Women of GovTech ‘predict’ 2018 tech trends

GovTech is the Singapore government’s specialist technology agency with capabilities in: applications development, data science and artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT) and sensors, and cybersecurity.

Late last year, GovTech’s staff were interviewed in a GovInsider feature on women from around the world working in technology, and one of the questions was on the technology that most interests them in 2018. We feature some of the responses here.

TechNews doesn’t think any mysterious machine-learning algorithm was involved in our GovTech belles’ highly similar responses. Maybe, it was just a case of great minds thinking alike. ☺

Jacqueline Poh, Chief Executive

“Artificial Intelligence (AI) still remains very interesting because it is becoming ‘real’ and a lot more mature in its applications. AI is also being used alongside other technologies, such as IoT and distributed ledger technology, to provide solutions in both the public and private sectors. The implications of the use of AI and its impact on jobs, skills, ethics and governance would be very challenging, and this is an area I’m personally engaged in.”

Charis Yan, Deputy Director, IT Branch, Ministry of Education

“AI and Augmented Reality (AR)/Virtual Reality (VR). Having just been posted to MOE, I am excited to push for greater adoption of technologies to positively transform education in the coming years.

I hope to see the greater use of AR/VR in the classroom to create an immersive and experiential learning adventure, to re-ignite the passion for learning, and to make learning enjoyable for the students.

As for the teachers, AI could help perform some of the onerous tasks that take up a lot of the teachers’ time. More importantly, there is great potential in using AI to provide instant feedback to teachers on the learning needs and skills gap of each student, thereby enabling early intervention and customised teaching.”

Cheryl Sim, Director, Infocomm Technology Division, People’s Association

“AI and Analytics. These are starting to appear everywhere. You have chatbots, Alexa, Siri etc. Nowadays people are getting comfortable interacting with these as long as they provide helpful information.

Organisations have a wealth of information and data. When an organisation correctly uses analytics, new insights are derived. While staff experiences and knowledge are useful; with new insights, we can make better decisions.”

Tham Mei Leng, Chief Information Security Officer, MEWR

“In my area of expertise, I would think the use of Artificial Intelligence, Data Analytics and Machine Learning in the cyber domain to comb for Indicators of Attacks, Zero-Day Exploits and Abnormal Behaviours will be interesting to look out for.”

Yang Lijia, Associate Software Engineer, Product Design & Development Division

“Internet of Things (IoT). With more connected devices, there will be huge amounts of data that can potentially be collected, analysed and moulded into solutions for daily problems faced by citizens.”