Our “Singapore Real-Time” vision aims to grow data related services and develop the data industry. In 2011, the MIT Senseable City Laboratory obtained a research grant to launch the “LIVE Singapore!” project. This project provides a platform to pool real-time information from several government agencies and to present them in visually compelling ways. Conclusion Ladies and gentlemen, I have sketched out several key trends which I believe will have the greatest impact on the world, and highlighted how Singapore is responding to these trends. The future landscape will not just be shaped by the flow of goods and money, but also by the flow of ideas. This conference is therefore a very useful platform to bring together thought leaders and successful individuals from the East and West, not just to discuss future trends, but to seed and drive the exchange of powerful, world-changing ideas. On this note, let me wish everyone a rich and exciting discussion at the conference today. Thank you. 4  BIS central bankers’ speeches
Going a step forward, it is also noteworthy that emerging market economies, and in particular Asia – with China at its centre – may become some kind of a “spare engine” to world growth, buffering the impact of the turbulence on global activity. This idea of a “second pillar” for growth relies mainly on the observed strength of domestic demand in Asia, and the key issue here is whether this strength could be self-sustaining. Maybe, we will not be able to answer this question thoroughly until the macroeconomic impact of the turbulence unfolds completely and the trade channel works itself out. But, one aspect that is clear – even now – is that some rebalancing from the current investment-led pattern to a more consumption-based model is required. This is not a simple task, since the underlying causes of the current growth pattern in some Asian countries – including China –  2  BIS Review 56/2008  are manifold. Issues such as the catching-up process, the need of a large part of the population to secure future incomes, or the role of the public sector in providing schooling and pensions, have all a role to play as has been widely discussed in recent years by scholars and policymakers in the region. In fact, the recently published Asian Development Outlook delves on some of these issues at great length. As we will have the opportunity to discuss today, more developed financial systems can also greatly help to rebalance growth.