while preserving facial expressions and emotions, which may be useful for sessions where people want to share personal sensitive information such as health and trauma experiences, or for whistleblowers and witness accounts.
The researchers note that any of the applications of AI-generated characters raise legal and ethical issues that must be discussed as the technology evolves. One of the goals with this research is to raise awareness about what is possible, ask questions and start public conversations about how this technology can be used ethically for societal benefit.
U.S researchers have been adopting AI for several purposes, such as monitoring biodiversity. As reported by OpenGov Asia, the researchers are deploying autonomous recording equipment in natural areas to eavesdrop on the animals. This project aims to help answer important scientific questions, such as which species are present and how their abundance changes over time.
The Jiangsu-Hong Kong-Macao University Alliance (JHMUA) jointly established by Nanjing University, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) and the University of Macau was officially inaugurated at a ceremony held recently simultaneously in Nanjing and Hong Kong.
The JHMUA aims to leverage the advantages of institutions in Jiangsu Province, Hong Kong and Macau to strengthen exchange and collaboration in areas such as talent cultivation and research in innovation and technology.
With the full support of the governments of the three regions, the JHMUA now consists of 33 member institutions, including 21 from Jiangsu Province, nine from Hong Kong and three from Macau. The first term of the JHMUA is chaired by Nanjing University while PolyU, the University of Macau and Nanjing Normal University will act as Vice Chairmen.
The Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region stated that she witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding between PolyU and the Jiangsu Industrial Technology Research Institute, aiming to propel integrated industrial development. She noted that her visit with the institutions provided a good foundation for more collaboration between the two locations on various aspects including higher education and helped contribute to the growth of the Greater Bay Area as well as the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta.
The President of PolyU stated that he was honoured to be participating in the establishment of the Alliance. He noted that Hong Kong institutions have been forging close ties with those in Jiangsu Province and Macau and collaborating closely with them in academic exchanges, scientific research as well as student development. PolyU has in the past years partnered with more than 30 institutions and organisations in Jiangsu Province to kick start over 100 teaching and research projects.
Following the establishment of the JHMUA, it is hoped that the institutions will have more opportunities to work together for the development of education and scientific research in the three regions. The economic and educational development of Jiangsu Province is highly acclaimed across the nation. In addition, Jiangsu Province has witnessed the rapid development of a number of strategic emerging industries in recent years, such as artificial intelligence, biomedicine, new energy technology and more. This progress brings about tremendous opportunities in innovation and technology, research and even entrepreneurship for institutions and talents in the three regions.
Benefitting from the staunch support provided by the governments in the three regions, it is expected that the JHMUA will bring the institutions in those regions together, enabling them to complement each other with their respective strengths to facilitate collaboration in research and enhance talent development, with the ultimate goal of “collaborating and sharing achievements together”.
Following the inauguration ceremony, a higher education summit was held on the theme of “Regional Integration, Technology Innovation and Universities’ Development New Mission”. Leaders from more than 30 institutions attended the summit that provided much inspiration on the direction of the future development of the respective institutions.
Back in November 2019, the Chief Executive of Hong Kong visited Jiangsu Province and initiated the establishment of the “Jiangsu-Hong Kong University Alliance”. In early 2020, the Jiangsu Provincial Department of Education recommended including institutions from Macau in the Alliance, to increase the strength and resources of the Alliance and enhance the effectiveness of collaboration among the institutions in Jiangsu Province, Hong Kong and Macau.
Policymakers and business experts at a conference discussed how digitalisation is key to Vietnam’s economic recovery and crucial to Vietnamese firms’ ability to compete and create value. The experts explored how the country’s economic policies can help foster creativity and innovation among the business sectors. The Deputy Head of the Department for Enterprise Development under the Ministry of Planning and Investment, Bui Thu Thuy, noted that digitalisation was no longer an option for businesses, especially as the world is still trying to recover from the pandemic. The digitalisation of business data, management, automation, reporting, and collaboration within enterprises should be given the highest priority.
While Vietnam enjoyed a relatively high broadband penetration rate compared against other countries in the region, digitalised transactions remained at just over 22%, lower than Indonesia (34%) and Thailand (62%). Online business transactions were also on the low side at just 10% against Indonesia (49%) and Malaysia (52%). According to a news report, the most common issues experienced by Vietnamese businesses with digitalisation include a lack of financial resources, poor IT infrastructure and cyber security, and a shortage of skilled workers.
