Transforming Singapore into a “Green City, Best Home” through the research and development of innovative urban solutions. This aspiration was the theme of the 4th Urban Sustainability R&D Congress held on 29 & 30 June at the Suntec Singapore Convention and Exhibition Centre. The Congress attracted more than 1,200 participants who discussed Singapore’s urban challenges and R&D solutions.
Mr Lawrence Wong, Minister for National Development and Second Minister for Finance, was the Guest-of-Honour at the Congress. He recognised the need for Singapore to innovate in order to continue improving and transforming, and urged the research community to collaboratively develop innovative R&D solutions that can be actively deployed.
Minister Wong also announced the $150m Cities of Tomorrow (CoT) R&D Programme. The initiative aims to drive innovations that will contribute towards transforming Singapore into a highly liveable, sustainable, and resilient city of the future.
Minister Wong also presented the Minister for National Development’s R&D Awards to five teams in recognition of their outstanding projects towards MND’s vision of making Singapore An Endearing Home and a Distinctive Global City. The teams were led by the Urban Redevelopment Authority, the Housing & Development Board, JTC Corporation, the Land Transport Authority, and their research partners.
They received Distinguished, Merit and Special Mention awards for their contributions to land-use planning, system modelling and biophilic design for residential towns, noise barriers at construction sites, and an integrated smart estate and building operations system.
At the “Green City, Best Home” integrated exhibition booth, participants learnt about the government’s key research focus areas in creating new spaces, advancing construction, enhancing resilience, and driving greater sustainability. For the first time, there was also a co-located event, the Sembcorp-EMA Energy Challenge, to encourage real-world problem solving ideas among tertiary students.
Eminent local and international speakers shared their insights and led lively discussions during plenary sessions on how the circular economy, together with city engineering and intelligent systems, could transform a city. People-centric aspects of adopting technology were also discussed. Four breakout tracks went into greater detail on the integrated topics of sustainable cities, resilient infrastructure, urban environment analytics, and advanced construction.
About the Urban Sustainability R&D Congress
Inaugurated in 2011, this biennial Congress provides a national platform for government agencies, research institutes and private sector companies to come together to discuss R&D responses to national urban sustainability challenges for Singapore. The Congress is co-organized by MND and 16 partner agencies. Click to find out more about the Congress at http://www.mnd.gov.sg/urbansustainability/
About the Cities of Tomorrow (CoT) R&D Programme
The CoT programme aims to support R&D efforts on urban solutions for transforming Singapore into a highly liveable, sustainable, and resilient city of the future and a vibrant urban solutions hub. The programme will support the fields of advanced construction, resilient infrastructure, new spaces, and greater sustainability, as well as urban environment analytics and complexity science for urban solutions. Click to find out more about the Cities of Tomorrow R&D programme and share your ideas at http://www.mnd.gov.sg/citiesoftomorrow