Technology Development
In line with the nation’s priorities and global trends of pushing technology, RP identified five strategic thrusts in the areas of Supply Chain Management, Complementary and Alternative Medicine, RFID, Interactive Digital Media and IT Security. By engaging in high quality applied research, RP hopes to develop technology leadership in these five areas.
In 2006, RP’s technology development capabilities were vibrant and robust, both in terms of output and impact. The Office of Technology Development endeavoured to bridge the technology transfer between RP and the industry and pursued the vision of creating an educational institution with dynamic and relevant Technology Development Centres (TDCs).
As RP strengthened the existing TDCs, we also established a new TDC - the New Materials TDC. RP’s ninth TDC is poised to become the leading centre for the identification and development of new functionalities for advanced materials. This promising area is supported by staff equipped with expertise in biomaterials, electronics materials and synthetic chemistry. The Centre currently supports four projects.
A total of 25 new TDC projects took off during the year. RP received over S$1.5 million from external agencies to fund our research activities. As the government plans to double public research funding in the next five years, the increased opportunities for inter-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary research within the TDCs will create a plethora of research achievements.
RP launched a new industry platform - the RP Technology Series - in September 2006, aimed at promoting research and development in Singapore. This programme provides a useful platform for meaningful exchanges in cutting edge technological advances and applications, bringing together institutes of higher learning, research agencies, government agencies and industry players in order to spur ideas and spark collaboration. The first seminar in the series was themed “Radio Frequency Identification (RIFD) – New Application and Opportunities”. The RP Technology Series is a quarterly initiative focusing on different areas of technology applications each time. The second of the series was held in November 2006, entitled “Functional Foods: The New Frontier?” There is much synergy to be tapped from these meaningful exchanges.
To ensure that RP maintains strong links with the industry, our research efforts extend outside of the institution. We have collaborated on projects with industry champions such as Jason Electronics, Papitto Gelato, Agilent Technologies and Aussino. These partnerships allow companies to tap the latest technology and innovation to stay ahead while providing RP staff and students with opportunities to work on real-life industry projects.
RP also enhanced our relationships with government agencies. In July 2006, RP together with SPRING Singapore, identified three areas of collaboration, namely projects with Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) that promote technology innovation, the secondment of experts, and infrastructure support. RP also came together with the Economic Development Board (EDB) and WDA in an informal discourse to better understand how national priorities and key global political, social, economic and environmental trends will chart the strategic research thrusts in the next five years.
To widen our outreach beyond Singapore, RP has been actively engaging in talks with foreign counterparts from Rwanda and Chile. This marks the beginning of RP’s journey towards global excellence, relevance and recognition in applied research.
With the use of technology comes the issue of Intellectual Property (IP). With IP becoming one of our key differentiators for excellence, efforts are being made to identify individuals to advise RP on IP issues. The Intellectual Property Advisory Committee (IPAC) saw to the development of an IP policy, which provides a comprehensive IP management process – from creation, protection and ownership, to development, management and exploitation.
Under the advice of IPAC, CIE proceeded to file a trademark application for SUI! (Student Urbane Initiative) in March 2007. The SUI! shop serves as a student-run live-lab environment which provides students with the opportunity to cultivate their entrepreneurial spirit and develop their business acumen. The SUI! trademark forms part of the business’ assets as it gives RP the ability to license the mark’s use and thereby profit from it.
RP signed an MOU with the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) and the IP Academy on 24 April 2006, for a joint IP capability development programme. This programme aims to equip teaching staff with the fundamentals of IP.