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Case Study on Singapore’s National Digital Identity, Data Sharing Platform

the first phase

The National Digital Identity and Government Data Sharing in Singapore: A case study of Singpass and APEX was launched. With this, people across the world can find out more about Singpass, Singapore’s National Digital Identity (NDI) smartphone app, and the API Exchange (APEX), the government’s data-sharing platform, including how they function, how they’ve changed over time, what role luck has played in their success, and what other countries may learn from their mistakes and successes.

National digital identity and government data sharing are essential pieces of digital public infrastructure for effective and timely government services, inclusive and thriving digital economies, and resilience in the event of catastrophes like the COVID-19 pandemic. The World Bank’s Identification for Development (ID4D) endeavour and Singapore’s Government Technology Agency (GovTech) worked together to make the case study.

“Singpass is vital to the nation, and our challenge is enormous because we have a goal to make it the largest platform; hence we are continuously securing it and providing the necessary level of trust. This project will ultimately benefit both the public and private sectors,” says Mr Cheow Hoe Chan, Chief Digital Government Technology Officer, Smart National and Digital Government Office & Deputy CEO, GovTech Agency, Singapore.

He added that this case study highlights the collaboration of the Singpass and APEX in which both initiatives, developed by GovTech, have contributed to improving the lives of Singaporeans and residents while also allowing government organisations and businesses to provide better services.

Mr Chan emphasised that they would like to reach out to other nations to collaborate, and if digital identities can be transferred across borders, he feels that every nation would have an even stronger point for moving forward. In addition, he was pleased that the world bank participated with them in this report, as it depicts their path, and he hopes that this is the beginning of the collaboration with other government agencies.

Moreover, all Singapore citizens, permanent residents, and people with a Foreign Identification Number (FIN) who are 15 years old or older can use Singpass for free. It lets people use their legal identity to do a wide range of transactions with government agencies and businesses, both online and in person. Singpass was first introduced in 2003 to sign into government websites with a username and password. Since then, it has changed a lot.

Today, Singpass includes several products and features for citizens and residents, including Login, Verify, Myinfo, Identiface, Digital IC, Sign, Document Wallet, Notify, and Shortcuts. Additionally, Singpass serves as a digital ID for legal companies. Owners and officials of eligible firms and other entities (such as non-profit organisations and associations) can utilise Login and Myinfo businesses to access digital government services on behalf of a legal entity. Through the Corppass website, roles and user privileges are maintained.

An important element of Singpass as a digital ID is that it acts as an extension of Singapore’s foundational ID system and builds upon it. Singpass uses the information in the foundational ID system for onboarding—that is, validating identity when initially creating the digital ID—the digital identity card (IC), and facial verification, also known as Identiface.

The availability of this data and the capability to simply validate it made the switch to NDI (application programming interfaces) reasonably simple. Singapore is a multilingual society with English, Chinese, Malay, and Tamil as official languages. Eleven per cent of Singpass app users have already set their phones to a language other than English, so having Singpass in the four official languages can only be advantageous from an inclusiveness standpoint.

Countries and international organisations interested in partnering with GovTech on NDI and government data-sharing initiatives can email info@tech.gov.sg.

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Qlik’s vision is a data-literate world, where everyone can use data and analytics to improve decision-making and solve their most challenging problems. A private company, Qlik offers real-time data integration and analytics solutions, powered by Qlik Cloud, to close the gaps between data, insights and action. By transforming data into Active Intelligence, businesses can drive better decisions, improve revenue and profitability, and optimize customer relationships. Qlik serves more than 38,000 active customers in over 100 countries.

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CTC Global Singapore, a premier end-to-end IT solutions provider, is a fully owned subsidiary of ITOCHU Techno-Solutions Corporation (CTC) and ITOCHU Corporation.

Since 1972, CTC has established itself as one of the country’s top IT solutions providers. With 50 years of experience, headed by an experienced management team and staffed by over 200 qualified IT professionals, we support organizations with integrated IT solutions expertise in Autonomous IT, Cyber Security, Digital Transformation, Enterprise Cloud Infrastructure, Workplace Modernization and Professional Services.

Well-known for our strengths in system integration and consultation, CTC Global proves to be the preferred IT outsourcing destination for organizations all over Singapore today.

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Planview has one mission: to build the future of connected work. Our solutions enable organizations to connect the business from ideas to impact, empowering companies to accelerate the achievement of what matters most. Planview’s full spectrum of Portfolio Management and Work Management solutions creates an organizational focus on the strategic outcomes that matter and empowers teams to deliver their best work, no matter how they work. The comprehensive Planview platform and enterprise success model enables customers to deliver innovative, competitive products, services, and customer experiences. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, with locations around the world, Planview has more than 1,300 employees supporting 4,500 customers and 2.6 million users worldwide. For more information, visit www.planview.com.

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SIRIM is a premier industrial research and technology organisation in Malaysia, wholly-owned by the Minister​ of Finance Incorporated. With over forty years of experience and expertise, SIRIM is mandated as the machinery for research and technology development, and the national champion of quality. SIRIM has always played a major role in the development of the country’s private sector. By tapping into our expertise and knowledge base, we focus on developing new technologies and improvements in the manufacturing, technology and services sectors. We nurture Small Medium Enterprises (SME) growth with solutions for technology penetration and upgrading, making it an ideal technology partner for SMEs.

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HashiCorp provides infrastructure automation software for multi-cloud environments, enabling enterprises to unlock a common cloud operating model to provision, secure, connect, and run any application on any infrastructure. HashiCorp tools allow organizations to deliver applications faster by helping enterprises transition from manual processes and ITIL practices to self-service automation and DevOps practices. 

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IBM is a leading global hybrid cloud and AI, and business services provider. We help clients in more than 175 countries capitalize on insights from their data, streamline business processes, reduce costs and gain the competitive edge in their industries. Nearly 3,000 government and corporate entities in critical infrastructure areas such as financial services, telecommunications and healthcare rely on IBM’s hybrid cloud platform and Red Hat OpenShift to affect their digital transformations quickly, efficiently and securely. IBM’s breakthrough innovations in AI, quantum computing, industry-specific cloud solutions and business services deliver open and flexible options to our clients. All of this is backed by IBM’s legendary commitment to trust, transparency, responsibility, inclusivity and service.

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