Smart Mobility & Smart Building boosted by strengthened partnership between NTU Singapore and TNO

The LoCs were signed in Singapore by Mr. Wim Nagtegaal, Chief Operational Officer, TNO, with Professor Subodh Mhaisalkar, Executive Director of the Energy Research Institute @ NTU (ERI@N) and Professor Fung Tat Ching, Associate Chair (Faculty), NTU School of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE), on behalf of Professor Wang Rong, Chair of CEE, respectively. The signing ceremony was witnessed by Professor Theng Yin Leng, Research Director for Arts, Humanities, Education and Social Sciences, Professor Tim White, Research Director for Engineering, Physical and Biomedical/Life Sciences, both from NTU President's Office, and Dr. Peter van Hooft, Director TNO Singapore.

“International collaboration is the key to success in our global economy. It strengthens quality of all involved,” Wim Nagtegaal, Chief Operating Officer, TNO, adds. “It is essential for TNO’s ambition to accelerate innovation, boost the competitive strength of industries and enhance the well-being of society in a sustainable way. Singapore as a hub, and the strategic partnership with NTU in particular, is crucial for the realization of our ambitions in both the Netherlands and Singapore, as well as in the rest of the world.”

NTU Chief of Staff and Vice-President for Research Professor Lam Khin Yong said: “The collaboration between NTU and TNO combines our strengths in research and innovation. With NTU’s expertise in Smart Mobility and Smart Buildings, we are confident that we are able to contribute positively to this partnership which is also in line with Singapore’s goal to be a Smart Nation. Moving forward, we hope to see many applications that can benefit society and make our cities better places to live in.”

Smart ambitions

Smart Mobility leads to less congestion, a reduction of emissions and safer roads. TNO achieved a European leading position in Smart Mobility solutions; it established the largest Connected Vehicles (V2X) testbed in Europe (2009), leading to the first connected automated passenger car platooning test on a public road (2012) and the first live truck platooning demonstrations (2015).

The Building Information Modeling (BIM) concept has been sparking the digitalization of the construction industry since the mid-1980s. The term 'Building Information Model' first appeared in a 1992 publication by TNO. Ever since TNO has been continuously working on the further development and enhancement of BIM in the construction industry. Resulting in a more efficient construction process, less errors and unexpected complications on site and a more cost effective implementation. TNO created the open source BIMserver, a BIM ‘operating system’ and database trusted by many users all over the world.

The combined track record and knowledge base of TNO, the Energy Research Institute @ NTU and the university’s School of Civil and Environmental Engineering create a strong proposition for the realization of Singapore’s Smart Nation ambitions.