Just back from the Gov’t Cloud Forum in Singapore.
Based on the great set of presentations and speakers, it is obvious that Governments in Asia are serious about Cloud Computing. Here are some of the key cloud initiatives discussed at the event:
1. Korea | Korea has an ambitious 5-year plan establishing K-Cloud, the ecosystem for Cloud Computing in the country.
To reflect how serious the Korean government is about these goals, they have formed a combinatory planning group composed of the Communications Commission, Ministry of Knowledge Economy, Ministry of Public Administration and Security |
2. Japan | Dr. Yoshiaki Tojo from Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry highlighted Japan’s Government 2.0 initiative (Government as a Platform). With the METI project (Idea Box), they were able to deploy an interactive social media application that allowed Japanese Citizens to submit ideas to the government. It’s a concept Dr. Tojo touted as a form of Participatory e-Government. |
3. Singapore | Dr Lee Hing Yan, Singapore’s well-regarded father of Cloud Computing highlighted the growing ecosystem in Singapore and how the country is poised to be a regional cloud service leader due to it’s well placed hub of high-speed undersea cables.
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4. Malaysia | Malaysia’s government sponsored Super Corridor (MSC) has put cloud computing as the number one priority in its top 10 strategic technologies for 2010. |
What About the Philippines?
In contrast, the Philippine government has been cool on Cloud Computing, instead focusing on potential issues like security. Though it’s great to see the private sector take the initiative (PLDT AppFarm, NetSuite, IP-Converge, CloudSolutions, etc), the public sector needs to help lead with policy and investment prioritization to compete with our Asian neighbors who already get it.