The role of information technology in the planning and development of Singapore

There is much to learn from development cases in the Pacific basin. This paper examines Singapore's information technology strategy. It is offered as documentation on hew one metropolis has been planning itself for, and into the information age. The method used in the paper is to draw cn documents, words and plans -from the Singapore government, to tell the story of this contemporary development case. These extracts are supplemented by reference to the relevant literature. The principal operational details of Singapore's information technology planning and implementation are offered so as to be suggestive of potential adaptation elsewhere. The role of the state is fundamental to Singapore's development. The People's Action Party, under the leadership of Prime Minister lee Kuan Yew, long has practiced activist intervention and flexible planning in pursuing the goal of attaining an high quality of life for Singaporeans. By these means, in just over twenty years, Singaporeans have been able to plan and implement themselves fran a preindustrial economy and society to one that is importantly industrial and to one that also is importantly "post industrial" or information driven. Having realized an economy, the predominant occupations of which are information related and white collar, the Singapore government in 1985 initiated a national information technology plan that is designed to position Singapore as the information technology center of excellence in the 1990s. Such a plan is possible because of the prior development of a base of widespread computer services, telecannunicaticns, and office systems. Each element of Singapore's information technology plan is analyzed in the paper. Policy makers, planners and researchers interested in understanding and ' drawing on other's prior information technology planning experience may' benefit fran the lessons derived frcm this Singapore policy analysis. Hew might these learnings in planning technology transfer and be tailored to other places ? This is the principal question for the readers of this paper.Corey Kenneth E. The role of information technology in the planning and development of Singapore. In: NETCOM : Réseaux, communication et territoires / Networks and Communication Studies, vol. 3 n°2, novembre 1989. pp. 355-380