Data Science and the Public Good | Liu Feng-Yuan | TEDxNUS

From helping public libraries target specific groups of borrowers to catching rogue trains, GovTech has been working with other agencies to serve citizens using meaningful insights derived from analysis of various data sources.

“I’m very passionate about data-driven policy-making, as opposed to policy-driven data-making”, said Mr Liu Feng-Yuan. “You need computer scientists who can write code and build apps. But you also need social scientists who ask the right public policy questions. You need designers and data visualizers to present information in compelling ways.” GovTech is building up these capabilities within its Data Science Centre of Excellence to explore the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning to deliver more anticipatory public services.


Mr Liu Feng-Yuan is the Director of the Data Science Division in GovTech. He heads a multidisciplinary data science unit that harnesses data science to drive evidence-based public policy and improve public service delivery. The team has worked on data problems in healthcare, transportation, fraud detection and operations management, utilising techniques such as machine learning, graph analysis and data visualisation.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx