| Abstract |
In the age of globalization, there is a fierce competition not only between companies but also between cities, states, economic blocks and regions. They are increasingly competing for talents, technology, investments and markets in a transnational economy. A former little Asian dragon, Singapore achieved a fast industrial transformation and became a modern country in a relatively short period of time. In spite of his backwardness, the latecomer Singapore succeeded in obtaining exceptional economic growth rates and a rapid development. The idea of embedding smartness in all processes and activities carried on in the whole existence of Singapore has been debated in the last decades. The paper aims to briefly define the concept of smart city and to identify the key elements that contributed to the remarkable transformation of Singapore into a smart city-state. The paper employs a quantitative research method and a case study. The information was acquired by desk research, analyzing secondary data that were collected through the deployment of a significant literature review. The story of Singapore illustrates the lesson of a breakout nation that has proved to be capable to continuously reinvent itself in order to become a smart city-state. The paper shows that the making of a smart city-state is possible only by putting together all stakeholders, such as educated, intelligent, disciplined and hard-working citizens, wise and honest politicians, highly competitive companies or responsible institutions, and by using on a large scale the smart technologies. |