Singapore is a “policy laboratory” that both developed and developing countries can look to in crafting their policies, said an American expert on East Asia and author of a new book on the Republic.

“Singapore is simply smart and adaptive – as both a nation and as an urban community – in a volatile global world,” said Dr Kent Calder of the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, at the launch of his book.

And Singapore offers important lessons “in a world of conspicuous institutional failure”, he said at the event at the Singapore Embassy in Tokyo on Monday.

In his book, Singapore – Smart City, Smart State, Dr Calder dissects Singapore’s smartness in two ways: how it is strategic and responsive to changing circumstances, and how it has been ready to tap new digital technologies.

… Dr Calder, director of the Edwin O. Reischauer Centre for East Asian Studies at Johns Hopkins, served as professor of strategic studies at Singapore’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies last year.