Smart Society Talk at UBD

Brunei Darussalam can be a role model in the region and in the forefront of moving towards Smart Society and Smart Government (Government 3.0) due to the small size of the country, which is ideal in implementing global pilot projects.

This was highlighted by Dr Seang-tae Kim, the President of the National Information Society Agency of Korea (NIA) as he delivered a public lecture on “IT Paradigm Shift and Future Society” at the Institute for Leadership, Innovation and Advancement (ILIA), Universiti Brunei Darussalam. Dr Kim touched on matters such as the importance of sustaining the “smart revolution”, utilising IT as a platform for open innovation and creative collaboration as well as shifting to a new and open government operation paradigm based on people power.

Smart Government is based on individualisation, intelligence and platforms that a human-oriented smart society can help improve from an IT powerhouse to a smart country.

During an interview with the Sunday Bulletin, Dr Kim said, “Brunei Darussalam can adapt Smart Society and Smart Government (Government 3.0) with the development of new technology. New technology is very cheap and we can find new ways to the future. With strong leadership of Brunei and the ideal peaceful environment as well as size of the Sultanate, I believe Brunei can even be above Korea in future.

“Korea is currently implementing the Smart Society. Although Brunei may be a little behind Korea, if Brunei can find new strategies with smart technologies, there may be a short cut towards implementing a Smart Society,” he added. “I will always support Brunei working together with Korea to move forward to a Smart Society.”

In terms of cooperation with the National Information Society Agency of Korea, Dr Kim said, “We have provided training programmes for public officers in Brunei and we also support the Green IT master plan. The purpose of the visit is to discuss collaborative issues on Green IT in Brunei Darussalam.

During the presentation, Dr Kim said, “Nowadays, almost every person has a smart phone to communicate with each other. With the increasing use of social media, it has changed the competent power to individuals.”

The Social Paradigm Shift, he explained, “means we are shifting towards Smart Society with Smart Technology for the utilisation of human welfare and wellness. Technology itself is not important but how we utilise the new Smart Technology is the cutting edge. The emergence of the Smart Age is spreading, causing a paradigm shift to the Smart Society.”