• New urban challenges to be identified for research, development of IT solutions
• Innovation to focus on intelligent, inclusive, integrated solutions for Smart Nation
• TCS to invest $1.5 million in technology systems, software and applications research

Singapore, November 27, 2017: The SMU-TCS iCity Lab today announced that Singapore Management University (SMU) and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) have extended their partnership for another three years until 2020 to focus on new initiatives in research and development. The ongoing partnership, launched in 2011 and renewed for a second time, will enhance and broaden multi-disciplinary academic research efforts in digital technology to create innovative, technology-enabled solutions to emerging urban challenges.

TCS will invest a total of $1.5 million over the next three years in developing intelligent infrastructure, software and applications. SMU will leverage on its capabilities to generate leading-edge research and strategic linkages with business, government and the wider community to enable the most relevant and contextual ecosystem to deploy the technology solutions.

“At SMU-TCS iCity Lab, our endeavor is to dig deep into our research and development resources to help produce broad-based, creative and collaborative solutions to problems that Singapore faces in its ascent to be a Smart Nation. In TCS, we have found a technology partner with the right tools and expertise to supplement our research capabilities in a way that gives flight to new ideas in healthcare and smart living—from prototype to deployment—not just in Singapore but beyond its shores,” said Professor Steven Miller, Vice-Provost of Research and Professor of Information Systems at Singapore Management University.

The extension of the partnership in SMU-TCS iCity Lab comes on the heels of a very successful pilot project in elderly-care that set a new paradigm in personalized, sustainable and tech-enabled care for senior citizens in Singapore. The pilot project named SHINESeniors, under a Singapore Government grant, was launched in 2014 to test run technologies for ageing-in-place in 100 elderly homes. It proved to be a highly successful experiment in innovative use of IoT technology to enable the elderly to age-in-place in Singapore. 

 “The SHINESeniors project by SMU-TCS iCity Lab has created significant intellectual property in the space of personalization, sensors and embedded systems. The solution for non-intrusive monitoring of elderly at home, uses algorithms and digital technologies and aligns well with the concept of citizen-centric intelligent cities. The iCity Lab is a good example of collaboration under the TCS Co-Innovation Network (COIN™) program. We look forward to the iCity Lab pursuing more Smart Nation themes and creating an impact globally,” said K. Ananth Krishnan, Chief Technology Officer, TCS.

With the renewed partnership, SMU-TCS iCity Lab will:

• Deepen and broaden capabilities of an IoT-enabled preventive care and self-care ecosystem, including new citizen segments.
• Explore how citizens can participate as consumer and producer of services to create a sustainable city, aligned with its vision of citizen-centric intelligent cities.
• Look at novel and viable business models, partnership models, care models and large scale deployments, using technologies such as AI and Machine Learning as necessary.

“Digital technology will be a key differentiator in how we deal with the problems of day-to-day living in intelligent cities of tomorrow. The extension of the SMU-TCS iCity Lab partnership gives us an opportunity to delve deeper into the emerging challenges of citizen services and health surveillance and develop collaborative, flexible and innovative solutions that align with Singapore’s agenda to be a Smart Nation", said Girish Ramachandran, President, TCS Asia Pacific.

About Singapore Management University

Established in 2000, Singapore Management University (SMU) is recognised for its high-impact multi-disciplinary research that addresses Asian issues of global relevance, and for its innovations in experiential learning. With 10,000 students, SMU offers bachelors, masters and PhD degree programmes in Accountancy, Business, Economics, Information Systems, Law and Social Sciences, and executive development programmes. Through its city campus, SMU enjoys strategic linkages with business, government and the wider community in Singapore and beyond. www.smu.edu.sg

About SMU-TCS iCity Lab

SMU-TCS iCity Lab is a joint initiative between Singapore Management University and Tata Consultancy Services, a leader in the global marketplace and among the top 10 technology firms in the world. The partnership combines TCS’ industry leading IT services expertise and culture of innovation with SMU’s globally recognized excellence in research and education in social sciences, management, analytics and computing in partnership with both the public and private sectors.

Both SMU and TCS are known for their ability to integrate IT with business in ways that creates innovative IT solutions that meet public and private sector management needs. The lab will work together with selected partnering cities in China, India and other rapidly developing ASEAN countries to create urban management solutions. https://icity.smu.edu.sg

About Project SHINESeniors

Project SHINESeniors is a SMU-initiated effort to enable elderly Singaporeans to age-in-place, whereby the elderly can stay within the comfort of their homes and familiarity of their neighborhoods, and with minimal disruptions to their lives and activities. Through multi-disciplinary Research and Development efforts, spanning across both technology and social behavioral sciences, SHINESeniors aims to enhance community care to support sustainable ageing-in-place.

By using nonintrusive techniques to capture real-time data on the location and activity patterns of the elderly in sensor-enabled homes, SMU-TCS iCity Lab has devised a solution to detect any anomaly such prolonged inactivity or an emergency situation that triggered an automatic alert to care givers for timely intervention. The path-breaking solution is not only pre-emptive and effective in controlling any untoward outcome but is creating a new paradigm in the elderly-care industry by enabling them to live a life of dignity in their own homes and in the familiarity of their neighborhood with minimal disruption to their lifestyle. 

About Tata Consultancy Services

Tata Consultancy Services is an IT services, consulting and business solutions organization that delivers real results to global business, ensuring a level of certainty no other firm can match. TCS offers a consulting-led, integrated portfolio of IT,  BPS,  infrastructure,engineering and  assurance services. This is delivered through its unique Global Network Delivery Model™ (GNDM), recognized as the benchmark of excellence in software development. A part of the Tata group, India’s largest industrial conglomerate, TCS has over 389,000 of the world’s best-trained consultants in 46 countries. The company generated consolidated revenues of US $17.6 billion for year ended March 31, 2017 and is listed on the BSE (formerly Bombay Stock Exchange) and the NSE (National Stock Exchange) in India.

For more information, please contact: