DPM Heng Swee Keat at the Launch of the Alibaba-NTU Global E-Sustainability Corplab (ANGEL)

Professor Ho Teck Hua, President, Nanyang Technological University,
Mr Wu Zeming, Group Chief Technology Officer, Alibaba Group,
Professor Lam Khin Yong, Vice President (Industry), NTU,
Ladies and gentlemen,

A very good morning. I am delighted to be back in NTU today to launch this new Alibaba-NTU Global e-Sustainability CorpLab or ANGEL. Khin Yong earlier said that this is NTU’s 12th Corporate Laboratory. It is also the third corporate lab that I am launching in NTU in the past 10 months. Last November, I was here to launch NTU’s corporate lab with one of its own spinoffs, Nanofilm. And five months ago, in April, I launched the corporate lab between NTU, A*STAR and ExxonMobil. And today, we are here to launch this new collaboration between the Alibaba Group and NTU. So I congratulate Teck Hua, Khin Yong and their team for their hard work in successfully bringing partners from all over the world to work together and tackle shared challenges. I also congratulate the Alibaba Group for your steady partnership with NTU over the years, and the various government agencies that are supporting this latest collaboration.

Corporate labs like this one have an important role in Singapore’s research, innovation and enterprise, or RIE ecosystem. They strengthen our RIE capabilities in at least two ways. One, they enable the translation of research insights into tangible, real-world solutions. Over the years and through successive RIE masterplans, Singapore has built up strong basic research capabilities. Today, our universities have vibrant research departments. NTU, NUS and SUTD, three of Singapore’s autonomous universities, are ranked within the top 10 for research output in QS’ rankings of Asian universities for 2024. We also have 17 research institutes within A*STAR undertaking pioneering work in critical areas. Corporate labs take these strengths in basic research a few steps further.

By bringing like-minded research and enterprise partners together, they develop new breakthroughs and actionable solutions that can be brought to market. This nexus between academia and industry is critical and mutually beneficial. It sharpens our academic research and enables enterprises to be at the forefront of innovation. Two, corporate labs deepen niche and cutting-edge capabilities, building unique peaks of excellence in our research ecosystem. By tapping on a wide and diverse range of talent and expertise, corporate labs also foster important interdisciplinary research. This helps to advance science in impactful ways – in particular, at the intersections between scientific disciplines.

The work done at this ANGEL CorpLab sits at the intersection of two of the biggest transformations of our time – the digital revolution and the green transition. Advances in digital technologies and artificial intelligence will both elevate and disrupt industries and economies around the world.

At the same time, countries and industries around the world are striving to decarbonise and pivot towards a more sustainable future. Singapore has set out a Singapore Green Plan 2030 with clear targets to build a greener future.

The digital revolution and green revolutions are intertwined. Just as the future of sustainability will be AI-driven, the future of computing must also be greener. From optimising energy grids to developing sustainable supply chains, digital technologies like AI can help us find ways to reduce emissions. AI models can analyse complex environmental data, identify areas for improvement, and enable more efficient, data-driven decision making. At the same time, as Khin Yong said earlier, digitalisation itself could leave a significant carbon footprint. The tech industry today alone accounts for an estimated 1.5 to 4 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. As the use of AI grows, energy consumption will also grow. As Chris earlier said, we must use AI well.

To deploy AI optimally and to achieve sustainability at the same time, we need innovations including in policy-making. Earlier this year, for example, I launched Singapore’s Green Data Centre Roadmap that aims to optimise our green energy use, energy efficiency and compute capacity. Under the roadmap, data centre operators have to work with enterprise users to raise the energy efficiency of hardware and software, while energy suppliers have to scale up the use of green energy. Another way of pursuing the goals of deploying technology and achieving sustainability is to bring researchers and companies together to collaborate. Today, we have more than 20 corporate labs across universities in Singapore. 

For example, the ExxonMobil-NTU-A*STAR corporate lab is doing work in areas like converting biomass to low-emission fuels and developing efficient carbon capture and carbonisation technologies. Last year, NUS and REC Solar set up a new corporate lab to boost innovation and research on advanced solar cell technologies. This latest ANGEL CorpLab is a welcome addition to our research landscape in sustainability. It also builds on Alibaba’s established partnership with NTU as we heard earlier.  ANGEL’s work in developing sustainable digital solutions, such as in Green AI models and platforms, will unlock new ways to reduce energy use, and minimise environmental impact. The lab’s research into developing and deploying models that are both powerful and energy-efficient will empower smart digital technologies and greater urban sustainability. 

One of the objectives of corporate labs is to translate research insights into real-world solutions. As Khin Yong earlier mentioned, ANGEL’s two flagship initiatives will focus on digitalisation in ageing and health, and Model as a Service. Putting systems in place to achieve sustainability, and nudging behavior and choices of individuals, will be important. Besides sustainability, ageing is another common challenge facing countries big and small, especially so in Asia. By leveraging technologies for health and ageing, we can better support everyone to stay healthy, and in particular, support seniors to stay well even as they age. This is already an area of focus for NTU’s collaborations with Alibaba Group, through your Joint Research Institute set up six years ago. I am glad to see you taking this further forward through ANGEL.

Developing talent is the foundation of our research and innovation endeavours. The Alibaba Group has been a strong supporter of this. In partnership with EDB, you have co-supervised more than 50 local students under the Industrial Postgraduate Programme since 2019, to build R&D talent with industry-relevant skills and experiences. I encourage you to also take this forward through the ANGEL CorpLab, and I am heartened to hear from Khin Yong that this new lab will offer NTU students opportunities to engage in research on sustainability and advanced AI, as well as the responsible and ethical use of AI.  

In conclusion, this new ANGEL CorpLab has the potential to catalyse innovations that can shape two of the defining transformations of our time – the growing momentum on digitalisation, and the path towards a more sustainable future. Both of these are complex challenges, and as I said earlier, interlinked in their trajectories. Working together, we stand a better chance of finding breakthroughs that can help us collectively navigate the way forward and to build a better future for all. Singapore hopes to serve as a pathfinder, enabling partners from all over the world to leverage our ecosystem, and develop solutions that can be scaled regionally and globally. In this spirit, I encourage even more companies to deepen your collaborations with our universities and research institutions, especially in critical areas like the digital economy and sustainability.

On this note, congratulations once again to NTU and the Alibaba Group on the launch of this new corporate lab. 

I wish you all the very best! Thank you very much.

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