Denmark and Singapore have announced their intention to work together on the Asian nation’s ‘Smart Nation’ initiative to build the smart and liveable cities of the future.

Singapore’s Smart Nation Program Office specifically wants to utilise Danish expertise in R&D, water management and environmental technology.

Rambøll Group, Blip Systems and DTU are among the Danish companies that have already given the collaboration their approval.

“Denmark has a long tradition for designing urban development solutions that benefit the goals of our people, businesses and environment,” said Berit Basse, the Danish ambassador to Singapore.

“As leaders in smart cities, Singapore and Denmark have much to share and learn from each other.”

50 years of bilateral ties
The announcement, which coincides with the 50-year anniversary of close bilateral ties between the countries, was made at a ‘Smart City Dialogue’ event in Singapore earlier this week.

Among those in attendance was Smart Nation’s leader, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, the Singaporean foreign minister, who said the collaboration made good sense for both countries.

“Our lack of natural resources and land led us to embark on a sustainable development way before it became fashionable internationally,” he said.

Putting people first
The theme of ‘Smart Nation’ is ‘Putting People First in the Cities of Tomorrow’ and it focuses on three major areas: the co-creation of smart cities for improved quality of life, the harnessing of big data to deliver integrated e-services, and energy-efficient urban mobility solutions.

Other major Singaporean firms on board are SingTel subsidiary NCS, Singapore Power and the National University of Singapore.