(L-R) Mr Ang Chin Tah, Director, Infocomms and Media, Singapore Economic Development Board and Dr Zhang Zhenjie, R&D Director of YITU Singapore, at the official opening of YITU Technology’s first R&D Centre in Southeast Asia.
Mr Ang Chin Tah, Director, Infocomms and Media, Singapore Economic Development Board and Dr Zhang Zhenjie, R&D Director of YITU Singapore watching ST Engineering’s Security Robot in action. The Security Robot is integrated with Artificial Intelligence technology from YITU.
Singapore, 31 January 2019 – YITU Technology (YITU), a pioneer in Artificial Intelligence (AI) research and innovation, today announced the launch of the YITU Singapore Research & Development (R&D) Centre, YITU’s first in Southeast Asia.
The R&D Centre plays an important role in supporting YITU’s innovation-led growth in Singapore and the region, reaffirming the company’s commitment to deepen partnerships within the local AI ecosystem. A focus of the YITU Singapore R&D Centre in the initial phase will be developing leading edge AI solutions for smart buildings, enhancing natural language and speech processing technologies for commercial applications, and optimising computer vision methods for medical diagnostics.
With the launch of the Centre forming a key part of YITU’s plans to tap into the potential of Singapore and the Southeast Asia region as a key driver of global growth, a crucial component of the Centre’s activities will also include customising AI applications to address specific local needs.
“Singapore aims to be a world-class leader in AI where global AI companies build and deploy solutions that not only transform businesses but change the way we live. With YITU’s ambition to be at the forefront of AI innovation, its newly-launched Singapore R&D Centre is a welcomed addition to our ecosystem. It will create new and exciting job opportunities in AI for Singaporeans and accelerate the export of made-in-Singapore solutions to the world,” said Mr. Ang Chin Tah, Director, Infocomms and Media, Singapore Economic Development Board.
“Following the launch of our YITU Singapore office a year ago, the opening of the YITU Singapore R&D Centre marks a new milestone in YITU’s AI journey and reflects our ongoing commitment to Singapore’s AI community,” said Dr Zhang Zhenjie, R&D Director of YITU Singapore.
YITU sees Singapore as a critical hub for AI innovation. Singapore’s advanced digital infrastructure, strong government support and talented science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) workforce have created a thriving AI ecosystem that promotes public, private and academic sector collaboration. The YITU Singapore R&D Centre intends to work closely with industry partners, local universities and research institutes to carry out pioneering R&D and has started to explore collaboration opportunities with local partners.
Initiatives include conducting trials with industry partners such as Keppel Land and working with Nanyang Polytechnic to boost industry-relevant AI education and research. Attracting top talent will also be a priority for the YITU Singapore R&D Centre as it seeks to build YITU’s talent capital. Plans include rolling out an AI hackathon open to local tertiary students to bring in the next generation of AI talent.
YITU Technology is a pioneer in practical artificial intelligence research and innovation that provides advanced AI-based business solutions to build a safer, better and healthier world. YITU boasts a world-class R&D team that drives industrial development to find comprehensive solutions in the areas of machine vision, speech and language understanding.
For more information on YITU Technology, please visit www.yitutech.sg.