Our story

GovTech's story at a glance

The founding of GovTech in 2016 was an important milestone in Singapore’s digital government transformation. Discover our journey and the important achievements we’ve reached to further the Smart Nation initiative.

Description: This infographic showcases GovTech's key milestones from 2016 to present.

How GovTech was launched in Singapore

GovTech was formed to spearhead the creation of government digital services for citizens, businesses and public officers. 

Our story began in late 2016 after the former Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) merged with the Media Development Authority (MDA) to form today's Infocomm and Media Development Authority (IMDA). 

The Government Technology Agency (GovTech) was then created to take on the Smart Nation engineering efforts from the former IDA.

The creation of the Singapore Government Tech Stack

The Singapore Government Tech Stack (SGTS) was a significant project by GovTech that drove the Smart Nation initiative forward. 

It was created to offer the Whole of Government (WOG) a better, smarter and faster way of building and implementing digital government services.

This includes a more seamless and connected experience, easier exchange of data, and faster deployment of solutions without the need to build infrastructures from scratch.

How GovTech maintains a world-class digital government

It’s important for us to stay on top of the latest digital standards and practices. Not only do we learn from our local tech experts. We also go beyond Singapore’s borders to learn from the global community through international collaborations.

One key initiative is the Digital Government Exchange (DGX), an annual global gathering of Government Chief Information Officers (CIOs) and public sector leaders from digital governments and smart cities from all over the world.

GovTech as a tech powerhouse today

Our success as the lead agency driving Singapore's Smart Nation initiative can be defined by the myriad of government digital products and services that we’ve developed to serve citizens, businesses and public officers such as Singpass, GoBusiness, Analytics.gov and more.  

Together with other government agencies, we have championed innovation and encouraged digital transformation within the government through services like myENV with the National Environment Agency and Parents Gateway with the Ministry of Education. 

Beyond the development of products and services, we have attracted a large pool of tech talent that include software engineers, data scientists, DevOps engineers, UX/UI designers and more. 

As the go-to organisation for all-things-tech, GovTech also has strong ties to the local citizens and tech community, through its communities like Tech Kaki and STACK.