Community Steps Up To Help Singaporeans Embrace Digital To Enrich Their Lives At The Inaugural Digital For Life Festival

SINGAPORE – 21 MAY 2022

The Digital for Life (DfL) national movement¹ to help build an inclusive digital society has grown steadily since inception in February 2021. With the support of over 100 partners from the Private, Public and People (3P) sectors, the movement has enriched the lives of some 200,000 Singaporeans who have embraced digital as a way of life.

The ‘Data for All’ initiative was launched today at the inaugural DfL Festival organised by the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA). The initiative is part of the DfL movement and aims to mobilise the community to come forward to pledge their support and provide individuals from vulnerable segments with 30,000 mobile data lines worth more than $3 million. This collective effort by the customers of M1, GOMO by Singtel and giga! by StarHub, together with seven public organisations, social service agencies and community partners such as AMKFSC Community Services, Care Corner, Lions Befrienders, Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF)’s Community Link (ComLink), NTUC Health, SG Enable and Thye Hua Kwan Moral Charities will benefit about 30,000 children, youths and seniors from low-income families, as well as persons with disabilities and their caregivers.

'Data for All' initiative

The “Data for All” initiative exemplifies the multiplying contribution of DfL’s Private-Public-People partners. It showcases how corporates are collaborating with people sector partners to further mobilise their network and resources for more to contribute to building an inclusive digital society.

M1, GOMO by Singtel and giga! by StarHub have committed to create awareness of the DfL movement, and to mobilise their customers to join the DfL movement by pledging their support or donate their unused data through the Data for All initiative.

Each Telco has committed to providing 10,000 mobile data lines, which will collectively support 30,000 beneficiaries. Working with people and public sector partners, each Telco will reach out to the beneficiaries as follows:

• MSF ComLink will reach out to youths and children from low-income families
• AMKFSC Community Services, Care Corner, Lions Befrienders, NTUC Health and Thye Hua Kwan Moral Charities will reach out to seniors from low-income families
• SG Enable will reach out to persons with disabilities and their caregivers

Inaugural Digital for Life Festival

The inaugural DfL Festival is Singapore’s flagship tech event by the community for the community. Organised by IMDA, the first of the annual DfL Festival will bring exciting programmes and activities to enable Singaporeans from all walks of life to learn, explore and be enriched by the benefits of digital technology. After participating in these experiences, participants are then encouraged to play a part through donations or by volunteering their skills and time to support the national movement.

More than 110 partners have come together to organise activities, provide outreach and publicity to mobilise the community for the DfL Festival. Some notable partners include corporate organisations such as Google, Maybank, MediaCorp, NTUC FairPrice, POSB, Singapore Pools, The LEGO Group, The Straits Times and Zoom. Government agencies like the Cyber Security Agency (CSA), GovTech, the National Library Board (NLB), Smart Nation and Digital Government Office (SNDGO) and non-profit organisations like Association of Information Security Professionals (AiSP), Cyber Youth Singapore (CYS), Lions Befrienders, SG Enable and SOOS OIO also stepped forward to lend their full support.

With the easing of safe management measurements, Singaporeans are encouraged to bring their families and friends to learn, explore and play a part at the DfL Festival. Participants will enjoy free interactive workshops and activities to pick up useful digital skills and knowledge on topics ranging from coding, cybersecurity, healthy e-gaming, e-banking and government e-services. In addition, participants can visit the exhibition booths to gain hands-on experience with Assistive Technologies (AT) and emerging technologies such as Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR).

The 9-day DfL Festival will be held at the Suntec Convention Centre from 21 – 22 May and at Heartbeat@Bedok from 28 – 29 May. Members of the public can also visit the Enabling Village on 29 May or gain access to a myriad of free online activities which will take place from 21 – 29 May. Refer to Annex A (294.86KB) for some of the key activities.

Beyond the two DfL Festival sites, there are activities organised in another 50 locations across the island. This kick-starts IMDA’s efforts to entrench the DfL movement deeper to mobilise the community to play a part, through the SG Digital Office (SDO). These activities will see the involvement of partners and ground-up volunteers organising cybersecurity talks for seniors, interest groups on a range of issues, as well as virtual reality trails for multi-generational families to explore and embrace digital together. For instance, SDO has partnered with Geylang Serai Integration and Naturalisation Champions (INCs) to curate a special digital edition of the Geylang Serai Heritage Trail so that more seniors will be excited to go digital with their families with this enjoyable activity, which will be released later in May.

More details on DfL Festival at https://www.digitalforlife.gov.sg/

Resources:

• Annex A – Key activities at DfL Festival (294.86KB)
• Annex B – Quotes from Data for All partners and beneficiary (209.54KB)