Singapore and Microsoft join forces for sustainability innovation

Singapore looks to advance its plans to become a leading innovation digital sustainability hub in Southeast Asia through its new partnership with Microsoft.

Microsoft and Singapore’s Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) have agreed to improve the sustainability of digital technologies and mitigate climate-related issues. As part of this collaboration, the two organisations are set to create a framework that establishes best practices around the development of sustainable software.

Kiren Kumar, Deputy Chief Executive at Singapore’s IMDA, believes that Singapore is in a strong position to lead in the digital sustainability space in Southeast Asia: “This partnership will result in innovative digital sustainability solutions that can be applied to global businesses which will provide positive change to our global environment and create a sustainable future for all.”

One of the first steps of the initiative will be to apply this new framework during the Singapore GreenTech Challenge. This challenge sees local developers set out to build sustainable and carbon-aware applications that can help towards the energy reset pillar of the Singapore Green Plan 2030. Once completed, it is expected that the framework will be shared globally.

“Investing in the creation of sustainable, meaningful innovation today will be critical to creating broad economic growth for our future, and it’s a journey that we as Microsoft cannot embark on alone,” said Ms Lee Hui Li, Singapore Managing Director of Microsoft.

An important element of the partnership is to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) on their journey towards adopting and embracing sustainable technology solutions. In particular, the collaboration seeks to offer businesses the ability to easily measure, track and report their carbon emissions.

“By igniting deep ecosystem partnerships across the public and private sector, I’m confident that our focus on sustainability will contribute to widespread human progress and improve the lives of all those around us, as we build a resilient, digitally inclusive Singapore,” added Li.

In practice, Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability will be paired with governance advice around sustainable operating models and compliance structures to ensure that small companies can get started on sustainability programmes quickly and at an affordable price.

“In a world of increasing headwinds, digital technology is the ultimate tailwind. It’s fantastic to see first-hand the innovation taking place across Southeast Asia and how organisations across the region are applying the power of the Microsoft Cloud to do more with less,” said Satya Nadella, Chairman and CEO of Microsoft.

Both Microsoft and the IMDA are ready to invest in the future of advanced sustainability technologies, with the partnership drawing on the strengths that Singapore has built in digital technologies, especially around cloud, data, security and AI.

Read more: Microsoft opens Datacenter Academy in Singapore