Event on Singapore & the Netherlands: Trust Technologies

On 8 June 2023, a session was organized on ‘Singapore & the Netherlands: Trust Technologies’, to discuss and identify opportunities for collaboration between Singapore and the Netherlands. This workshop took place at Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI) in Amsterdam and was organized by the Netherlands Innovation Network (NIN) of the Netherlands Embassy in Singapore, CWI’s Cryptology research group, and the Dutch Blockchain Coalition.

The session started with an introduction by Prof. LAM Kwok Yan, a Singaporean Cyber Security Expert and Executive Director of the National Centre for Research in Digital Trust (DTC) in Singapore hosted at the Nanyang Technological University, where he is also Associate VP Strategy and Partnerships. After his kick-off, several Dutch companies were showcased in a pitching format and some public private partnerships were highlighted in areas that could be relevant in cross-border collaboration.

Smart Nation Singapore

Singapore and the Netherlands are highly digitalized countries, both with governments that actively support the continuous development of their digital economy and smart cities. And both are aware of the importance of international collaboration in progressing technology, but also in setting standards and with international use cases. With the Smart Nation initiative at its core, Singapore aims for a digital-first country, focused on digital government, digital economy and digital society. The Netherlands is one of the digital front-runners in Europe with strong focus on value driven digitalization. One of the key components of a successful transformation to a digital economy is trust. In the Netherlands this is underlined in the National Digitization Strategy and the Value-Driven Digitalization Work Agenda. Singapore is internationally recognized for their work on trust technologies in the National Digital Trust Centre. This center was established in June 2022 to work on the fundamentals of trust in the digital economy.

Mission to Singapore

The session ended with an announcement on a mission in the field of Trust Technologies to Singapore, 17 – 21 October, during the Singapore International Cyber Week (SICW). The Netherlands Innovation Network (NIN) at the Dutch embassy in Singapore is exploring the possibility of such a mission and exchange. As part of this exploration, today’s event was organized at CWI in Amsterdam by Prof. Ronald Cramer, CWI & Leiden University, and Dr. Mark van Staalduinen, CFLW and lead theme Security at the Dutch Blockchain Coalition.

The next Information Session on the upcoming mission Cyber & Trust Tech to Singapore will be held on 5 July 2023. Deadline for registration and participation is 17 June. If you would like to participate, please send an e-mail to Prof. Ronald Cramer (CWI and Leiden University), Astrid Seegers, Head of Innovation, Netherlands Innovation Network Singapore, or Dr. Mark van Staalduinen, Trust and Safety Lead Dutch Blockchain Coalition.