The pandemic and a number of recently implemented policies by the government have sped up digitalisation. Coupled with a change in consumer behaviour to contactless transactions, the country’s digital economy has reported a 10% growth rate since last year and US$135 billion in sales volume. The Deputy Head stated that the Ministry is willing to provide support to all businesses to make the transition to digital. Several tools have been made available on a government portal to help businesses self-evaluate and build a digitalisation strategy. The Ministry has also been building a consultant network specialised in digital transformation. So far, the network has connected with over 100,000 clients and held numerous training programmes for businesses.
The General Director of V-startup, a support network for Vietnamese start-ups, explained that enterprises are at the core of the country’s creativity and innovation push. Creative and innovative solutions in organisation and management help businesses cut down transactional and operational costs while improving productivity and efficiency. Creativity and innovation must come from an emphasis on business culture, one in which managers and workers must continue to adapt and change, the General Director added.
An industry expert said the push for digitalisation offers the country an opportunity to move in the direction of greener development and to build an economic ecosystem for sustainable development. Dr Chu Duc Hoang, from the National Technology Innovation Fund, said that Vietnamese enterprises, especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), need financial resources for research and development activities as well as comprehensive legal and policy frameworks to encourage the implementation of science and technology in the business sector.
In 2021, Vietnam recorded 5,600 newly established digital technology businesses, stemming from the need to work, sell, and communicate online amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Statistics show that Vietnam currently has about 64,000 digital technology enterprises with more than one million employees. The working environment and non-contact economy due to COVID-19 sped up and strengthened digital transformation as well as promoted the digital business community, OpenGov Asia reported earlier.
A computer analysis of hundreds of thousands of secure email messages between doctors and patients found that most doctors use language that is too complex for their patients to understand. The study also uncovered strategies some doctors use to overcome communication barriers.
Experts on health literacy, as well as leading health care organisations, have advised that doctors always use simple language when explaining things to their patients, to avoid confusing those with the least health literacy. But the study found that most doctors did not do this. Only about 40% of patients with low health literacy had doctors who used simple language with them.
Effective electronic communication is becoming increasingly important, as doctors and patients rely more on secure messaging, an innovation that has rapidly expanded during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study found that the doctors who performed best in surveys of how well patients understood their care tended to tailor their electronic messages to their patients’ level, wherever it was on the spectrum of health literacy.
The study employed computer algorithms and machine learning to measure the linguistic complexity of the doctors’ messages and the health literacy of their patients. Using data from over 250,000 secure messages exchanged between diabetes patients and their doctors through Kaiser Permanente’s secure email portal, the study sets a new bar for the scale of research on doctor-patient communication, which is usually done with much smaller data sets and often does not use objective metrics.
The algorithms evaluated whether patients were cared for by doctors whose language matched theirs. Then, the research team analysed the individual doctors’ overall patterns, to see if they tended to tailor their communications to their patients’ different levels of health literacy.
Our computer algorithms extracted dozens of linguistic features beyond the literal meaning of words, looking at how words were arranged, their psychological and linguistic characteristics, what part of speech they were, how frequently they were used and their emotional saliency.
– Nicholas Duran, Cognitive Scientist and Associate Professor, School of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Arizona State University
Patients’ assessments of how well they understood their doctors most likely reflected how they felt about their doctor’s verbal and written communications. But the ratings nevertheless strongly correlated with the doctor’s written communication style.
Unlike a clinic encounter, where a doctor can use visual cues or verbal feedback from each patient to verify understanding, in an email exchange, a doctor can never be sure that their patient understood the written message. The findings suggest that patients benefit when doctors tailor their email messages to match the complexity of language the patient uses.
As reported by OpenGov Asia, another study shows that machine learning techniques can offer powerful new tools for advancing personalised medicine, care that optimises outcomes for individual patients based on unique aspects of their biology and disease features.
The research with machine learning, a branch of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in which computer systems use algorithms and statistical models to look for trends in data, tackles long-unsolvable problems in biological systems at the cellular level.
Those systems tend to have high complexity—first, because of the vast number of individual cells and second, because of the highly nonlinear way in which cells can behave. Nonlinear systems present a challenge for upscaling methods, which is the primary means by which researchers can accurately model biological systems at the larger scales that are often the most relevant.
The promises of individualised medicine are rapidly becoming a reality. The combination of multiple disciplines—such as molecular biology, applied mathematics and continuum mechanics—are being combined in new ways to make this possible. One of the key components of this will certainly be the continuing advances in machine learning methods.
