Smart Gov & Public Services: Powering a Digital Nation

The COVID-19 pandemic had profound effects on our public service delivery. These include the increased demands for services with rising citizen expectations on the delivery of virtual services, workforce planning, and the need to test the resilience of working virtually and disrupted sectors looking to the government to provide adaptive and dynamic regulatory models.

The government is expected to ramp up efforts on the digital transformation of public services to better serve the citizens during and as well as post-COVID-19 era. During this time, the citizens' expectation of the government is to play a critical role as the decision-maker, central responder, and service provider. Hence, it clearly shows that a digital government should take the lead role to drive the catalysts of digital transformation through (1) well-executed plans and governance, (2) to deliver more effective citizen services by adopting a data-driven strategy that harnesses data intelligence, (3) to digitise government services to ensure easy access and improved experience when citizens need it the most, (4) to invest in digital infrastructure and platforms to create a whole of government service capability and (5) to focus on smaller-scale innovations across the government to build a dispersed capability.

Current scenarios, challenges, and global trends require us to change how we provide services to the people so that public service institutions remain trusted and respected. We need to change and quickly adapt to current changes to stay relevant.

For most of our history, we lived in a “Stuff Economy” era where value, wealth, and power were mainly measured by physical possession. The past few decades represented the climax of the “Knowledge Economy” where the cognitive capabilities corresponded to value, power, and wealth more than any other time. It is the era where companies such as Google or Facebook, with relatively little physical possession, could rival behemoths such as General Electric in market value. We are now moving into the era of the “Purpose Economy” where the ability to connect with one’s self and others and exhibit self-awareness, respect, and empathy will be the sign of delivering true and unrivalled value. Stuff and knowledge will gain a huge value when they are underpinned by the right emotional content. This digital era of the 'never normal' will require that we rewrite our playbook in education, human resources management, marketing, engineering, and governance. It is the responsibility of the leaders among us to support our people, especially the youth to succeed and thrive in such a different environment. In this talk, Professor Al-Atabi will outline the concept of Purpose-Driven Leadership and how it is key for building a prosperous, inclusive, and sustainable future that highly integrates with technological innovations.

Cities across the globe are crowding. Today, more than half of the global population of over 4 bil people live in cities. In 2019, about 77% of Malaysia’s total population lived in urban areas and cities (Statista, October 2020).

The United Nations projects 68% of the world population will live in urban areas by 2050. This means, cities are risking even more to the ongoing economical, health, societal & economical challenges.

A report by McKinsey Global Institute (June 2018) found that technologies can improve the quality-of-life indicators by as much as 30% where public sector would be the natural owner of 70% of these digital services but, this requires dynamic public-private partnerships.

All the hype around 5G is REAL! 5G-powered IoT connectivity which is faster, more reliable & higher-capacity is key to make our cities smarter.

According to the Malaysian Institute of Economic Research, 5G implementation would contribute up to RM12.7 bil to GDP between 2021 and 2025. It could create more than 39,000 new jobs with higher income, and almost 40% of these jobs would be available in 2025.

But, what lies ahead of smart cities and its potential in the hyper-uncertain post-pandemic situation?

Smart City Council Australia New Zealand Executive Director, Adam beck noted that there is definitely a risk that the smart city agenda may become polarising agenda if it is not tied to outcomes and priorities. He added, “But it is heartening that we are finding examples whereby technology and data is used to help build prosperity for our most vulnerable. If we are not creating value, change or impact for our most vulnerable, I don’t think it is going to be an agenda that is going to last.”

How can disruptive technologies make our cities better places to live?

The COVID-19 pandemic has turned mobility and transportation upside down. Countries across the world have implemented rigorous highly regulated measures in an effort to flatten the curve. According to Apple's report (February 2021), driving and walking trends in Malaysia have reduced to 23% and 39% respectively since 13 January 2020.

McKinsey is of the opinion that mobility next normal will feature changing consumer behaviors, new roles for regulators, hyperlocal mobility, new forms of cooperation, and a changing focus on innovation. ARK's research estimated that consumers who travel on autonomous ride-hailing platforms will pay less than half the cost of driving a personal car when they reach scale in 2024, or roughly one-tenth the cost of a taxi.

To realise the Intelligent Transport System (ITS) in Malaysia, the ITS Blueprint (2019 - 2023) is powered by 4 strategic pillars; Seamless Intelligent Mobility, Congestion Free Infrastructure, Safety, and Commercial Vehicle Operation. And, the key enabler towards successful ITS development is the convergence of technologies; high-speed Internet, IoT, advanced robotics, artificial intelligence, and Big Data analytics from telcos, broadcasting, and multimedia sectors.

In Australia, the New South Wales (NSW) government is currently delivering the nation’s largest transport infrastructure programme. To realise this delivery, Transport for NSW is working toward an ambitious vision to be a global leader in the use of innovative and transformative technologies and will deliver six priority programs over the next three years to enable convenient, personalised and sustainable transport and mobility solutions for its customers.

Technology is continuously evolving; advanced tools are being created to increase productivity and growth. Superfast broadband and Wi-Fi connectivity are essential enablers for productivity improvement. COVID-19 has shifted the focus towards digitalised processes, resilient delivery, and anywhere operations. This is where organisations will be leveraging public distributed cloud and distributed services that interact directly with edge services (IoT). IoT is going to increase productivity, reduce cost and improve our lives with several use cases related to facilities, operations & management, security, and healthcare, etc. Technologies like Machine learning (ML)/ Artificial Intelligence (AI) can augment the information with new insights with the help of analytics. Fundamental to all this is robust, high speed, self-healing, and automated underlying infrastructure.

"For the citizens of a smart city to thrive, we must first place education at its centre," Dr. I-Chang Tsai, Vice President and Director General of Digital Education, Institute for Information Industry in Taiwan.

According to UNICEF (March 2021), around 214 mil children globally – or 1 in 7 – have missed more than three-quarters of their in-person learning due to COVID-19 lockdowns.

Digital tools can be game-changers. UNICEF aims to reach 500 mil children & youth, and 3.5 bil by 2030 under its revolutionary Reimagine Education initiative to provide quality education for every child through digital learning, Internet connectivity, devices, affordable data and the engagement of young people.

Resources assistance for the education system play a notable part in how well schools are transformed and how the leaders of tomorrow are nurtured, through the delivery of effective teaching and learning. A whopping RM64.8 bil was allocated for education in the Malaysia Budget 2021 with RM50.4 bil to the Education Ministry, and RM14.4 to the Higher Education Ministry. Recently in February, FELDA allotted RM2.98 mil to set up the Smart Classroom system at 101 national secondary schools.

However, with all the fundings, bridging digital divide remains a key priority in accelerating digital learning in Malaysia. Among the initiatives under MyDIGITAL, the “My Device” programme, setup through public-private-people partnerships, will enable all Malaysian students to have access to devices, through various mechanisms, depending on their household income levels. And, it is targeted for ALL schools to adopt digital solutions and technology in the delivery of education by 2025.