Insourcing the smart city: Assembling an ideo-technical ecosystem of talent, skills, and civic-mindedness in Singapore

• Main Authors: WOODS, Orlando, BUNNELL, Tim, Kong, Lily
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2023
• Subjects: Smart city; insourcing public sector innovation; civic tech; Singapore; Asian Studies; Place and Environment; Urban Studies
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/cis_research/126; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/cis_research/article/1125/viewcontent/InsourcingSmartCity_av.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

This article examines an alternative model of smart city formation, one based on the principle of insourcing technical competencies and capabilities to those responsible for city governance. This model counters the logic of technological outsourcing upon which many assumptions and critiques of the smart city rest, and thus reveals ways in which a more generative discourse can be forged. Drawing on a series of in-depth interviews with senior stakeholders from public and private sector organizations, we develop a case study of Singapore’s Smart Nation initiative. Through coordinated efforts to reorganize the public sector’s technological functions, develop nation-wide skills upgrading programs, and repatriate overseas tech talent, the government strives to assemble an ideo-technical ecosystem of talent, skills, and civic-mindedness in Singapore. This is an ecosystem designed to establish the public sector as the driver of urban innovation, and thus maximize the benefits of “civic tech”.