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| Making an impact with innovation |
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Innovation does pay off, as some of the Public Service’s best
efforts in innovation bore fruit at the inaugural TEC Public
Service Innovation Awards ceremony held in November 2006.
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| Mr Steve Ting, one of the judges, talking to a
representative of the gold award-winning project,
EnterpriseOne. |
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| Members of the judging panel announced the winners
during the media conference held on 6 November. |
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The awards are organised by The Enterprise Challenge (TEC), an initiative of the Prime Minister’s
Office. They aim to recognise the most impactful and iconic innovations in the Public Service,
and will be held every two years.
An independent panel of public and private sector chiefs selected 10 winners from over 180
entries from various public agencies. The judging criteria focused on the degree of impact or
new value created, as well as the extent of the paradigm shift brought about by the innovation.
“We were looking for a specific impact that showed agencies had gone beyond a certain mindset,”
said Mr Victor Lye, Chairman of the Judging Panel and Executive Director of CIMB-GK Securities Pte
Ltd. “The judges felt that [the winners] have clearly gone beyond excellence, with strong impact.”
Two projects — Enhanced Immigration Automated Clearance
System by the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority and
EnterpriseOne by the Ministry of Trade and Industry and
SPRING Singapore — received gold awards for facilitating
immigration clearance and creating a one-stop portal for
enterprise business solutions respectively.
Two silver awards were given to info@Sea by the Maritime and Port Authority and Our Green
Roof Dream by the Housing & Development Board.
In addition, two bronze awards were given to Digital Ward
— Innovating for the Hospital of the Future by Singapore
Health Services and Integrated Wireless Infrastructure
by Republic Polytechnic.
Four merit awards were also presented to innovations which showed potential in delivering
benefits to customers or displayed the agencies’ commitment to changing existing mindsets.
“We need to recognise such innovations to encourage a spirit of innovation and enterprise
within the Public Service,” said Mr Calvin Phua, Director of PS21 Office. “This allows the Public
Service to continually look at new ways to better serve Singaporeans.”
His sentiments were similarly reflected by members of the judging panel during the media
conference on 6 November, held to announce the award winners. The various agencies also
exhibited and demonstrated their winning ideas to guests and members of the media.
Dr N. Varaprasad, Chief Executive of the National Library
Board, said: “In the private sector, the benefits of innovation
are quickly visible, through cool products, integrated
processes, new business models and so on. Public sector
innovation, on the other hand, is sometimes much harder
to recognise when
it happens.”
Added Mr Lye: “For Singapore, as a small stable nation,
our Public Service punches high above its weight to tackle
contemporary challenges while positioning for the longer
term. This relentless pursuit of excellence, epitomised
in all the nominees for the TEC Public Service Innovation
Award, bodes well
for Singapore.”
Winners of TEC Public Service Innovation Award 2006
ENHANCED IMMIGRATION
AUTOMATED
CLEARANCE SYSTEM
by Immigration & Checkpoints
Authority
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e-IACS is a biometric immigration
clearance system that
combines the existing biometric
database with new self-service
kiosks, allowing Singaporeans
to clear immigration faster.
Users only need to insert and
scan their machine-readable
passports at the kiosks. Once the computer system retrieves
the fingerprint records, travellers can scan their fingerprint for
verification and be on their way.
The e-IACS initiative is
currently in operation at
Changi Airport and
Woodlands Checkpoint. It
will be available at all
other travellers' checkpoints
by end-December. |
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ENTERPRISEONE
by Ministry of Trade and Industry and SPRING Singapore
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Launched in February 2006, EnterpriseOne consists
of an English Web portal
(www.business.gov.sg)
supported by a hotline service
and a network of Enterprise
Development Centres. There
is also a Chinese version
of
the portal.
A key e-service of the portal is the Online Business Licensing Service,
which allows businesses to apply, renew, update and terminate their
licences with ease. They can also apply for multiple licences using
just one form. In addition, Singaporeans can use the portal to find
detailed guides on processes like registering their business, as well
as the licences and permits needed to operate their business. |
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INFO@SEA™
by Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore
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info@SEA is the world’s first Web-based
system that delivers information
from STRAITSFORECAST, a
digital tidal atlas that
accurately forecasts tide
levels and currents. The
detailed, updated information
provided enables the maritime
and shipping community to
enhance operational safety
and efficiency, as well
as time and cost savings. |
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OUR GREEN ROOF DREAM
by Housing & Development Board
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To enhance greenery and
counter higher temperatures
caused by urban development
in Singapore, the Housing &
Development Board, National
Parks Board and a private
company developed a portable
green roof system in tray form. The modular, low-maintenance trays
of sturdy plants can be placed on the roofs of residential buildings
and multi-storey carparks. An innovative in-built water storage
system enables the plants to survive dry periods. |
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DIGITAL WARD
— INNOVATING FOR THE
HOSPITAL OF THE FUTURE
by Singapore Health Services
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Time-consuming manual tasks such as recording patients’
vital signs can be done
automatically with cutting-edge
wireless technology in the
Digital Ward project. Doctors
and nurses can now track
changes in patients’ temperature,
instantly locate patients
within the ward, retrieve
X-ray images and update
medical records at the patients’
bedside. |
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INTEGRATED WIRELESS INFRASTRUCTURE
by Republic Polytechnic
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Tangled wires and cables are a thing of the past
at the polytechnic, which
runs on a 100% Integrated
Wireless Infrastructure.
Students and lecturers use
portable lap tops, tablet
computers and personal digital
assistants with a suite
of e-business applications
in a virtual campus-wide
classroom. |
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Infectious
Diseases Management
and Outbreak System
by Ministry of Health |
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SME Access
Loan
by SPRING Singapore,
Monetary Authority
of Singapore, Ministry
of Trade and Industry,
Ministry of Finance
and International
Enterprise Singapore |
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Telecare
for Chronic Disease
Patients, Anytime,
Anywhere
by Singapore Health
Services |
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Transforming
IMH Campus into a
Bustling Medical Park
by Institute of Mental
Health |
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By Lo Hwei Shan, Editor Challenge
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| Making an impact with innovation
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On
the pulse of media
in Asia |
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WHAT
IS TEC?
The Enterprise Challenge (TEC) is a fund set
up to spark, develop and fund initiatives that
can create new value for the Public Service
and make significant improvements to the
delivery of public services. It also identifies
and nurtures promising ideas to their fullest
potential by providing facilitation resources
and funds for experimentation or trial testing.
For more details, visit www.tec.gov.sg. |
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