From traffic updates to tax returns, cities and countries have more data than ever before – but how can they manage\u00a0it?<\/p>\n
FutureGov has exclusively interviewed Prabir Sen, Singapore government\u2019s first Chief Data Scientist. He was appointed by the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA<\/span>) in January, and spoke on why his role was created, what he wants to achieve and the challenges he\u00a0faces.<\/p>\n View photos<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Vision to be a global analytics hub<\/b><\/p>\n Singapore aspires to be the world\u2019s centre of data science and analytics. This vision required a dedicated team to guide the development of skills on data sciences and advanced analytic across the government and industry. The role of the Chief Data Scientist and his supporting team, called the Data Sciences Group, were created to drive the private and public sectors\u2019 adoption of data analytics, said\u00a0Sen.<\/p>\n Sen is excited about the potential for expanding Singapore\u2019s work in this area: \u201cI wonder if it is possible to invite the international sports and games industry, such as the Olympics Association, to collaborate with Singapore-based tech companies and talents on sports analytics right here in Singapore? Is it possible to attract aerospace and logistics companies here to do machine-to-machine data analytics? Is it possible to drive the multinational consumer good corporations to work with local small tech companies on advanced consumer\u00a0insights?\u201d<\/p>\n Using analytics to improve quality of decisions\u00a0&<\/span>\u00a0lives<\/b><\/p>\n The government believes that data analytics has huge opportunities to impact government services and improve citizens\u2019 lives in a wide range of areas, such as healthcare, transportation, education, retail and waste\u00a0management.<\/p>\n A large volume of data is being generated from sensors and mobile devices today. This includes communication between person-to-person, person-to-machine and machine-to-machine, added Sen. He and his team are tasked to evaluate and apply advanced analytics techniques and models that can help organisations get a \u201c360-degree view on people, technology and policies to improve the quality of decisions and improve citizens\u2019 lives and journey of experience at various touch\u00a0points.\u201d<\/p>\n Cross agency data analytics<\/b><\/p>\n The greatest opportunity for using analytics within government is what Sen calls \u201ccross data analysis\u201d, where one agency can use data of another agency to solve their problem. \u201cFor example, the Ministry of Manpower can analyse healthcare data from Ministry of Health to determine skill gaps and future talent development requirements, or, transportation use environment to determine impact of weather in commuters\u2019 behaviour\u201d he said. \u201cSuch cross data analyses also require greater attention to and better governance of data protection, privacy and anonymity,\u201d he\u00a0added.<\/p>\n Some agencies are currently using this strategy and are achieving great results, he said, and the Singapore government is now encouraging them to explore more cross-agency data\u00a0use.<\/p>\n Innovation therefore requires agencies to be even more ready to experiment: \u201cData analytics is fanning the flames of entrepreneurship in the Singapore government, to adopt a philosophy called \u2018start up\u2019. Government is obviously not a start up but initiatives to effect change are best thought of as start-ups where we should be more ready to trial and be comfortable with small\u00a0failures.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cCompare a project that takes months and costs a lot of money; with one that takes two persons and a couple of weeks of effort. If the former fail, it will be catastrophic, while a failure of a small trial is still acceptable. We can adopt a risk management methodology where the cost of failing becomes exceedingly tiny,\u201d he\u00a0said.<\/p>\n Developing analytics talent<\/b><\/p>\n One of Sen\u2019s key performance indicators is to strengthen data talent locally. According to a recent\u00a0IDA<\/span>\u00a0release, \u201cMcKinsey forecasts that there will be a shortage of 140,000 to 190,000 data sciences and analytics professionals by 2018 in just the\u00a0US<\/span>\u00a0alone\u201d.<\/p>\n Sen shared that the need to increase the local data talent pool is a real challenge. Most organisations are struggling to recruit enough candidates with the right skills. \u201cWe are shorthanded in several areas: data scientists who have both computational experience and business acumen, data visualisers who are skilled in both analytics and graphic design, analytics consultants who hold domain knowledge besides their analytics experience, and data engineers who can source and integrate data from disparate\u00a0systems.\u201d<\/p>\n Retaining this data talent is even more difficult, he continued. \u201cMost of these data professionals are creative people. They require space and freedom and a stimulating environment to explore new approaches and insights that challenge them. So we need to facilitate and grow this local community, to drive engagement with them, pulling together users, data analytics companies, cloud providers to form an ecosystem to exchange\u00a0ideas.\u201d<\/p>\n To this end,\u00a0IDA<\/span>\u00a0has launched a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC<\/span>) on data science and analytics this month, offering locals the chance to develop the vital skills to respond to the growing demand for data professionals. The class has attracted more than 350 registrations from both the private and public\u00a0sector.<\/p>\n Chief Data Officer vs Chief Data Scientist<\/b><\/p>\n Sen also clarified how his role is different from a Chief Data Officer. \u201cA Chief Data Officer typically has responsibility to govern and protect data, and find ways to use data across the agencies. My role, on the other hand, is to find ways to build transformative products using data sciences, analytics and insights; drive rapid development and adoption of analytical techniques, and develop the local data and tech\u00a0talent.\u201d<\/p>\n The skills and experience that make a good Chief Data Scientist, Sen added, is not limited to quantitative and computation proficiency. The candidate must be good at understanding human behaviour, how people go about solving their problems and making decisions, and able to think laterally to engage in cross-cutting strategic dialogues. Most importantly, he must be able to learn, unlearn and\u00a0relearn.<\/p>\n Learning will be vital as Singapore seeks to become a global hub for analytics. Agencies are being challenged to work together on trialling new approaches, while the government is seeking to build greater scientific communities and talent in the city state. Ultimately, though, these efforts could lead to greater personalisation of citizen services – a new way in which the government engage and does business with its\u00a0customers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" this is a brilliant move…. http:\/\/www.futuregov.asia\/articles\/2014\/aug\/14\/singapore-governments-first-chief-data-scientist-p\/ ANALYSIS, CONNECTED GOVERNMENT, GOVERNMENT ANALYTICS SINGAPORE GOVERNMENT\u2019S FIRST CHIEF DATA SCIENTIST PRABIR SEN ON HIS NEW ROLE AND GOALS By\u00a0Kelly Ng\u00a0| 14 August 2014 | Views:\u00a0689 From traffic updates to tax returns, cities and countries have more data than ever before – but how can they manage\u00a0it? FutureGov has … Continue reading Singapore appoints first Chief Data Scientist<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,22,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-data-saving-lives","category-policy","category-politics","category-rapid-learning-health-systems"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.panicola.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.panicola.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.panicola.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.panicola.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.panicola.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2384"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blog.panicola.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2384\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2386,"href":"https:\/\/blog.panicola.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2384\/revisions\/2386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.panicola.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.panicola.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.panicola.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}PHOTOS<\/h4>\n
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