News Release

JTC and NTU set up joint center to drive innovation in industrial infrastructure

Business Announcement

Nanyang Technological University

JTC Corporation (JTC) and Nanyang Technological University (NTU) today announced the setting up of a joint research centre to promote the growth and development of economically viable and sustainable industrial infrastructure solutions in Singapore.

The NTU-JTC Industrial Infrastructure Innovation (NTU-JTC I3) Centre is set out to expand Singapore's R&D scope in diverse fields such as land reclamation and specialised marine infrastructure, energy and water recycling, underground infrastructure design and construction, and novel construction methods and systems.

Leveraging on NTU's technological knowledge and engineering expertise with JTC's infrastructure and business experience, the Centre will be funded by JTC with an annual operations budget of S$1 million over five years. NTU will be contributing 12 of its faculty and research experts as well as space to host the Centre's researchers and staff. JTC is committing 10 staff, with JTC's Assistant Chief Executive Officer Mr David Tan as a member of the steering committee and JTC's Director for Engineering Planning Division as the Centre's Co-Director. Eight JTC staff are appointed as co-leaders to manage the research thrusts.

Based in NTU's College of Engineering and hosted by the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, the NTU-JTC I3 Centre will focus its research efforts in four areas. They are: reclamation & marine infrastructure, sustainable infrastructure, underground infrastructure, and infrastructure systems & materials. It also aims to build new capabilities and to scale up technical leadership competencies and capabilities in the area of industrial infrastructure. The Centre also hopes to attract NTU's top students and faculty in pursuing projects and careers in this area.

With this new partnership, JTC and NTU can forge closer collaboration on a more structured and systematic platform in facilitating R&D projects. This will also enable NTU to better align the University's infrastructure development research with industry needs.

The agreement to set up the new Centre was inked today by Mr David Tan, JTC's Assistant Chief Executive Officer, Technical & Professional Services Group, and Professor Freddy Boey, Deputy President and Provost of NTU. Also present at today's ceremony were JTC's Chief Executive Officer Mr Manohar Khiatani and some 150 guests.

This initiative is in line with JTC's efforts to expand its innovative capacity. JTC's Chief Executive Officer Mr Manohar Khiatani said, "Over the years, research collaboration between JTC and NTU has increased. As JTC's research needs started to intensify, we felt that it was timely to build on these synergies by reviewing a longer-term partnership, in place of ad-hoc projects. At JTC, we are constantly pushing ourselves to develop unique infrastructure solutions to sustain Singapore's competitive edge as an investment location. Furthermore, in the face of resource constraints, it is imperative to derive greater efficiencies in land optimisation and to address the challenges of environmental sustainability."

Professor Freddy Boey, Deputy President and Provost of NTU, said, "NTU and JTC share many common goals in developing new knowledge and cutting-edge technologies in the areas of sustainability and infrastructural development. I am confident that with the establishment of the new Centre, both NTU and JTC will be able to strengthen the technological capabilities of our industry partners and contribute more to the education and R&D of sustainable infrastructure development for Singapore and beyond. The direction of the new Centre is also aligned with NTU's strategic goal to achieve excellence in sustainability research." Sustainability is high on NTU's agenda, as part of its strategic blueprint to make its mark globally in five key areas by 2015. These are: sustainability, future healthcare, new media, innovation and the best of East and West.

Among others, the Centre will pursue projects that look into alternative materials for land reclamation. JTC and NTU will work together to identify innovative solutions to convert weak soft soil derived from land excavation and sea dredging into usable land fill. The Centre also plans to collaborate with overseas institutions in addition to NTU's research centres such as the DHI-NTU Water and Environmental Research Centre, the Nanyang Environment & Water Research Institute (NEWRI) and the Energy Research Institute @ NTU (ERI@N), on new research projects.

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Media contacts:

Ms Sant Kaur
Assistant Director, Corporate Communications, Communications Division
JTC Corporation
Tel: 6883 3064
Media Hotline: 9673 8438

Ms Joycelyn Chan
Head, Media Relations,
Corporate Communications,
Communications Division
JTC Corporation
Tel: 6883 3068

Mr Feisal Abdul Rahman
Senior Assistant Director (Media Relations)
Corporate Communications Office
Nanyang Technological University
Tel: 6790 6687
Email: feisalar@ntu.edu.sg

About JTC Corporation

JTC Corporation (JTC) is Singapore's leading industrial infrastructure specialist spearheading the planning, promotion and development of a dynamic industrial landscape.

For more than 40 years, JTC has played a key role in the growth of the economy by providing cutting-edge industrial real estate solutions. Some of its landmark projects include wafer fabrication parks, business parks, Biopolis and Fusionopolis at one-north, a chemicals hub on Jurong Island, biomedical parks as well as logistics hubs for various industries. These industrial and business parks are now home to renowned global companies and promising local enterprises.

Today, JTC continues to break new ground with pioneering projects that anticipate and address the needs of industry. The Jurong Rock Caverns look to subterranean depths to optimise land use; Seletar Aerospace Park and Tukang Innovation Park support the growth of new industry clusters in aerospace and innovation activities; CleanTech Park, Singapore's first eco-business park, offers unique clean technology features and also serves as a 'living lab' for the test-bedding and development of green technologies and sustainable urban solutions; and the Jurong Island Version 2.0 initiative plans to cut carbon emissions and enhance competitiveness of the chemicals hub.

As Singapore transforms itself for the future, JTC will partner with its customers to understand their evolving needs and develop appropriate 'future-ready' infrastructure solutions. The Corporation will continue to expand its innovation capacity and offer infrastructure facilities of a calibre that sets the city state apart as an investment location.

JTC will hence position itself as an industrial infrastructure innovator that creates value for its customers by developing the optimal infrastructure solutions that they aspire. This will help differentiate Singapore and propel it to the next level of growth.

For more information on JTC and its products and services, please visit www.jtc.gov.sg.

About Nanyang Technological University

A research-intensive public university, Nanyang Technological University (NTU) has 33,500 undergraduate and postgraduate students in the colleges of Engineering, Business, Science, and Humanities, Arts, & Social Sciences. In 2013, NTU will enrol the first batch of students at its new medical school, the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, which is set up jointly with Imperial College London.

NTU is also home to four world-class autonomous institutes – the National Institute of Education, S Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Earth Observatory of Singapore, and Singapore Centre on Environmental Life Sciences Engineering – and various leading research centres such as the Nanyang Environment & Water Research Institute (NEWRI) and Energy Research Institute @ NTU (ERI@N).

A fast-growing university with an international outlook, NTU is putting its global stamp on Five Peaks of Excellence: Sustainable Earth, Future Healthcare, New Media, New Silk Road, and Innovation Asia.

NTU has a satellite campus in Singapore's science and tech hub, one-north, and is setting up a campus in Novena, Singapore's medical district. It will also have its first campus in China, the NTU Tianjin College, in 2013.

For more information, visit www.ntu.edu.sg


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