Technologies ranging from mobile devices and wireless networks to radio frequency identification (RFID) tags and biometric security, are helping to transform Singapore's industries.

The island-state has regularly made headlines as its vertical sectors such as financial services and healthcare, adopt the latest technologies to stay ahead of the business innovation curve.

Here is a quick look at the projected IT spending across key verticals in Singapore (US$M):

	2006	2007	2008
Government	609.8	653.3	682.8
Healthcare	73.9	74.8	76.8
Retail	84.2	89.7	95.3
Banking	868.0	919.1	968.8
Finance markets	295.1	318.3	340.8
Insurance	102.1	105.2	109.0
Discrete Manufacturing	598.1	597.2	605.3
Process Manufacturing	132.8	134.7	137.2

Source: IDC Asia-Pacific

Population: 4.68 million (3.67 million are Singapore residents)

Official languages: English, Mandarin, Malay and Tamil

Currency: Singapore dollar

GDP per capita: US$33,471 (2006)

Mobile penetration: 110 percent

Home broadband penetration: 72.9 percent

IT spending for 2007: US$4.7 billion, up 16 percent from 2006

Number of wealthy individuals with US$60,000 or more in onshore liquid assets: 410,000 in 2006, projected to exceed 600,000 by 2011. Assets they will hold will increase from about US$140 billion to US$210 billion, 7 percent annual increase during the period

Source: Datamonitor, IDA, IDC, IMF, Statistics Singapore, Wikipedia
Correct as at Nov. 19, 2007

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