New Delhi: Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), a leading information technology (IT) services, business solutions and consulting firm, and Singapore Management University (SMU) have announced the establishment of the TCS-SMU iCity Lab. The lab would be located at SMU. Initially, TCS will directly invest S$ 6 million (US$ 4.94 million) in the intelligent city - iCity - Lab over the next three years. The iCity Lab will be located within SMU’s School of Information Systems (SIS), and will draw on faculty from SIS and from the other parts of SMU.
The collaboration agreement states that both the organisations are partnering to form a new research facility to develop industry standards and IT frameworks for the emerging iCity model of urban development. The investment would also include providing scholarship funds for SMU post-graduate students in Information Systems Technology & Management, and research funds for SMU faculty.
The iCity Lab will be a digitally interactive center where city managers and planners from the urban areas of surrounding countries can come to visualise and interactively explore scenarios for transitioning to the new generation of cloud-based information service delivery. The lab will also assist the Government and commercial organisations through the rapid development and proto-typing of iCity solutions in the context of real-world scenarios.
The iCity Lab will leverage TCS’ existing suite of urban IT applications, as well as its large global organisation and partner ecosystem. The lab will also carry out R&D and solution development in the areas of cloud platforms and software solutions, mobile applications, business analytics combined with consumer, citizen and social analytics, the Internet-of-Things, and also in the areas of business models for developing, scaling and operating cloud-based iCity solution platforms.
Strategically located in Singapore, the TCS-SMU iCity Lab is well positioned to be a regional hub for the development of intelligent city IT architecture and solutions. The Lab will work along with selected partnering cities in China, India and other rapidly developing ASEAN countries to create urban management solutions. The outputs of the joint TCS-SMU effort will be to create holistic solutions and transition frameworks, service related process models, and working prototypes of new cloud-based IT service delivery solutions for delivering city services for health-care, education, utilities, environmental management, transport, public safety and security, together with related G2C & G2B, and citizen social media services.
“This industry-university partnership is a first of its kind in Asia-Pacific for integrating cloud technology with the relevant business know-how to create urban management IT solutions,” according to Professor Steven Miller, Dean, School of Information Systems, SMU.
“TCS’ investment in this joint initiative with SMU strengthens our commitment to Singapore, which we see as a hub of innovation in in Asia”, added Girija Pande, Chairman, TCS (Asia-Pacific). “Tomorrow’s cities will be specifically designed and built with a sophisticated IT backbone to enable integrated urban management, improved quality of life for citizens, and inclusive economic, social and sustainable growth. The TCS-SMU iCity Lab is particularly relevant for fast growing economies like China, India and others in the region. Globally over US$ 100 billion is expected to be invested in the intelligent city segment over the next 10 years,” added Pande.
The partnership combines TCS’ industry leading IT services expertise and culture of innovation with SMU’s worldwide recognised focus on research and education and for the world of business and management across both the public and private sectors.
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