Yale NUS College

15 November 2017

Technology solutions incubated at Yale-NUS will support development of “Smart City in a Campus”

Yale-NUS College and Surbana Jurong (SJ) signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) today, with Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry Dr Koh Poh Koon gracing the ceremony. Yale-NUS and SJ will collaborate in test-bedding the next generation of smart city solutions within the College campus. The two parties will use their respective resources and expertise to co-develop a digital masterplan for “Smart City in a Campus”, an initiative by Yale-NUS, in the following ways:

1. Knowledge sharing to co-create solutions – Yale-NUS students, staff and faculty members will share their feedback and experience on using SJ’s smart facilities management solutions, and explore the use of artificial intelligence in Yale-NUS’ upcoming mobile app, to allow users to conveniently submit feedback or report defects.
2. Test-bedding and refining technology innovations – SJ will deploy and test its smart city solutions such as a predictive lift monitoring system at the campus to enhance the residential living facilities and built environment of the College. Yale-NUS faculty and students will play an active role in improving and refining the prototypes alongside SJ via user testing and feedback and faculty expertise in collating and analysing data findings from the project. The College’s wide range of research expertise, which spans across the humanities, science and social sciences, will contribute to the unique solutions that can be developed as a result of this partnership.
3. Training of students – SJ and Yale-NUS will explore various collaboration channels (e.g. internships, job attachments and lectures) to educate Yale-NUS students and equip them with the relevant skills on smart city solutions.

These initiatives are aimed at enriching Yale-NUS’ unique residential living and learning model, which provides an ideal environment to test-bed SJ’s technology solutions. Currently housing more than 800 residents, the 64,000 square-metre Yale-NUS campus consists of three residential colleges (RCs), 1,000 student rooms, seminar rooms, laboratories, a library and a performance hall among other facilities. With students staying in suites of four to six people within three RCs, Yale-NUS is a microcosm of a small town, allowing SJ to test their solutions accurately in a real-life environment. The College’s close-knit community will also facilitate the collection of data and feedback that will enable SJ to improve their smart city solutions.

“Yale-NUS College is excited to partner Surbana Jurong by providing our fully-residential campus as a site for test-bedding their ideas, as well as contributing our research expertise. Our students are curious and have inquisitive minds that enable them to challenge the status quo and innovate. They are well-equipped to delve deep into these smart city initiatives and contribute to its further development to better improve the way we live. Our faculty members are also well placed to contribute their research expertise to the smart city research projects. We are excited by the opportunity to translate research findings into real world technology solutions for meaningful outcomes,” said Professor Tan Tai Yong, President of Yale-NUS College.

“Surbana Jurong looks forward to supporting Yale-NUS College in developing their “Smart City in a Campus” by leveraging our strong expertise and 30 plus years of experience in developing and managing smart solutions for Singapore’s HDB town councils. We hope this meaningful collaboration will lead to the robust creation of innovative ideas for the next generation of smart city solutions,” said Mr Wong Heang Fine, Group CEO of SJ.

For media enquiries, please contact publicaffairs@yale-nus.edu.sg.