A proposed water recycling centre at Kemps Creek will provide a water system for more than 1.5 million people expected to call Western Sydney’s new city home. If approved, the Upper South Creek Advanced Water Recycling Centre will be a high-tech plant that helps sustain Western Parkland City’s main waterway, expected to be operational by mid-2025.
The Water, Property and Housing Minister stated that the water recycling facility would be the State Government’s largest investment in water resilience in Western Sydney in more than a decade. The region is looking to the future when it comes to the way they can use water more sustainably, moving from single-use to multi-reuse, the Minister remarked. The facility would use renewable energy to harness industry-leading water recycling technology, making this a significant investment into green infrastructure.
The Minister for Western Sydney said the new plant would help deliver $10 billion in social and economic benefits in Western Sydney, through jobs and investment. He noted that in the long term, well over 1.5 million people will live and work in the new Western Parkland City. Significant investments like this will help support the entire area and bring a greater diversity of jobs closer to where people live in the west.
In 2015, the water treatment technology market size was valued at $145,082 million and is expected to witness a steady growth to reach $192,715 million by 2022, expanding at a CAGR of 4.1% over the forecast period.
Water treatment technology deals with the removal of impurities present in water during its use or storage and converts it into a usable form. The global water treatment industry is expected to witness significant growth in the coming years, owing to the rise in awareness about water scarcity, growth in innovations in water treatment technologies, investments by key market players and government in R&D in this sector.
Water resources are depleting vigorously, which in return provides wide scope for the water treatment technology market to flourish. Stringent government regulations over industrial and municipal wastewater disposal drive the growth of the water treatment technology market in the recycle and reuse procedures.
Although water is the prime necessity, the cost of water also matters which ultimately gives rise to the demand for cost-effective water treatment technologies. However, the growing population has a huge impact on this market. The rise in population and urbanization results in the generation of a massive amount of wastewater, which is recyclable; hence, the water treatment technology can convert the maximum amount of this wastewater into a usable form, thus driving the market growth.
Collectively, the impact of these factors is expected to increase significantly with the increase in awareness about the use of clean water and water recycling to cope with the depleting water resources. Major restraints for the water treatment technology market include the high cost of equipment and lack of expertise in this sector.
However, these restraints are expected to reduce with the technological advancements and vigorous R&D in this sector, thus developing highly efficient and low-cost water treatment technologies in the market.
R&D activities in the water treatment technology sector
R&D in water treatment technology is currently on a rise. An increase in these activities has resulted in the introduction of numerous new technologies in this market. This in turn increases the efficiency of water treatment technology, delivering more quality products in the market.
Growth in demand for recycling and reuse water technologies
The market is growing at a rapid rate owing to depleting water resources and rising wastewater generation. The wastewater generated can be recycled and reused for various purposes. The rise in awareness of the reuse of water results in the introduction of highly efficient technologies to utilise the available wastewater. Furthermore, the current capacity of available water recycling units is lower than the amount of wastewater generated, thus providing ample opportunity for this market.
China has ramped up support for small businesses, especially individual ones, by launching new websites that extend better services, according to the State Administration for Market Regulation. The latest data from the administration showed that among China’s over 150 million market entities, 102 million are an individual or home businesses and 43.17 million are small and micro firms. They depend on accessible services and information to survive.
The two new websites going online on Dec 16, one as an integrated registration services platform for all market entities and the other a government-business interaction window, are established to meet those needs. The websites will provide timely and accurate information about the market and relevant policies.
China has also rolled out two platforms to improve services for self-employed and private businesses as part of the country’s broader push to support all market players for greater vitality. The latest data from the administration showed that among China’s over 150 million market entities, 102 million are self-employed businesses and 43.17 million are small and private firms. They depend on accessible services and information to survive.
One of the new platforms integrates the portal to must-have administrative business procedures of different places in China. Self-employed and private businesses can apply for company registration, variation and removal on the integrated platform.
The other platform offers channels to understand, apply, and inquire about relevant policies and information. For instance, they can know about current petty loans from different banks and financial institutions and how to apply for them.
The move is to further support the development of the country’s self-employed and private businesses, to relieve their bottlenecks while doing business, and to make business-benefit policies more accessible for them. The recent Central Economic Work Conference said China will use its macroeconomic policies to continuously stimulate the vitality of market entities next year.
Such efforts have offered some down-to-earth help for us self-employed businesses. A more timely policy will help bail out some temporary difficulties, especially those arising from COVID-19. China’s self-employed and private businesses have been developing rapidly and have played an important role in stabilising economic growth. The country will closely track their operational conditions and give stronger policy support.
