Imperial College London has opened its first overseas research and innovation centre in Singapore to strengthen collaboration between the UK and Singapore. Imperial Global-Singapore will see Imperial’s scientists working closely with university, industry, government, and third-sector partners in Singapore.

The first research programme taking place at the new centre is a major S$20 million grant in collaboration with Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) to improve the security of medical devices and health data.

The programme, IN-CYPHER, will leverage Imperial’s expertise in this area to establish Singapore as a global leader in health cybersecurity and artificial intelligence (AI) for healthcare as it bolsters research and funding in these emerging areas.

The centre, which builds on the longstanding Imperial-NTU Singapore strategic partnership, will enable scientists to rapidly scale new scientific breakthroughs and technology to societal benefit and commercialisation in Southeast Asia.

The Singapore-based centre will also enable Imperial to expand activity in the region such as entrepreneurship programmes, startup accelerators, student placements, and programmes aimed at delivering new technology and breakthroughs to benefit society.

Imperial staff and PhD students will be working in cutting-edge laboratories at the centre alongside partners from Singapore’s top universities and institutes. It will foster a wide range of high impact collaborative research projects to tackle major global challenges such as pandemic preparedness, climate, the transition to net zero, and artificial intelligence.

Image caption- NTU Singapore’s Professor Liu Yang (left) and Imperial’s Professor Anil Anthony Bharath