Singapore's smart nation program — Enablers and challenges

Internet of Things (IoT) and Cyber Physical Systems (CPS) have opened up possibilities for countries to become smart cities. Many countries feel that having smart cities will enhance quality and performance of urban services to better the lives of citizens through enhanced city planning and development, improved productivity and service and economic development. Singapore is no exception. This paper examines the reasons for Singapore to become a Smart Nation. It discusses the enablers it is implementing and some of the challenges it is facing. In particular, the need to have a “whole of nation” approach to give better assurance of success and experiment new technologies and concepts of IoT and CPS to ensure maturity of technology, ease of use and public acceptance. While there are technological challenges, the biggest challenge is likely to come from organizational and human behaviors.