The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said private enterprises contribute on average around 50% of tax revenue, 60% of GDP, 70% of technological innovation, and 80% of urban employment. To some extent, China’s economy will be in good momentum if private and smaller businesses remain sound. Many of them are increasingly being recognised for their role as leaders for new concepts and new business models.
As reported by OpenGov Asia, China issued a guideline on developing the mobile terminal for a nationwide integrated administrative service platform to move more government services online using mobile phones. The development will combine mobile terminals of the administrative service platforms at the State level, State Council department level, and provincial level.
The guideline encourages the creation of unified standards in terms of developing and accessing the integrated mobile terminal, its quality management, as well as security protection and management. The integrated system will have a list of high-demand services that can be accessed with a fingertip, focusing on education, social security, healthcare, and taxation, among other areas. With unified management, procedures should be improved and documents streamlined in providing mobile administrative services.
The guideline also requires a unification of identity recognition, including on a cross-regional, cross-departmental basis, data sharing, and application management. Mobile terminals of administrative service platforms should introduce better functions such as personalised records, easier searches, service rating, and seniors-friendly modes, and can be extended to public transport, utilities, and other services concerning people’s livelihoods. The guideline calls for using technologies including big data, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and 5G to make mobile administrative services easier to access.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Ren-Ai Township Office in Nantou County held the “Initiation Ceremony of the Application Project of Scientific Research Achievements in Indigenous Fields”, announcing that they will invest the technical resources of the Industrial Technology Research Institute and the Institute for Information Industry and introduce the results of scientific and technological projects into the daily lives of indigenous citizens.
The projects have the dual-core of AgriFood and Travel and Transportation, which will establish demonstration fields in Ren-Ai Township, Nantou County, and cooperate with local businesses to solve the needs of the indigenous towns by various technologies.
In terms of AgriFood technologies, the Precision Drip Irrigation System is used in conjunction with environmental sensing, smart monitoring and other technologies to increase the yield of crops; as for the Travel and Transportation technologies, Real-time Mass Transportation Information System and Smart Transportation Car Dispatching Service system are built to improve local transportation services and increase the population of the indigenous hometowns.
Due to environmental constraints, insufficient transportation resources, and limited agricultural labour force, the Department of Industrial Technology (DoIT), the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) intends to focus on sustainability” and “proliferation, using existing scientific and professional achievements and combining them with local resources to reduce the burden on R&D of the domestic businesses and assist in industrial transformation. It is expected that the assistance could boost the economy of indigenous hometowns and bring the youth back home for employment.
Taiwan encourages the use of local cultural materials, innovative technologies, visualisation techniques, and new media characteristics to produce creative works that are native; improves the ability to self-produce audio and video materials; and transforms technology, marketing and business models to develop innovative convergent services, thus expanding the application value of intellectual property through diverse applications.
Taiwan also promotes the installation of wireless broadband in indigenous areas to increase the overall and indigenous coverage of wireless broadband in Taiwan; safeguards the rights to watch digital wireless TV for indigenous peoples and families living in rural areas and improves the signal quality and stability of TV shows.
Taiwan also provides a model for small and micro indigenous enterprises to strengthen their product features and innovative services to drive the overall transformation of local enterprises; creates the content of indigenous cultures and the ethnic identity of indigenous peoples and infuse them into the wisdom and S&T education of indigenous peoples, and fully implements the essence of digital equality and impartial information sharing among indigenous peoples.
Taking the intellectual property rights of content indigenous to Taiwan as a core concern, Taiwan also combines cultural art performances and exhibitions with 5G network technologies and augmented/virtual reality, 8k displays, and other smart display devices to create story content native to Taiwan, builds an immersive smart museum with virtually and physically integrated content applications, and produces novel performance content. The government hopes to address the digital transformation needs of the culture industry, develop new sites and new operating models for cultural technologies, promote the innovation and upgrading of the culture industry, and guide a paradigm shift for demonstration sites.
As the digital market and e-commerce are expanding, Taiwan embraces digital technology in education and culture. As reported by OpenGov Asia, under the “National Digital Archives Program” and the “National Science and Technology Program for e-Learning”, various kinds of archives are kept in Academia Sinica, the National Palace Museum, National Taiwan University and many other public and private cultural institutions in Taiwan have been digitised. These two Taiwanese programs have successfully integrated the development of different fields in science, humanities, economy, and technology.
