Singapore in joint varsity studies to build better cities

Jermyn Chow, Straits Times 29 Oct 09;

SINGAPORE will study how to improve city living and transport in two research agreements the Republic has signed with two universities.

The first area of research, agreed by the National Research Foundation (NRF) with ETH Zurich, a top Swiss university, will look at how to plan and build cities conducive for growing urban populations.

The second, also announced yesterday by the NRF, is with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and will focus on planning, designing and operating future transportation systems.

The new areas of focus would be valuable for Singapore, as the city-state's population approaches five million.

Announcing them yesterday, NRF chairman Tony Tan called the projects 'valuable building blocks to address these issues'.

He said: 'We are forced, within a small area with a population of over four million, to create a condition under which we can live comfortably here and not be overwhelmed by cars, pollution and energy needs.'

Singapore's tie-up with the Swiss university, after three years of talks, will also involve the National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University.

It will begin with the Future Cities Laboratory - to be based here - where researchers will come up with solutions and tools to build environmentally friendly cities, even as urban populations soar.

'Cities must now be seen as systems instead of silos, where we learn to break down and integrate everything from communication systems, water, energy and transport providers,' said Professor Gerhard Schmitt, ETH Zurich's senior vice-president for international relations and institutional affairs.

The Future Urban Mobility study by the NRF-MIT partnership will test and roll out innovations that can improve transport services.

The aim is for cities not to have to spend more money to build new roads or railways when space runs out, said the MIT engineering school's associate dean for academic affairs, Professor Cynthia Barnhart.

MIT already has three research groups here working with Singapore scientists on infectious disease, environmental sensing and modelling, and biosystems and micromechanics.

The two studies to improve the lives of urbanites are useful and relevant to Singapore, said Permanent Secretary (National Research and Development) Teo Ming Kian.

Besides solving Singapore's problems, the knowledge and expertise built up will be useful to the world, added Dr Tan. Home-grown companies have exported clean water technologies and solutions to China and the Middle East, for example.

He said: 'That is how we make our living...We develop solutions for our own needs, but we also have scalable solutions and turn them into an industry.'

NRF, Swiss university set up global environmental sustainability centre
Channel NewsAsia 29 Oct 09;

SINGAPORE : The National Research Foundation (NRF) has partnered a top university from Switzerland to set up a global environmental sustainability centre in Singapore.

The collaboration with the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology is the third under the NRF research centre initiative.

It will undertake cutting-edge research in disciplines ranging from environmental technology to developing new materials, with the aim of developing solutions and guidelines towards sustainable developments of buildings, districts and regions.

Professor Gerhard Schmitt, senior vice president for International Relations and Institutional Affairs at the Swiss university, said: "The knowledge that can be gained and the different materials that are developed, they can then be produced and exported in Singapore and in Switzerland to other countries, where an even greater need is for developing new cities.

"There are probably more than a billion people moving into cities in the next 30 years that do not even exist yet, and this is a real challenge."

At the same time, NRF has also started a fourth research programme with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The cooperation on Future Urban Mobility will enhance research on network computing, transportation control and urban studies.

Professor Cynthia Barnhart, Associate Dean of Engineering at MIT, explains some of the practical solutions the programme hopes to develop: "We can develop personalised real time transportation services for individuals.

"So if you travel to work every morning and you take the bus followed by the train, we can provide you alerts saying that today, there is a problem with the bus. We will provide guidance with what is the optimal trajectory for you."

The new collaborations were announced by NRF's chairman, Dr Tony Tan, on Wednesday.

He said the NRF is on the right track to building up Singapore's capability for cutting-edge research and establishing Singapore as a vibrant centre for research and development.

Dr Tan said: "With these and other initiatives that are already underway, we can expect to see in the years ahead many research breakthroughs and innovative technologies that will make Singapore a hotbed for innovation and enterprise." - CNA/ms

Swiss university setting up research centre here

Together with NUS, NTU, it will focus on growing challenges of urbanisation
Teh Shi Ning, Business Times 29 Oct 09;

A TOP Swiss university has agreed to set up a centre under the National Research Foundation's (NRF) Create initiative - the Campus for Research Excellence and Technological Enterprise.

Focusing on global environmental sustainability, the new Singapore-ETH Centre (SEC) will see the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology at Zurich (ETH Zurich) partner the National University of Singapore (NUS) and Nanyang Technological University (NTU) to develop solutions to the growing challenges of urbanisation, NRF said yesterday.

SEC will start with a Future Cities Laboratory programme that will develop solutions and guidelines for the sustainable development of buildings, districts and regions.

Before ETH Zurich, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology were the first two to set up centres at Create. Create's $360 million complex at NUS's new University Town is currently being built and is expected to be ready in 2011.

Yesterday, NRF also announced a new research programme to examine ways to make urban transport sustainable without continually scaling up infrastructure. It is the fourth of five inter-disciplinary research groups MIT proposed to set up at the Smart Centre.

The first three were on infectious diseases, environmental sensing and modelling and the development of new technologies for critical medical and biological problems.

NRF chairman Tony Tan said: 'With the addition of these two significant programmes, we are on the right track to establish Singapore as a global player in the research and innovation landscape.'

New technologies developed by SEC's Future Cities Lab, for instance, could provide solutions to urban challenges such as maintaining a clean and reliable water supply and clean air, or meeting energy demands.

These are expected to be in demand and hugely marketable as Asia's cities undergo unprecedented urbanisation in coming years, representatives from the universities said.

A Swiss, Singapore tie-up
Global research centre set up; another project with MIT
Today Online 29 Oct 09;

SINGAPORE - The National Research Foundation (NRF) has partnered a top university from Switzerland to set up a global environmental sustainability centre in Singapore.

The collaboration with the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology is the third under the NRF research centre initiative.

It will undertake cutting-edge research in disciplines ranging from environmental technology to developing new materials.

This, with the aim of developing solutions and guidelines towards sustainable developments of buildings, districts and regions.

"The knowledge that can be gained and the different materials that are developed can then be produced and exported in Singapore and in Switzerland to other countries where an even greater need is for developing new cities," said Professor Gerhard Schmitt, senior vice-president for International Relations and Institutional Affairs at the Swiss university.

At the same time, NRF has started a fourth research programme with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).The cooperation on Future Urban Mobility will boost research on network computing, transportation control and urban studies.

Professor Cynthia Barnhart, Associate Dean of Engineering at MIT said practical solutions the programme hopes to develop include "personalised real-time transportation services". "So if you travel to work every morning and you take the bus followed by the train, we can provide you alerts saying that today there's a problem with the bus," she added.

The tie-ups were announced by NRF's chairman Tony Tan. 938LIVE