Public Sector Transformation Awards 2026: The GovTech products and people shaping digital government

Every year, the Public Sector Transformation (PST) Awards recognise the public officers and teams making a meaningful difference across the public sector. 

This year, GovTech is proud to have contributed to several award-winning initiatives spanning AI innovation, citizen services, public health, accessibility, and cybersecurity, while three GovTechies have been recognised individually for their outstanding contributions. 

Although each initiative tackled a different challenge, they shared a common goal: leveraging technology to help the government serve citizens better. From enabling over 22,000 public officers to build their own AI solutions, to helping families access government support more seamlessly, these achievements reflect the many ways GovTech is engineering digital government. 

In this first article of our four-part Behind the Awards series, we highlight the products and people recognised at the PST Awards 2026 before diving deeper into the stories behind three of our individual award winners. 

Award-winning initiatives  

GovTech contributed to several cross-agency initiatives recognised at this year's PST Awards, demonstrating how technology allows agencies to work together more effectively, respond faster to emerging challenges, and deliver better outcomes for citizens. 

One Public Service Award 

Empowering public officers to innovate with AI 

The One Public Service Award recognises agencies that have demonstrated outstanding inter-agency collaboration to deliver transformative outcomes for citizens and businesses. 

Among this year's recipients were AIBots and OwnselfGather, two initiatives that are empowering public officers to solve problems in new ways. 

While developed independently, both initiatives share a common vision: democratising innovation across the Public Service. Together, they have enabled more than 22,000 public officers across over 130 agencies to build AI solutions and case management systems in minutes. 

By lowering the barriers to innovation, these platforms are helping agencies modernise faster, enabling public officers to solve problems more quickly and ultimately deliver better services for citizens. 

Supporting a Whole-of-Government response to vaping 

Also recognised under the One Public Service Award was the Whole-of-Government Step Up for a Vape-Free Future initiative. 

Working closely with the Ministry of Health (MOH) and Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), GovTech built the Vaping Information System (VIS) in just three weeks, providing agencies with a shared platform to coordinate enforcement, rehabilitation, and case management. 

Since launching in September 2025, VIS has supported close to 10,000 enforcement officers and tracked more than 5,500 offenders, strengthening coordinated action against vaping while enabling agencies to intervene more quickly and effectively. 

The project demonstrates how GovTech can rapidly build secure digital infrastructure that supports urgent national priorities. Through VIS, citizens are better protected from the harms of vaping, showcasing GovTech's ability to deliver the right technology quickly and enable a coordinated Whole-of-Government response when new challenges emerge. 

Providing more coordinated support for families 

GovTech also contributed to the ComLink+ Progress Package Implementation, another initiative recognised with the One Public Service Award. 

Working alongside the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) and partner agencies, GovTech developed the digital infrastructure supporting ComLink+, helping public officers coordinate assistance more effectively for over 11,000 rental flat families. 

By integrating systems and automating workflows across agencies, GovTech enables families to receive more seamless, coordinated support while allowing family coaches to spend less time navigating systems and more time supporting those who need it. 

Agility Award 

Delivering government support quickly through GovWallet 

The Agility Award recognises teams that rapidly mobilise and deliver new policies and programmes in response to emerging needs. 

GovTech partnered with MSF to deliver the Large Families Scheme and Child LifeSG Credits within an ambitious six-month timeline. 

Powered by GovWallet, eligible families could receive, access, and spend their LifeSG Credits through a seamless digital experience, significantly reducing administrative effort while improving convenience for citizens. 

Since its launch, more than 470,000 children have benefited from S$248 million in LifeSG Credits, highlighting how shared digital platforms enable government to deliver support quickly and at scale. 

Dare to Do Award 

Building bold solutions to strengthen Singapore's anti-scam defences. 

The Dare to Do Award recognises teams that have the courage to experiment, take measured risks, and persevere in solving complex challenges. 

GovTech's Government Anti-Scam Products (GASP) team supported IMDA in delivering several pioneering anti-scam initiatives, including the SimCardHowMany self-service tool and new data and analytics capabilities. Through SimCardHowMany, citizens can easily check how many SIM cards are registered under their names and identify potentially unauthorised registrations.  

Behind the scenes, GovTech also developed capabilities to detect suspicious registration patterns and enable earlier intervention. Together with IMDA's broader anti-scam measures, these capabilities contributed to a decline in scam calls through near real-time detection and intervention. 

With few established precedents to follow, the team continuously experimented with new approaches and refined the solutions to ensure they could operate securely and reliably. The initiative demonstrates GovTech's role in turning bold policy ideas into practical digital solutions that strengthen Singapore's anti-scam defences and help safeguard citizens. 

GovTechies in the spotlight 

Behind every award-winning initiative are the people who turn ideas into impact. 

This year, three GovTech officers were recognised for their individual contributions to advancing digital government, each demonstrating how leadership, innovation, and service excellence create a lasting impact across the Public Service. 

Dare to Do Award 

Joy Ng, Deputy Director and Principal Designer at GovTech, was recognised for transforming how Government approaches digital accessibility. 

From building an in-house team of visually impaired accessibility testers to launching the A11y Playground in just one month and championing a culture of "compliance through empathy", Joy has helped agencies design more inclusive digital services that better serve all citizens. 

Exemplary Innovation Award 

Technical Lead Yip Jian Ming was recognised for pioneering AI-powered systems that detect and disrupt malicious scam websites before they can harm citizens. 

His work has significantly strengthened Singapore's anti-scam capabilities, contributing to a 64% reduction in scam losses linked to malicious websites while helping to integrate GovTech as the first government agency to join the Global Scam Exchange. 

WOG Service Champion Award 

Sophie Syed, Senior Product Operations Specialist at GovTech, was recognised for uplifting service excellence behind one of Singapore's most widely used digital services, Singpass. 

By redesigning incident response processes, strengthening operational readiness, and introducing new support pathways for vulnerable users, she has helped ensure citizens receive faster, more compassionate assistance when they need it most. 

Looking ahead  

This year's PST Awards celebrated the people, partnerships, and shared commitment that make digital government possible. 

Be it enabling public officers to innovate with AI, helping families access support more easily, strengthening Singapore's response to scams and public health challenges, or making digital services more inclusive, these achievements reflect GovTech's role as the Government's trusted technology partner, working alongside agencies to solve real-world challenges through innovative digital solutions. 

Over the coming weeks, this series steps behind the scenes to meet three award-winning GovTechies, uncovering the stories, motivations, and teamwork behind their achievements.