Opening its first foreign research center in Singapore, Imperial College London is taking a “more strategic approach” to global collaboration.
The goal of the Imperial Global: Singapore initiative is to enable the institution’s scientists to collaborate more closely with partners in Singapore’s academic, business, government, and third-sector sectors. The center’s first initiative will be a $20 million (£15.8 million) partnership with Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU) to enhance the security of medical devices and patient data.
Vice-provost for research and enterprise at Imperial, Mary Ryan, stated that the university has a long history of working with NTU in Singapore, having founded the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine together in 2010.
“We are taking a more calculated approach to igniting even bigger collaborations, not only in Singapore but also by leveraging that as a springboard throughout the region,” the speaker stated. It clearly communicates our desire to be a global partner. It’s about securing a position in the area where, by adopting a more calculated approach, we are increasing and extending the impact of our research.
According to Imperial, the center will help researchers quickly scale up novel scientific discoveries and technological advancements for Southeast Asian social benefit and commercialization.
The facility will be located on the Create campus, which is already the location of research facilities connected to several universities, including the University of California and the University of Cambridge.
Joining the campus, according to Professor Ryan, will start a pipeline of cutting-edge technology and research between Imperial’s engineers and scientists and its partners in Singapore. He clarified that the research center was a more sustainable option and that foreign campuses were not a part of Imperial’s business plan.
For the first project, dubbed In-Cypher, researchers from Imperial and NTU have been granted a four-year grant by the National Research Foundation Singapore. Imperial is announcing a “more ambitious scope” and commemorating the opening of its first research center abroad, but it has no immediate plans to open a branch campus.
According to Hugh Brady, President of Imperial, Singapore will provide access to South-east Asia’s and Singapore’s cutting-edge science and technology, as well as provide a springboard for closer cooperation with the UK.