Laws lag behind Smart Nation technologies: World Cities Summit panel

SINGAPORE — The need for laws to keep pace with Smart Nation technologies and initiatives was raised during a panel discussion on “smart” cities at the World Cities Summit on Tuesday (July 12).

One of the panelists, Dr Anil Menon, global president of Smart+Connected Communities at Cisco, pointed out that “too many” regulations were not designed for smart cities.

Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister-In-Charge of the Smart Nation Initiative, stressed that the issue is not just about technology alone.

“It means changing the rules of the real world to keep up,” he said. “A lot of it is not about technology, but about policy innovation. A large part of the innovation is in the policy space.”

Pointing to autonomous vehicles as an example, he said: “The key question is, is it safer than humans, and do we have the appropriate insurance?”

Dr Balakrishnan also said that legislation should not end up stifling innovation.

“If we saddle the entire financial system with rules, you will also stifle new financial innovations,” he said.

Dr Balakrishnan also shared some of the lessons he learnt from building a smart nation from the bottom up. He said he would build infrastructure ahead of demand and pay more attention to cyber security, which is being taken for granted.

Other speakers at the panel discussion, titled Smart Cities: Leading the Way, included Mr Olaf Scholz, First Mayor of Hamburg, Germany; and Mr Kim Chang-beom, ambassador for international relations to Seoul Metropolitan Government.