18 Jan 2016 - Singapore is hosting the second edition of the International Telecommunication Union Standardisation Sector (ITU-T) Study Group 20 (SG20) meetings on “Internet of Things (IoT) and its Applications including Smart Cities and Communities (SC&C)” at the Suntec Singapore Convention & Exhibition Centre (Suntec Singapore) from today to 26 January.
Singapore, 18 January 2016 | For Immediate Release
Singapore is hosting the second edition of the International Telecommunication Union Standardisation Sector (ITU-T) Study Group 20 (SG20) meetings on “Internet of Things (IoT) and its Applications including Smart Cities and Communities (SC&C)” at the Suntec Singapore Convention & Exhibition Centre (Suntec Singapore) from today to 26 January. This series of technical meetings will see about 150 participants from 14 ITU member states and 36 organisations congregating in Singapore for the first time to discuss the development of global IoT standards. The maiden SG20 meeting convened in Geneva, Switzerland in October 2015.
As a precursor to the ITU-T SG20 meeting; this morning, Minister for Communications and Information Dr Yaacob Ibrahim opened the Forum on Internet of Things in Smart Sustainable Cities: A New Age of Smarter Living at Suntec Singapore. The one-day forum brings together stakeholders from industry, academia and governments to discuss the crucial role of IoT in building smart and sustainable cities with integrated technology ecosystems.
ITU is a specialised agency for information and communication technology (ICT) under the United Nations. The ITU-T SG20 was established to study and develop international standards to enable the coordinated development of IoT technologies, including machine-to-machine communications and ubiquitous sensor networks. An important aspect of the ITU-T SG20’s work is the development of standards that leverage IoT technologies to address urban development challenges.
A Cisco white paper forecast that there will be 50 billion devices connected to the internet by 20201. More recently, industry research firm Gartner predicted that IoT will support total services spending of US$235 billion worldwide in 2016, up 22 per cent from 20152. IoT is a critical cornerstone of many of Singapore’s Smart Nation initiatives such as Smart Homes, Smart Urban Habitat, Autonomous Vehicles, and even Digital Healthcare wearables.
There is no universal set of IoT standards to govern the increasing proliferation of interconnected and interoperable devices currently. Most countries are working on developing their own IoT standards to meet their requirements. In this respect, Singapore aims to be a forerunner in the development of interoperable IoT standards – which can be adopted not just by industry in Singapore to build our Smart Nation applications, but are also recognised and used universally.
Smart Nation IoT standards
The Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) is working with SPRING Singapore and the Information Technology Standards Committee (ITSC) under the purview of the Singapore Standards Council (SSC) to develop various Technical References. The agencies have recently published the TR38 Technical Reference for Sensor Network for Smart Nation (Public Areas) and the TR40 Technical Reference for Sensor Network for Smart Nation (Homes)3. By March 2016, another three Technical References are expected to be completed. These are the Technical References for IoT Reference Architecture; IoT Information and Service Interoperability; and IoT use cases in tele-health.
IDA recently issued a public consultation on the standards to be adopted for Singapore’s Intelligent Transportation Systems, developed with input from industry experts, the academia, and agencies such as the Land Transport Authority, to enable more efficient and effective road traffic management and the deployment of autonomous vehicles4.
Embedded SIM trial
In addition, IDA will be issuing a Request for Proposal to conduct a trial on over-the-air mobile subscription management for embedded SIMs (eSIMs) on IoT such as sensors to better understand the capability of this new technology and to develop policy and regulatory frameworks that will facilitate a more competitive environment for the deployment of IoT devices. The same eSIM will allow data to be carried on the cellular networks of different mobile network operators. Please refer to media factsheet for more information.
The ITU-T SG20 meeting is another collaboration between IDA and the ITU, following the signing of a joint MOU in October 2015. As a signatory, Singapore is one of 10 cities that will pilot a set of key performance indicators leading to the eventual development of a “Global Smart Sustainable Cities Index”. This index will allow ITU to benchmark and rank cities’ performance in terms of their level of “smartness”5.
“A smart city ‘system of systems’ will be characterised by openness and interoperability, built on coordinated adherence to common standards. Harmonised implementation of standards will help to prevent the emergence of industry-specific technology ‘silos’, thus ensuring that all industries can benefit from the information drawn from data-driven IoT systems. Singapore’s participation in ITU work is an invaluable asset to our development of international standards for Smart Sustainable Cities. I applaud Singapore for its work to share the blueprints of its smart city advances with other ITU member states,” said Chaesub Lee, Director of the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Bureau.
“IoT and sensor technologies will be central to many of Singapore’s Smart Nation initiatives such as smart living, tele-health, autonomous vehicles and even the Smart Nation Platform that the IDA is building to collect data from public locations for public agencies to create citizen-centric apps and services. As Singapore continues to make good progress in developing our own Smart Nation IoT standards, we are also committed to working with ITU’s member states to collaborate and share best practices in the area of IoT standards developments,” said Jacqueline Poh, Managing Director, IDA.
1 www.cisco.com/web/about/ac79/docs/innov/IoT_IBSG_0411FINAL.pdf
2 www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/3165317
5 www.ida.gov.sg/About-Us/Newsroom/Media-Releases/2015/Singapore-Partners-International-Telecommunication-Union-to-Pilot-Development-of-a-Global-Smart-Sustainable-Cities-Index
ISSUED BY THE INFOCOMM DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY OF SINGAPORE
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About Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore
The mission of the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) is to develop information technology and telecommunications within Singapore with a view to serve citizens of all ages and companies of all sizes. IDA does this by actively supporting the growth of innovative technology companies and start-ups in Singapore, working with leading global IT companies as well as developing excellent information technology and telecommunications infrastructure, policies and capabilities for Singapore. For more news and information, visit www.ida.gov.sg. Follow IDA on Facebook IDA.Singapore and Twitter @IDAsg.
For media clarifications, please contact:
TAN Boon Leng (Mr)
Manager, Corporate and Marketing Communication
Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore
Tel: (65) 6211 0375
Email: Tan_Boon_Leng@imda.gov.sg
Suzanne TAN (Ms)
Manager, Corporate and Marketing Communication
Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore
Tel: (65) 6211 1514
Email: Suzanne_Tan@imda.gov.sg
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