The Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO) signed three Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) this week with the National University of Singapore (NUS) and MobilityX. The organizations will participate in the Joint Innovation Program for New Urban Mobility, an initiative led by TNO. The signing took place at the 26th ITS World Congress, which was held in Singapore from 21 to 25 October 2019.
TNO is an independent research organisation in the Netherlands that focuses on applied science. Its expertise and research make an important contribution to the competitiveness of companies and organisations, and to the economy. It connects people and knowledge to create innovations that boost the sustainable competitive strength of industry and well-being of society. It also conducts contract research, offers specialist consulting services, and grants licences for patents and specialist software.
MobilityX is a start-up backed by Singapore’s leading public transport company, SMRT, and Toyota Tsusho. Its mission seamlessly matches the scope of the TNO Joint Innovation Program: integrated MaaS for city commuters and companies. Both parties will exchange knowledge and technical information, and plan to investigate further opportunities for cooperation.
The NUS School of Design and Environment, the Centre of Excellence in Modelling and Simulation for Next Generation Ports (C4NGP) and Centre for Next Generation Logistics (C4NGL) at the NUS Faculty of Engineering will conduct joint research and development activities with TNO. These projects will focus on integral urban planning and models for improving next generation logistics and ports.
In addition, the cooperation will entail the development of educational programmes for fact-based urban planning across multiple domains, like public space, mobility, air quality, safety, energy and noise. The team has also agreed to explore further cooperation in order to accelerate the application of fundamental research in urban planning and logistics. The aim is to support the transition towards the digitalisation of Singapore’s urban and logistics ecosystems.
“Singapore is at an advanced stage of development in the field of urban planning and mobility, particularly when it comes to New Mobility like autonomous vehicles and personal mobility devices (PMD’s) ”, says Ellen Lastdrager, Managing Director of TNO Traffic & Transport. “These insights are highly valuable for understanding the impact on the safety, efficiency & sustainability in cities. Close collaboration between the Netherlands & Singapore in the Joint Innovation Program enables Smart Nation Singapore to remain at the forefront of smart urban mobility and offers TNO the opportunity to deal with major mobility issues in a future-proof manner in the Netherlands.”
Source: Press Release
