A*STAR’S I2R unveils REACH@I2R to boost deeper integration with industry

SINGAPORE: A*STAR's Institute for Infocomm Research (I2R) officially opened REACH@I2R (REsearch And Commercialisation Hub), adopting a Whole-of-I2R approach in bringing the diverse and relevant range of scientific capabilities to engage with local and global businesses on a long term strategic basis.

The various economic verticals include the Energy, Finance, Healthcare, Media and Entertainment, Telecommunications, and Transportation sectors. Located on one floor within I2R's premises at Fusionopolis, the hub comprises 13 joint laboratories, a result of I2R's collaborations with local and international organisations such as: Baidu Inc; BYD; DBS Bank; McLaren Applied Technologies; National Healthcare Group; NCS Group; NEC Asia Pacific; Land Transport Authority; Ping An Insurance Group; Singapore Power Group; SingTel; ST Electronics; Topcon Corp., Japan.

The joint laboratories represent sustained collaboration engagements from I2R to apply its dedicated resources to meet the specific needs of the industry and accelerate technology capabilities building with its partners.

The joint laboratories have garnered over SGD$50 million investment from the joint laboratory partners, with I2R contributing laboratory space and research expertise. Currently, there are more than 130 R&D personnel working in these joint laboratories and I2R expects these numbers to increase as more research projects are defined and initiated down the road.

The first I2R joint laboratory collaboration kick-started in July 2012 with Baidu Inc., the leading Chinese language internet search provider. Since then, the research and development areas of the joint laboratories collaborations have spread across multiple technology verticals to include intelligent speech technologies, healthcare, communications, data analytics, autonomous vehicle technologies, and grid networks. To date, successful innovations that have been developed include:

* A voice recognition unlock feature with Baidu for the Lenovo A586 smartphone.
* Vision-related technology in the areas of visual acuity assessment, augmented reality laser surgery and eye disease detection through the Advanced Vision and Technology Alliance (AVATA) - I2R-NHG Innovation Lab with National Healthcare Group Eye Institute @ Tan Tock Seng Hospital.
* Technologies that detect major eye disorders and diseases such as myopia, glaucoma, and age-related macular degeneration (AMD) faster and more accurately, as a result of the ATLANTIA lab with Topcon.