@gembira
This partnership means there will be new tasks for Effect Force users, so it has a real impact on the platform. If you read the medium post, you will see that Singapore's goverment made a deal with Quadrant Protocol and asked them to map and categorize a geographic entities. I'm not sure what value could bring partnerships with IOTA opr ICON, but I know Effect is in close relations with NEO team.
Close relationships with the NEO team do not guarantee the success of the project, especially if you take into account that the EFFECT team does not have the necessary experience.