International Partnerships

Overview

There are countries that, like Singapore, are undergoing their digital government transformation journey. Some are going through a similar learning curve and share a similar experience with Singapore, while others are interested in learning from Singapore as an ongoing case study.

GovTech’s active engagements on the international front are key to advancing digital technologies and best practices for mutual growth and benefit for international digital government transformation initiatives.

We are keen to explore international collaboration opportunities for digital government projects, and to share our experience and ideas. Examples of our international collaboration platforms can be found below.

For an overview of Singapore’s digital government journey, watch a special video collaboration between GovTech and the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) on our Digital Government Journey page here. The four videos feature Government Chief Digital Technology Officer (GCDTO), Chan Cheow Hoe, sharing key learning points from Singapore’s Digital Government transformation.

Digital Government Exchange

The Digital Government Exchange (DGX) is at the forefront of our international engagement efforts to promote best-practice development of digital government services.

DGX is an annual global gathering of Government Chief Information Officers (CIOs) and public sector leaders from digital governments and smart cities across the globe. These include Australia, , Canada, China, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Israel, Japan, New Zealand, Sweden, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States of America (USA).

Organised by the Smart Nation and Digital Government Group (SNDGG) since 2016, DGX is a one-of-its-kind international platform that has developed a community of like-minded leaders who can engage in information exchange, sharing of experiences, and mutual learning, while exploring future collaboration opportunities.

Representatives from multilateral institutions such as the United Nations (UN), the World Economic Forum (WEF), and the World Bank also attend these discussions.

Find out more about DGX here.

Partnerships

Our multi-pronged international partnerships strategy includes:

• Bilateral Partnerships: Hosting foreign delegations keen to learn from our experiences.
• Multilateral Partnerships: Engagement of international organisations and governments, and participation in global forums for international cooperation on Digital Government by the UN, World Bank and, European Union (EU).
• Partnerships with Non-Profit Organisations and Civil Societies: Sharing Singapore’s digital transformation journey at platforms such as the WEF.
• Knowledge sharing via the Singapore Government Developer Portal: The developer portal is a one-stop resource hub for government digital products and services.

Singapore actively participates in international platforms by providing keynote talks and conducting workshops. We believe such engagements will serve a much larger community of countries looking to learn from Singapore’s journey.

Through these engagements, we want to help, and learn from one another.

Here are some of our more recent key partnership initiatives on the international front:

November 2022

• Visit by Japan’s Vice-Minister for Digital Transformation and Chief Officer of Digital Agency, Asanuma Takashi
• Visit by Indonesia KOMINFO’s Director General of Informatics Applications, Semuel Abrijani Pangerapan
• Visit by Bavaria’s State Minister of Digital Affairs, Judith Gerlach

September 2022

• Hosting of GovTech’s Digital Government Exchange and the 56th ICA Conference

August 2022

• Visit by Cambodia Telecommunication Regulator’s Chariman, Chenda Chong
• Visit by Thailand’s Permanent Secretary of Ministry of Digital Economy and Society, Ajarin Pattanapanchai
• Visit by Kazakhstan’s Deputy Prime Minister, Mukhtar Tileuberdi
• Visit by South Korea’s Director-General of Ministry of Science and ICT, Song Sang Hoon

July 2022

• Visit by Japan Tokyo Metropolitan Government’s Senior Director of the Bureau of Digital Services, Masayao Maruyama
• Memorandum of Understanding between GovTech and UK Government Digital Services on the design and delivery of digital government public services

June 2022

• Visit by Malaysia’s Minister of Health, Khairy Jamaluddin

May 2022

• Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC) between GovTech and the Digital Agency of Japan in the area of Digital Government

Achievements

Singapore’s digital government journey has garnered international acclaim and awards. Here are some of the recent awards that Singapore government agencies, including GovTech, have won.

2022

• SCAPA 2022: GovTech, MOE and MOH were among the winning public agencies in the 2022 IDC Smart City Asia Pacific Awards (IDC SCAPA). Organised by the International Data Cooperation (IDC), IDC SCAPA recognises top Smart City projects and initiatives in the Asia Pacific region.

2021

• Smart City Index 2021: Singapore ranks 1st out of 118 cities. The Smart City Index (SCI) is based on citizens’ perceptions of how technology can improve their lives, as well as on economic and social data taken from the UN Human Development Index (HDI). It is conducted annually by the Singapore University of Technology and Design’s Lee Kuan Yew Centre for Innovative Cities (SUTD-LKYCIC) in collaboration with Switzerland’s Institute for Management Development (IMD).

2020

• The United Nations e-Government Survey measures the effectiveness of all 193 member states on the effectiveness of their digital government efforts in providing citizen and business services and in policy engagement. Singapore ranked 5th in the Online Services Index, 6th in the e-Participation Index and 11th in the Development Index.

Find out more about Singapore’s Digital Government achievements here.

Contact Information

Contact us at info@tech.gov.sg if you would like to collaborate on various digital government projects.

Resources

Sign up for our monthly eDM, the Singapore Government Developer Portal Digest, here to receive updates about our digital government efforts.

Last updated 20 June 2023

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