A research centre that looks into solutions for sustainable living has opened in University Town (UTown) beside Dover Road.
The Singapore-ETH Centre for Global Environmental Sustainability (SEC) is established by the National Research Foundation (NRF) and Swiss technical university ETH Zurich.
The SEC the first of 14 research centres to move into the $360 million Campus for Research Excellence and Technological Enterprise (Create) building in UTown.
The plan for such a campus that brings together top-notch local and foreign researchers under one roof was first announced by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in 2006. It is funded by the NRF.
SEC, which has been operating in NUS since September 2010, was officially opened on Friday by Environment and Water Resources Minister Dr Vivian Balakrishnan and Swiss Federal Councillor Alain Berset.
The centre has about 100 researchers working on research projects in areas such as urban design and building technology. This is in line with the Government’s plan to develop the urban solution sector which it sees as a new growth area.
Director of the SEC, Professor Gerhard Schmitt, said that Singapore is well poised to support research in sustainable living as it is a densely populated city and is close to rapidly developing countries such as China and India.
However, Prof Schmitt said a challenge that SEC researchers face in Singapore and other parts of the world is getting the data to support their work.
He added: ‘This is not unique to Singapore. It is the same in Switzerland but coming and crossing different disciplines, you need more data than anticipated and getting to it is a challenge.’
