Amazon Web Services, in conjunction with The Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA), has begun trialling a data as a service project, which both organisations believe will heighten the visibility of data sets held in the private sector.
The pilot scheme is a part of the “Smart Nation” initiative unveiled by the Singapore government this year. The scheme aims to improve efficiency among the public and private sectors by utilising cloud services, big data and Internet of Things platforms.
In what the IDA are calling a federated approach, the pilot program’s main aim is to streamline the discovery of private sector data sets, something has been challenging in the past.
“Currently, there is no coherent mechanism for users to easily discover private sector datasets made available from data providers across various industry sectors,” commented an IDA spokesperson.
“IDA encourages data providers from all industries to participate in the DaaS pilot to increase visibility of their datasets and contribute feedback on how the platform can be improved.”
It is the IDA’s hope that by working with Amazon Web Services to establish metric guidelines at data quality, it will be easier for providers to categorise and gain access to their data. The first 25 companies to pledge themselves to the pilot will receive $3000 (US) in usage credit, a sum that will help cover the hosting costs of registries and datasets, as part of a Memorandum of Intent cosigned by Amazon and the IDA.
By building the world’s first Smart Nation, Singapore aims to overcome difficult city challenges. They are going to gather huge amounts of data, that they can then analyse and use to take action in areas including energy and healthcare.
“It is exciting for us to be exchanging ideas with top leaders in this space. Our goal is to challenge ourselves to keep finding new ways to better use data to serve citizens of all ages,” commented the IDA’s executive deputy chairman, Steve Leonard.
This is just one of many exciting new initiatives undertaken by the IDA, who are hard at work transforming Singapore into the region’s foremost “data and analytics hub.”
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