Singapore Looks To Establish New Standards For Emerging Technologies

Singapore is looking to introduce at least 40 standards to help guide the development and adoption of new technologies, such as drones, additive manufacturing, and video analytics. Singapore Standards Council (SSC) over the past year has been publishing new standards to support nascent sectors including areas identified under the country's smart nation efforts and industry transformation roadmaps. 

These encompassed 19 new standards that spanned innovation, productivity, internationalisation, and jobs and skills, and in segments that included environment services, where a national standard was introduced to offer guidance on the design, installation, operation, and maintenance of a pneumatic waste conveyance system. Development of such systems would need to comply with the new standard from January 1 next year. 

The council also established a technical reference for the logistics sector, detailing data interchange for last-mile delivery based on parcel locker networks. The standard outlined requirements to facilitate interoperability between parcel locker networks operated by different operators and covered various delivery process scenarios, including retrieval and return of parcels. 

A set of national standards also were released in January to support the "safe" development and rollout of autonomous vehicles and encompassed guidelines related to vehicle behaviour, functional safety, cybersecurity, and data formats.

Moving ahead, SSC said its plans for more than 40 new standards would include frameworks to facilitate "safer and more efficient" building facade inspections that tapped the use of drones, including public safety and privacy protection, as well as to establish safety requirements for the design, operation, and maintenance of additive manufacturing facilities such as 3D printing. 

New standards for video analytics and surveillance systems also would provide requirements on installation, operation, reliability, and data interoperability between systems. 

SSC said: "The disruptions caused by new developments can create economic displacement or provide the opportunities for new business models to thrive. With standards serving as a guide for best practices, businesses can better navigate and respond to disruptions brought about by nascent developments." 

It noted that new standards would to be developed alongside the changing global landscape and emergence of new technologies.

The council also underscored the importance of Singapore's involvement in the development of international standards, adding that it would participate in more technical committees tasked to work on global standards in emerging technology areas including blockchain, artificial intelligence, smart manufacturing, and e-commerce. SSC noted that it also had taken on leading roles in international standardisation bodies, including the development of new ISO standards in cloud computing and water efficiency. 

Such efforts were critical to ensure new global standards would relevant to Singapore and able to support its organisations, according to the council. 

in addition, SSC said it worked with market players, trade associations, academia, and other government organisations in developing new standards, so these would benefit the industry at large and encourage businesses to adopt these standards. 

RELATED COVERAGE

Singapore releases guidelines for deployment of autonomous vehicles

Called Technical Reference 68, the set of national standards aims to guide the local industry in the "safe" development and rollout of autonomous vehicles in Singapore, outlining guidelines related to vehicle behaviour, functional safety, cybersecurity, and data formats.

Singapore now able to certify products under global cybersecurity standard

Now a certificate authorising nation for the Common Criteria, Singapore is one of 18 countries that can assess and certify cybersecurity products under the technical standard, which it says will enable local developers to attain the certification more quickly and at a lower cost.

Singapore to launch QR identity verification tool for businesses

Government says it will introduce in third-quarter 2019 a tool called SG-Verify, which will enable businesses to perform secure identity verification and data transfer via QR scans for use cases such as visitor registration and customer acquisition.

Singapore to spend $10M on new urban technology

Singapore government has earmarked S$14 million (US$10.19 million) over three years to fund the development of smart estates and modern technology, such as energy efficient applications.

Singapore Changi Airport shuts runway over drone sighting

Operations on one runway at the Singapore airport was shut down intermittently over 10 hours after an unauthorised drone was spotted, leading to 37 flight delays and a diversion.