Emerging Stronger: Innovative Cities of Tomorrow
Research in climate resilience and automated construction may support safer, more productive development while potentially improving the long-term sustainability of Singapore’s built environment.
Singapore announced urban-sustainability initiatives including $25 million for marine climate research and a 2.5-year HDB-A*STAR project developing 5G-enabled smart construction systems.
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Urban Sustainability Research and Development (R&D) will continue to be a key national priority, as we work towards emerging stronger from the COVID-19 pandemic. At the inaugural opening session of the Urban Sustainability R&D e-Symposia today, Guest-of-Honour Mr Desmond Lee, Minister for National Development and Minister-in-charge of Social Services Integration, reaffirmed our commitment to advance the urban solutions research agenda and to foster more collaboration within the community.
Themed “Emerging Stronger: Innovative Cities of Tomorrow”, the e-Symposia which is held in place of the 6th Urban Solutions and Sustainability (USS) R&D Congress, will comprise a year-long series of webinars that covers research themes as well as innovation and enterprise topics of interest in RIE2025. Minister Desmond Lee announced several key initiatives in support of R&D efforts in Urban Sustainability:
Drive sustainable and climate resilient future
a) NParks’ research on Marine Climate Change Science
NParks will be leading a $25-million initiative which will advance research in marine climate change research. This multi-stakeholder initiative will cut across various disciplines (such as ecological resilience, eco-engineering and blue carbon science), and strengthen our capabilities in marine climate change science research, to address challenges faced by our coastal and marine environment arising from climate change.
More details in Annex A.
b) PUB studies on reducing energy consumption and waste footprint of desalination
Under the RIE 2020 funding, PUB recently awarded close to $11 million to six projects, to study new technologies to reduce energy consumption and waste footprint of desalination. These include technologies to improve both the pre- and post-treatment processes for seawater desalination, to achieve water sustainability.
Build capabilities in urban social sciences
c) “CityScan” research project
A multi-disciplinary multi-institute consortium led by Nanyang Technological University (NTU), has been awarded close to $2 million of funding for “CityScan” under the Cities of Tomorrow R&D Programme. NTU aims to identify emerging social trends, gaps in research and further understanding of societal shifts to develop relevant interventions required to improve city planning and design. This will enable us to sense changes in societies early to proactively help communities to form strong relationships and deepen emotional connection with the city as we continue to rejuvenate our urban environment.
Support growth and transformation
d) HDB-A*STAR’s Institute for Infocomm Research (I2R) RCA on 5G-enabled Smart Construction
d) Taking place over the next 2.5 years, this collaboration between HDB and A*STAR’s I2R will research and develop a system to enhance productivity and safety at construction sites, by integrating 5G technology with drones, robots, and artificial intelligence. This system will leverage 5G’s superior performance to deploy a fleet of drones and robots that can intelligently monitor various aspects of a construction site.
e) HDB-A*STAR MOU on Technology Transfer of MND Research Outcomes
HDB, MND’s appointed lead agency on Intellectual Property (IP) management and technology transfer, will leverage A*STAR’s research translation capabilities to commercialise the research outcomes developed and deployed by MND agencies for operational use over the next 3 years. This includes productising IPs and promoting business-matching between the MND agencies and industry partners.
Please refer to HDB and A*STAR’s press release for more details on the RCA and MOU for items d) and e).
Forging Closer Partnerships to Co-Develop Solutions
MND is constantly looking for avenues to collaborate with the research community and academia, so that we can co-develop ideas which can further our urban sustainability research agenda.
To advance urban planning and design competencies and capabilities in URA and the local eco-system, URA will be establishing strategic collaborations with local universities and industry partners from 2021. The collaborations will cover areas such as joint research and knowledge exchange. These partnerships will enable Singapore to leverage opportunities from new technologies and targeted research, to better meet the challenges of our future operating environment.
Urban Solutions and Sustainability Research, Innovation & Enterprise 2025
USS is one of four prioritised technology domains for Research, Innovation & Enterprise (RIE) 2025. USS aims to develop Singapore into a liveable, resilient, sustainable, and economically-vibrant city through investments into key research and innovation programmes.
One of the key research programmes under the USS is the Cities of Tomorrow R&D Programme (“CoT”). The CoT is MND’s flagship R&D programme to drive USS’ efforts to transform the built environment sector and there are continuous efforts to review the programme to ensure that it remains relevant to address the needs of Singapore. In support of the Singapore Green Plan 2030, CoT will be expanded to include a new ‘City in Nature’ research pillar in RIE 2025 to strengthen its contribution to meeting our sustainability goals.
More details can be found in Annex B.
The new ‘City in Nature’ research pillar will build on existing R&D efforts in greenery and biodiversity, and provide a scientific foundation that will support Singapore’s transformation into a City in Nature. This research pillar will equip us to maximise the benefits of our urban greenery and ecosystems to enhance Singapore’s liveability and sustainability. This will not only ensure that Singaporeans continue to enjoy a high-quality living environment as Singapore continues to develop, but will also propel Singapore to be a world leader in harnessing natural capital to strengthen our ecological, social and climate resilience, and help to retain Singapore’s competitive edge as one of the world’s greenest cities.
More details can be found in Annex C.
About the Urban Sustainability R&D e-Symposia
Over the last decade, the scientific and research community has convened to discuss Singapore's R&D priorities and milestone projects through the signature Urban Sustainability R&D Congress. Despite the constraints brought about by COVID-19, MND has decided to continue with our biennial traditional through the virtual Urban Sustainability R&D e-Symposia, which is held in place of the 6th USS R&D Congress.
Following the opening webinar, monthly research thematic webinars will be organised to further discussion on USS research themes for RIE2025. Through these webinars, we hope that the community will be able to continue to share emerging trends and technologies in identified focus areas so as to solicit and promote good ideas/proposals from the research community, and rally for more research-industry partnerships to deploy and commercialise research outcomes.