IDA International to spearhead the export of public sector Infocomm expertise

The newly-formed subsidiary will enable Singapore to provide a focused and holistic approach in working with foreign governments on public service infocomm initiatives.

At the same time, the company hopes to translate these collaborations into business opportunities for local infocomm players, especially those who have been at the forefront of developing solutions for Singapore's e-Government services.

Some of the services offered by IDA International include national infocomm planning and e-Government consultancy.

Speaking at the official launch of IDA International on 17 February 2009, Dr Lee Boon Yang, then Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts, noted that Singapore is recognised worldwide as a leader in the use of infocomm to deliver better services to the public and businesses.

He cited TradeNet and its successor (TradeXchange), e-filing for income tax returns and BizFile for online registration of new businesses as examples of e-Government services that have had a major impact and brought huge benefits to Singaporeans and the business community.

"We have built up a strong track record of successfully implementing our National Infocomm and e-Government programmes. As a result, we have been consistently ranked among the top nations in the world for e-Government," he said.

In 2007, for instance, Singapore ranked first and second respectively in Accenture and Brown University's e-Government studies. According to Dr Lee, many countries see Singapore as a good partner in their own infocomm plans and hope to shorten their learning curve by working with Singapore to achieve their own infocomm goals.

IDA International is currently in discussion with several governments with whom Singapore has already established government-to-government infocomm collaborations. These include Brunei in Southeast Asia; Mr Seah, "We have been through the journey, and we have what it takes to get things done."

Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain in the Middle East; South Africa; as well as Brazil and Trinidad & Tobago in the Americas. More recently, the company signed an agreement with the Oman Information Technology Authority (ITA) to develop its eGovernment Architecture Framework (OeGAF) during the Singapore President's state visit to Oman.

The focus for IDA International would be to apply Singapore's public sector expertise to the context of these countries, said Mr Seah Chin Siong, Chief Executive Officer of IDA International.

He believes that this can be done, and that the Singapore model - with its success in combining public and private expertise - presents a compelling value proposition. "We have been through the journey, and we have what it takes to get things done," he said.