2025 Singapore Delegation

Over four days in March, I had the pleasure on behalf of the AIIA to lead a delegation of 14 government and 31 tech industry leaders to Singapore to better understand why it is considered global leaders in digital government, have a leading digital economy and ensure that citizens embrace the technology and don’t get left behind to become a truly digital society.

Over four days, delegates engaged with senior representatives from the Singapore Ministry of Digital Development and Information (MDDI), GovTech Singapore, the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA), the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA), CyberSG TIG Collaboration Centre and the National Library Board.

The delegation also had hosted briefings from tech companies including: IBM, SAP, Databricks, Salesforce, Thoughtworks, NCS, Dell Technologies, ServiceNow, Reason Group and Accenture.

Singapore’s digital journey is underpinned by long-term strategy, strong political alignment, public-private partnerships, and a relentless focus on user outcomes. While the operating environment in Australia is markedly different—due to its federation and broader geography—delegates noted similar challenges in red tape and gained practical insights into what can be adapted and scaled in our local context.

The delegation sparked rich discussion about the importance of economic framing, the role of trust in digital services, the need to upskill public sector senior executives and workforces, and the opportunity for a more integrated, agile approach to digital investment and delivery.

The political and government leadership from the City State made us as Australians envious that there is a digital vision for the country that transcends the electoral cycle. The direction they want to take is well understood, it covers 5 to 10 year horizons and backed by appropriate funding. Like in Australia, they do have siloed government agencies and not all projects are a success but they do have a mentality to fail fast and keep iterating and finding optimum pathways to success. Singapore also views digital projects as economic infrastructure and key to future prosperity and productivity.

Two other elements that Australia can learn from, in my view, is that we can mirror aspects of the Singapore approach to partnering with the tech sector (industry) to deliver on the vision. They have an ecosystem approach and don’t see industry as a necessary evil, but to be embraced; it aims to bring global expertise and R&D to a small economy that they can’t do on their own. Government agencies also told the delegation that there is no political pressure to procure from local Singapore tech companies and are free to work with the best in the world, be it local or global companies.

Singapore developed its first AI strategy way back in 2017 which has been recently updated in its AI Strategy 2.0. Australia will get its first strategy or plan at the end of 2025. Singapore is clear eyed in the benefits of AI, including its potential cultural impacts in a diverse region and wish to deploy AI in measurable and explainable ways with mature adoption governance models and has taken a global alignment path to AI regulation with no desire for local regulations.

Australia does many things well, but we can also learn from Singapore and other leading digital nations. Australia is more complex with three layers of government, and we are decades behind in projects like digital ID but in other areas, we compete and compare well. Singapore is very conscious of being seen to be an open and welcoming economy for companies to relocate and set up regional HQs as well as migration settings allowing people to easily work. Finally, Singapore is focused on digital upskilling and embracing new technology and working with industry to deliver digital infrastructure to grow the economy, areas I would suggest Australia remains a work in progress.

Simon Bush, CEO, AIIA