Some S$54 million (US$42.3 million) will be invested in a research center in Singapore dedicated to enhancing port operations and solving urban congestion in highly modernized cities.
The research center, to be called Urban Computing and Engineering Centre of Excellence, is a cooperation between the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A *STAR) of Singapore’s Ministry of Trade and Industry (MITI), Fujitsu, and the Singapore Management University.
“With the world’s urban population expected to grow to 70 percent of the global population by 2050, cities increasingly face challenges related to high-density living, such as efficient resource usage and traffic congestion,” a joint media release stated.
“Given these issues, the Centre’s objective is to harness high performance computing capabilities to develop solutions for sustainable urban operations such as crowd mobility and transport engineering, with researchers using Singapore as a ‘living lab’ to test-bed next generation solutions to real urban issues.”
The five-year collaboration agreement signed by the three entities on October 15 will focus on two areas.
One is mobility management, which will look into developing methods to improve the dynamics of commuter traffic in large urban spaces, as well as manage crowds under extreme conditions and surges.
The other is maritime and port operations, which will “study port operation optimisation and design of integrated logistics concepts managing inbound and outbound shipments from port to city, aiming to improve capacity without building new facilities.”
A*STAR said it hopes to implement solutions to urban challenges faced in Singapore, and work with its partners in commercializing the technology internationally.
The center is also supported by the National Research Foundation, a department within the Prime Minister’s Office in Singapore.
Economy rose 2.4% in 3Q
Meanwhile, MITI said Singapore’s economy grew by 2.4 percent year-on-year in the third quarter of 2014, the same pace of growth as in the previous quarter. On a quarter-on-quarter annual basis, the economy expanded by 1.2 percent, a reversal from the 0.1 percent contraction in the previous quarter.
On a year-on-year basis, the manufacturing sector grew by 1.4 percent, similar to the 1.5 percent growth in the preceding quarter. Growth was supported primarily by the biomedical manufacturing and electronics clusters. On a quarter-on-quarter basis, the sector expanded by 1.2 percent, in contrast to the 15.1 percent contraction in the preceding quarter.
The construction sector grew by 1.4 percent compared to a year ago, moderating from the 4.1 percent growth in the previous quarter. The slowdown was mainly due to weaker private sector construction activities. On a quarter-on-quarter basis, the sector contracted by 2.7 percent, following the 2.4 percent contraction in the previous quarter.
The services-producing industries grew by 2.9 percent on a year-on-year basis, slightly higher than the 2.8 percent growth in the preceding quarter. Growth was supported primarily by the finance and insurance and business services sectors. On a quarter-on-quarter basis, the services industries expanded by 1.3 percent, slower than the 4.8 percent expansion in the preceding quarter.
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