Nanyang Technological University (NTU Singapore) and Delta Electronics have established a joint laboratory to develop smart technologies that will enhance everyday lives, enable better learning and advance manufacturing processes. The Delta - NTU Corporate Laboratory for Cyber-Physical Systems was officially launched by Deputy Prime Minister and Coordinating Minister for Economic and Social Policies, Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam.
The S$45 million joint lab will work on developing cyber-physical systems, ranging from large infrastructure systems such as water and power distribution to emerging consumer systems such as the Internet-of-Things (IoT), an ever-growing network of physical objects and systems connected to the Internet.
The new joint lab is supported by the National Research Foundation (NRF) Singapore under its Corporate Laboratory@University Scheme, which funds key corporate laboratories set up through public-private partnerships. At its full capacity, the lab will have more than 80 researchers and staff, including NTU PhD students.
Together with scientists from both Delta Research Center and NTU, the new lab will develop innovations in four key research areas in cyber-physical systems: Smart Manufacturing, Smart Learning, Smart Living, and Smart Commercialization.
Cyber-physical systems are important in our everyday lives. They include electronic devices such as mobile phones, temperature and humidity sensors connected through networks for monitoring and control of physical systems like air-conditioning and lighting.
This is Delta's third laboratory in Singapore, and NTU's fourth Corporate Laboratory, with three labs already set up with leading industry partners Rolls Royce, ST Engineering and SMRT. Delta launched two other labs last year, the Life Science and Diagnostics Lab in partnership with A*STAR's Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology and the joint laboratory on the Internet-of-Things with NTU.
NTU President Professor Bertil Andersson said, "The joint lab brings together NTU's strong interdisciplinary research expertise with Delta's core competences in power electronics and smart energy management to create a unique research ecosystem. With the phenomenal growth of the Internet of Things worldwide and with Singapore moving towards being an interconnected Smart Nation, more advanced infocomm and electronics research are needed to develop cutting-edge technologies that will keep Singapore at the forefront of smart nations."
Delta Electronics Chairman Mr Yancey Hai said, "We are deeply honored to strengthen our long-lasting relationship with NTU and the National Research Foundation, two entities that value and support innovation and R&D as much as we have for decades. On behalf of Delta, I also express our deep admiration to the Singapore Government's vision in developing the Smart Nation program. Delta's commitment to innovation, reflected in its average 6-7 percent annual R&D investment ratio, has been a major pillar of its transformation into a world-class provider of energy-saving solutions that are becoming the backbone of smart sustainable cities."
NRF's Chief Executive Officer Professor Low Teck Seng said, "We are glad that the NRF Corporate Laboratory@University Scheme enables NTU researchers, PhD and Master's students to work alongside Delta Electronics to translate research outcomes in cyber-physical systems into new products and services. These cyber-physical system technologies, which will be useful for the Smart Nation initiative, can transform our lives as well as move our industries up the value chain to develop new products and innovative solutions."
The NRF Corporate Laboratory@University Scheme seeks to strengthen Singapore's innovation eco-system by encouraging public-private research and development collaboration between universities and companies. This allows universities to work on developing cutting edge solutions for problems faced by the industries. The collaboration creates employment opportunities and trains a pool of industry-ready research talent.
Delta Electronics CEO, Mr Cheng Ping said, "The establishment of the Delta-NTU Corporate Laboratory for Cyber-Physical Systems is a testament of Delta's brand promise, 'Smarter. Greener. Together.' Cyber-Physical Systems technologies can be referred as the integration of advanced computing, communication, and control technologies to enable interaction and services between information systems in the cyber space and engineering devices/systems in the physical world. These technologies have limitless possibilities to transform a wide spectrum of sectors such as manufacturing, energy, healthcare and transportation areas. We believe our collaboration will realize better lives and greater business opportunities for generations to come."
NTU's Chief-of-Staff and Vice President (Research) Professor Lam Khin Yong said, "The key areas of research in the corporate laboratory will draw on the strengths of both NTU and Delta Electronics, as we both have strong capabilities in engineering and technology with a track record of translating research into industrial applications. The new lab will take the partnership between NTU and Delta Electronics to an even higher level, as it builds on a joint lab set up in November 2014 to research the Internet of Things."
