NUS and ST Engineering collaborate on $9 million advanced digital technologies research programme to create people-centric, smart city solutions

Singapore, 16 September 2020 – The National University of Singapore (NUS) and ST Engineering are collaborating on a S$9 million, multi-year advanced digital technologies research programme to further their common goals of building a people-centric, smart future for Singapore and beyond.

Research efforts of this new programme will focus on technologies related to Smart City as well as Smart Maintenance, Repairs and Overhaul (MRO), covering five areas: resource optimisation and scheduling; prescriptive analytics; decision and sense-making; reasoning engine and machine learning; as well as digital twin. These research areas support ST Engineering’s focus on developing differentiated and people-centric, smart city solutions that meet the present and future needs of cities around the world. The interdisciplinary research areas are also aligned with NUS’ endeavours as a driving force behind smart city innovations, leveraging its deep expertise that spans multiple domains and faculties. 

Helmed by Associate Professor Aaron Chia from the NUS Faculty of Engineering's Department of Industrial Systems Engineering and Management as its Director, and Mr Jinson Xu, Head of the Data Analytics Strategic Technology Centre at ST Engineering, as its Co-Director, the programme will first focus on two key research projects to lay the foundations for digital transformation and Industry 4.0:

• Enterprise Digital Platform (EDP)

As the backbone of smart city solutions, the EDP is a flexible, modular and scalable artificial intelligence (AI) platform that will support all the AI methodological areas, enabling the synthesis of disparate data sources and other internal or external systems, to orchestrate cross-vertical data and insights from customers and partners. All AI models derived from research projects under this programme will be integrated onto a common AI engine stacked within the EDP, paving the way for future-ready platforms that catalyse technology transformation and create new information-based revenue streams.

• Urban Traffic Flow Management

In this project, researchers will develop algorithms that alleviate traffic congestion by using a holistic urban traffic flow smoothening approach based on traffic data analytics and AI technologies. Examples include traffic state estimation and prediction, in addition to effective active traffic control and management strategies identification and implementation. This will have future applications as autonomous vehicle technologies, 5G infrastructure and machine-to-machine (M2M) technologies start to mature and proliferate.

Professor Chen Tsuhan, NUS Deputy President (Research & Technology), said, “As Singapore advances its position as a Smart Nation, having the right enterprise architecture to support those goals will determine if true digital transformation can be achieved. Over the years, NUS and ST Engineering have enjoyed a close and productive relationship. This new collaboration will combine NUS’ expertise in the science of cities with ST Engineering's industry knowledge to co-create people-centric Smart City solutions that will form the foundational systems to bring about not just impactful, but radical, change to the lives of people in Singapore and the world.” 

Mr Harris Chan, Chief Digital Officer and Chief Technology Officer at ST Engineering, said, “This collaboration with NUS will allow us to delve deeper into the application of AI in new domains to catalyse the pipeline of next-generation technologies and solutions that address the evolving urban challenges that cities will continue to face. ST Engineering and NUS bring unique strengths to this partnership and we are confident that this programme will provide our research and engineering talents with opportunities to enrich their knowledge and deepen their expertise through real-world applications, paving the way for the development of impactful innovations that create more vibrant and sustainable cities of the future.”

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About National University of Singapore (NUS)

The National University of Singapore (NUS) is Singapore’s flagship university, which offers a global approach to education, research and entrepreneurship, with a focus on Asian perspectives and expertise. We have 17 faculties across three campuses in Singapore, as well as 12 NUS Overseas Colleges across the world. Close to 40,000 students from 100 countries enrich our vibrant and diverse campus community.

Our multidisciplinary and real-world approach to education, research and entrepreneurship enables us to work closely with industry, governments and academia to address crucial and complex issues relevant to Asia and the world. Researchers in our faculties, 30 university-level research institutes, research centres of excellence and corporate labs focus on themes that include energy, environmental and urban sustainability; treatment and prevention of diseases common among Asians; active ageing; advanced materials; as well as risk management and resilience of financial systems. Our latest research focus is on the use of data science, operations research and cybersecurity to support Singapore's Smart Nation initiative.

For more information on NUS, please visit www.nus.edu.sg.

About ST Engineering

ST Engineering is a global technology, defence and engineering group specialising in the aerospace, electronics, land systems and marine sectors. The Group employs about 23,000 people across offices in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the U.S., serving customers in the defence, government and commercial segments in more than 100 countries. With more than 700 smart city projects across 130 cities in its track record, the Group continues to help transform cities through its suite of Smart Mobility, Smart Security and Smart Environment solutions. Headquartered in Singapore, ST Engineering reported revenue of $7.9b in FY2019 and it ranks among the largest companies listed on the Singapore Exchange. It is a component stock of the FTSE Straits Times Index, MSCI Singapore, iEdge SG ESG Transparency Index and iEdge SG ESG Leaders Index.

For more information, please visit www.stengg.com.

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