Dr Kaizad Heerjee, Assistant Chief Executive, Online Development, IDA Singapore - Speech Launch of CMP Branding in Asia, Singapore Art Museum
Dr Kaizad Heerjee, Assistant Chief Executive, Online Development, IDA Singapore - Speech
Launch of CMP Branding in Asia, Singapore Art Museum
Singapore, 23 March 2000
1. I am very happy to be here with you all to launch the CMP branding in Asia in this beautiful Museum. The museum is indeed a good backdrop for tonight's occasion as it reminds us how we can better harness technology to give new meanings to how we did things in the past.
2. In the new economy, Asia is turning out to be a very exciting place right now. According to recent surveys Asia-Pacific makes up 20% of the world's online economy. And the news only gets better as the online business is expected to grow 150% this year to top US$7 billion in the region.
3. Closer to home, 42% of Singaporean Homes have Internet Access and 70% of them use it for information retrievals. However in today's Internet world, it is not enough just to provide information. People and companies must have access to the information they want or need. The information provided must be credible and accurate and able to reach the end-users quickly.
4. Therefore for us to participate fully in the new knowledge based economy the content providers such as your company will play a key role in our success. For that reason Singapore welcomes these knowledge providers as we aim to make Singapore a dynamic and vibrant global infocomm capital with a thriving and prosperous net economy.
5. To realise these goals, Singapore offers several benefits for attracting these companies to our shores.
6. Firstly we have a talented pool of net-savvy people, who have demonstrated an ability to embrace technology readily, change swiftly, and exploit opportunities created in the new economy. We are not talking of just a few superstars, but of a whole base of net-savvy workers that are adept at using digital tools to make business happen.
7. Secondly, the Government through the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore offers a great infrastructure and business-friendly environment for operating in the new and old economies - the virtual and real worlds.
8. And thirdly we offer one of the best connectivity in the region and the world, and are a financial and logistics hub with a business friendly regulatory environment.
9. These are what we have today. But we are continuously striving to change and upgrade ourselves to stay relevant.
10. We are working on the Infocomm 21 Masterplan that aims to make Singapore a dynamic and vibrant global Infocomm Capital with a thriving and prosperous Net Economy.
11. The main areas we look at are obviously liberalization, upgrading the regulatory environment and development of Singapore as an Infocomm Hub that will involve strategies like broadband for instance.
12. Our strategy is also to dot.com the 3 'P's and we are working on a whole group of strategies and schemes for fleshing that out. Some of these include:
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Industry development initiatives to assist promising local enterprises and SMEs, building on our existing LECP program
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Establish Singapore as an e-learning center in the region
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Offering free PC's and Internet Access to the under-privileged and making them available to community centers and public places
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Programs to drive the adoption of an online lifestyle, and
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Affordable training programs to help individuals adopt an online lifestyle and encourage life-long learning.
13. The dot.com'ing part reflects the Internet and the Web. We used to be IT-enabled, now we dot.com.
14. In summary, Singapore offers a great infrastructure, the talents, and the desire to utilise the latest that technology has to offer to move in the direction for more digital publishing. Thus, I urge you all to seize this opportunity in the Internet economy to use Singapore as the base for more electronic publishing and to make content more readily available - just enough, just in time, anytime and anywhere.
15. I would also like to commend Miller Freeman for the launch of CMPNetAsia, a business-to-business portal offering Asian-centric technology content. This development will not only position Miller Freeman to become one of the leading providers of technology content in the Asia Pacific, but also represents another step forward in our continuing effort to build Singapore into a global hub for the digital economy.
16. CMPNetAsia has a part to play in what we call "the e-business eco-system", a framework for developing e-business in Singapore. This e-business eco-system provides a coherent framework within which the different layers and building blocks can reinforce one another and be self-sustainable. As an Internet portal, CMPNetAsia will play an important role in promoting the technology market and aggregate valuable customer traffic.
17. With that, I would like to extend my sincere congratulations to Miller Freeman for their re-branding of CMP publications, and the launch of CMPNetAsia tonight. My best wishes for an exciting and successful Internet future!
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