Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has entered into a collaboration with the Singapore Management University (SMU) for a new R&D facility for cloud-based IT solutions for cities worldwide.
The iCity Lab is a partnership between TCS and SMU, the Channel News Asia (CNA) reported today.
The lab is said to be the first of its kind in Asia-Pacific for integrating cloud technology with the relevant business knowhow to create urban management IT solutions.
The Singapore-based TCS Asia-Pacific Chairman, Ms Girija Pande, said: “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”, she said.
Globally over $100 billion is expected to be invested in the intelligent city segment over the next 10 years.
“Through TCS-SMU iCity Lab, we will be partnering with surrounding urban centres across the region to change and re-imagine the way IT hardware and software infrastructure of cities is going to be designed, built, integrated and managed in the future,” Ms Pande said.
The lab will be located within SMU’s School of Information Systems, according to the CNA report.
TCS’s S$6-million investment in the lab over the next three years would include scholarships for SMU post-graduate students in Information Systems Technology and Management and research funds for SMU faculty.