“Singapore is one of the most wired, smartest cities and continues to be a global leader for smarter and more livable cities,” said Jason Aspes, founding partner of Newton Circus. With help from government agencies and private companies including the Economic Development Board, the Ministry of Health and SingTel they are organizing the inaugural UP Singapore, an experiment in ground-up urban innovation to improve the nation's urban environment through the creative use of technology and data.

Photo courtesy of UP Singapore (Left to right) - Isaac Timothy Tay, Jason Aspes and Wong Yu Hsiang (CEO SingTel Digital Media)

UP Singapore looks to leverage on the talents of engaged citizens who have ideas and expertise to come up with solutions to improve Singapore. Isaac Timothy Tay, product manager of SG Entrepreneurs, said “The best ideas often come from those who want to scratch their own itch”, giving the example of how Steve Wozniak, one of the co-founders of Apple, came up with the idea of the Mac because he wanted a user friendly computer for his own use.

The event will be held over 3 consecutive weeks:

• City Camp (15 & 16 June)
– Proceedings will be kick started with an invitation only launch party at Fusionopolis (15 June, 7pm).
– Registration for attendance is now open for a high energy speaker series on big data, open data and ground-up urban innovation at Ngee Ann Kongsi Auditorium, NUS University Town (16 June, 9am)
 
• Urban Prototyping (22 – 24 June)
– 3 days where inspirational ideas become tangible solutions. Participants will sort data, consult with government officials and industry experts to come out with workable solutions to some of the city’s most pressing urban challenges.
 
• World Cities Summit (1 – 4 July)
– The World Cities Summit runs from 1 – 4 July and has invited UP Singapore to showcase and announce the winning prototype solutions.
– Showcase of the outstanding urban prototype solutions at Marina Bay Sands Expo & Convention Centre (2 & 4 July, 2.45pm / 3 July, 12.45pm)
– The winning prototypes will be announced at the World Cities Summit Expo Hall (2 July, 10am).
 
Interested participants can sign up at the website. Further details and contact information can be found there as well.
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