31
October
2016
|
20:28
Asia/Singapore

A*STAR and NUS establish national centre of excellence to advance Singapore's Marine & Offshore Engineering industry

A next-generation Deepwater Ocean Basin research facility at NUS will leverage petascale supercomputing capabilities for integrated physical modelling and numerical simulation

The Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) and the National University of Singapore (NUS) today established a joint venture - Technology Centre for Offshore and Marine, Singapore (TCOMS) – to spur research excellence and advance Singapore’s Marine & Offshore Engineering (M&OE) industry. The Centre is also supported by the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB) and the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA). Mr S. Iswaran, Minister for Trade and Industry (Industry) officiated the launch of TCOMS today.

Through strategic global partnerships with industry, research institutions and academia, TCOMS aims to sustain Singapore’s leadership position in the sector by enabling the local M&OE industry to undertake higher-value activities. A key feature of TCOMS is a next-generation Ocean Basin with forefront simulation capabilities, including smart sensing and integrated physical modelling and numerical simulation.

Mr Lim Chuan Poh, Chairman of A*STAR, said, “Innovative concepts and solutions for the M&OE sector are critical in sustaining our leadership in this sector and in driving Singapore’s growth as a global port. TCOMS is an excellent national platform to facilitate partnerships under an open innovation framework to draw on the strengths of our public sector research performers to develop meaningful industry collaborations locally and beyond. This joint initiative by A*STAR and NUS will position Singapore as a key hub for M&OE research globally.”

NUS President Professor Tan Chorh Chuan said, "NUS has very substantial strengths in offshore and marine engineering research. This strategic partnership with A*STAR to form TCOMS will produce many new opportunities for impactful industry-relevant engineering innovations, research and education in the M&OE sector. NUS looks forward to co-creating innovative solutions in partnership with public and industry institutions, and to contribute to the long-term competitiveness of Singapore and our industries. We are also honoured to host the state-of-the-art Deepwater Ocean Basin research facility on our campus, which will spur even closer interactions and collaborations between researchers, industry practitioners, faculty and students in this field, and enable breakthrough insights and applications. In addition, TCOMS will have an important role in the training and nurturing of talent in this field.”

State-of-the-art research capabilities

An anchor research facility of TCOMS is a next generation Deepwater Ocean Basin (DOB) currently being constructed at NUS, which is scheduled for completion in 2019. The ocean basin facility is equipped with state-of-the art wave and current generation systems that could simulate harsh ocean environments, including those in ultra-deep waters. This would facilitate the development of innovative concepts including intelligent floating platforms and ships, autonomous systems, marine robotics and subsea systems. For further details on the DOB, please refer to Annex.

Professor Chan Eng Soon, Chief Executive Officer of TCOMS and Provost’s Chair Professor in the Faculty of Engineering, NUS, explained, "A key differentiator in TCOMS is the development of a simulation system featuring the integration of basin modeling, numerical modeling, smart-sensing, and real time data analytics. This novel approach will not only enhance the value-added services for the clients, but also unleashes new opportunities to better understand non-linear fluid structure interactions in complex sea states. It will also pave the way for the development of intelligent systems that would help transform the M&OE industry, especially in the enhancement of efficiency, safety and reliability in harsh environments."