Building a smart nation: Singapore's digital journey

The journey towards smart city status is a strong global trend as governments around the world strive to harness technology to improve the quality of life for their citizens (United Nations, 2016). The widespread phenomenon of becoming “smart” is a key topic of discussion and research that continues to change as new digital technologies develop (Ishkineeva et al., 2015). The smart cities theme is important because it explores how governments, as providers of public goods, harness digital technologies to improve the lives of citizens around the world in the present and the future.