Minister for National Development Chee Hong Tat highlighted the importance of research and innovation to maintain the city-state’s competitive edge and ensure a high-quality living environment for Singaporeans at the Urban Solutions and Sustainability Research & Innovation Congress on Feb 5. (Photo: Samuel Isaac Chua/EdgeProp Singapore)
A $40 million funding programme for urban and sustainability solutions, and a $30 million centre focusing on AI-driven solutions for the built environment sector are among new initiatives to help translate research and innovation into real-world outcomes for Singapore’s urban environment.
A new green lane procurement programme and a decarbonisation technology roadmap will also be launched.
At this year’s Urban Solutions and Sustainability Research & Innovation Congress on Feb 5, Minister for National Development Chee Hong Tat highlighted the importance of research and innovation to maintain the city-state’s competitive edge and ensure a high-quality living environment for Singaporeans.
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The congress brings together participants across government agencies, academia and industry to exchange ideas and explore innovative solutions on urban sustainability.
In his opening speech at the congress, the minister announced the following three initiatives:
In addition, the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) will introduce the Built Environment Decarbonisation Technology Roadmap during a breakout session on heat resilience on Feb 6 as part of the congress.
To support local companies in developing, piloting and commercialising promising urban and sustainability solutions, the Ministry of National Development (MND) and Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment are rolling out the $40 million Urban Solutions & Sustainability (USS) Translation Fund.
It aims to help companies translate their research prototypes into cost-effective, market-ready products and prevent promising ideas from being held back due to high upfront capital costs and commercialisation risks.
The USS Translation Fund will support key activities that commercialise research innovations, such as engineering development, test-bedding and pilot demonstrations — in key sectors including the built environment, water, environmental services and agri-food.
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The new $30 million centre of excellence will foster collaboration between government agencies, academic and industry to develop AI-driven solutions that address challenges in the built environment sector.
Such challenges include manpower shortages in the labour-intensive sectors of construction and facilities management, and climate change impacts.
According to Chee, "AI-powered software systems can intelligently orchestrate multiple autonomous machinery for our building sites, facilitating seamless operations that can reduce costly delays, while enhancing construction safety."
Launched by MND in partnership with the Singapore University of Technology and Design, the Built Environment AI Centre of Excellence aims to transform work processes to improve productivity, sustainability and liveability. It also looks to nurture professionals with both technical AI expertise and practical understanding of challenges in the built environment sector.
Additionally, MND will roll out a programme to streamline procurement and expedite government adoption of innovative research products. It is expected to halve procurement timelines.
The SPRINT programme will support promising and innovative firms, including spin-offs and small- and medium-sized enterprises, in scaling up their built-environment research solutions.
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It will be piloted by agencies in the MND family first, before it is extended across the public sector. During the pilot phase, companies that meet the requirements will become qualified vendors, enabling MND agencies to directly procure their solutions.
Jointly developed by BCA and the Singapore Green Building Council, the new decarbonisation technology roadmap identifies nearly 70 technologies and strategies that address both operational and embodied carbon emissions.
The aim is to encourage built-environment stakeholders to leverage market-ready solutions to reduce whole-life carbon emissions in their building projects. The roadmap also provides the research community with a clear directive on emerging technology priorities.
It will guide research and innovation efforts towards achieving the Singapore Green Building Masterplan’s “80-80-80” targets by 2030 and also the longer-term target for net-zero emissions by 2050.
The “80-80-80” targets are to green 80% of buildings, have 80% of new developments be super-low energy buildings, and improve energy efficiency by 80% for best-in-class green buildings.
“Research, Innovation & Enterprise is central to Singapore’s economic strategy and is key to sustaining our competitive edge,” said Chee. “The enriching programme at this year’s congress will inspire us to push boundaries, bridge translation gaps, and bring innovative products and solutions to market, as quickly as possible.”