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Ingenious South East Asia

How the region is collaborating for a smarter tomorrow

Innovating together

In South East Asia, multi-sector collaborations are helping digitise the region’s global innovation and research hubs

Acclaimed author and businesswoman, Margaret Heffernan, once remarked, “For good ideas and true innovation, you need human interaction, conflict, argument, debate.” To spark innovation, it requires close collaboration between industries, sectors and geographies.

According to a report by Thomson Reuters, patenting activity in South East Asia has leapt by more than 40 percent over the last three years. While Singapore remains central to these activities, contributing about 45 percent of patent-related activities, Malaysia is quickly catching up at 16 percent. To celebrate this progress, we’re sharing some of the most exciting technological collaborations that have come to life in this busy region.

Bridging the digital ecosystem

Picture a world where everything is connected. Here, driverless cars are the norm, and visiting the supermarket is history. Imagine replenishing your grocery supplies without lifting a finger. Your fridge tracks supplies and notifies the merchant, seamlessly delivering your fresh produce. This may seem like a science fiction novel, but such realities are now possible; thanks to the budding adoption of Internet of Things (IoT) technology.

In Singapore, we at Rolls-Royce are collaborating with others to explore the true potential and impact of IoT technology. By sharing our expertise with the Agency of Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), together, we are helping build a cohesive and digitally connected ecosystem in Singapore. Through sensor technologies and computational labs, our Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with A*STAR seeks to connect diverse industries like healthcare and telecommunication. After all, there are similarities; the precision demanded by engineering is similar to that needed in medicine.

Engineering a smart city

Cloud-based technology is helping to develop the world’s first smart city

Similar advancements are also happening in neighboring Malaysia, as sectors work to engineer safer, more efficient and inclusive cities. In CyberJaya, Kuala Lumpur, Cyberview, the local government agency specialising in smart technologies, and Atilze, an IT solutions provider, are developing a new low cost, open WIFI network. The network is able to support millions of devices on a single gateway and connects telecommunications modules via cloud for frictionless urban management.

IoT developers will also be able to integrate their applications onto the network. So theoretically the software in your car could communicate with the city’s transport infrastructure; imagine having to never wait for a slow traffic light in Kuala Lumpur or enhancing road security via monitoring congestion.

A 3D printing revolution

The growth of 3D printing is providing Malaysian companies greater opportunities for product breakthroughs. Soon, your neighbourhood car repair workshop could be selling automobiles they printed and assembled themselves. Autodesk, a software producer in design, engineering and entertainment, and MIMOS, Malaysia’s national research and development agency have partnered to revolutionise 3D printing. Through their “3D Smart Maker Initiative,” the collaboration will help local small and medium enterprises utilise these innovative smart manufacturing capabilities. Such developments will enable businesses to create, evolve, and establish their own Intellectual Property with significantly lowered costs.

Supersonic scrubbing

Besides streamlining processes, advanced manufacturing can play a key role in helping companies minimize their environmental impact

Organisations now have more sophisticated options for some manufacturing processes. These advances can potentially reduce companies’ reliance on harsh chemicals that are harmful to employee health or are difficult to dispose of. Dry-ice blasting is one of the few tools able to clean aerospace products while reducing waste and contamination. In collaboration with Rolls-Royce, AmpTec Heating Industries and the Singapore Advanced Remanufacturing and Technology Centre (ARTC) helped design a dry-ice blasting tool. It’s abrasive enough to scour weld slag from plane parts, yet gentle enough to brush away smoke damage from paper.

Self-teaching engines

Smart technologies are teaching products to improve themselves through AI

A first of its kind, our new intelligent electrical power system communicates with the engine’s power electronics, electrical machine and the control system to provide vital data insights as well as predict and prevent aircraft engine faults. Devised with PhD students from the National University of Singapore (NUS) and the Nanyang Technological University (NTU), the intelligent electrical power system can also identify areas for reduced fuel consumption. Last year, it was awarded a global patent in the area of Equipment Health Monitoring for Electrical Systems.

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