[ad_1]
SINGAPORE – US tech giant Dell Technologies officially launched a new US $ 50 million (S $ 66 million) research and development (R&D) center here on Monday (February 22) that, for the first time outside the United States, Together, you will have a team dedicated to improving user experiences.
This includes developing a wellness tracker app built into a laptop that captures a person’s seating posture and provides prompts and alerts to encourage the user to move or make adjustments to address work-from-home challenges, such as neck and lower back pain.
The center, dubbed the Global Innovation Hub and one of several in the world, will focus on advancing digital experiences and transformation.
Dell’s investment in the center, located at International Business Park in Jurong East and Changi Business Park, will also create more than 160 jobs, mostly for Singaporeans, in emerging technology, including designers, developers and strategists.
More than 75 percent of the positions have already been filled in the last year and the PC maker expects to hire the remaining employees for the center before the end of the year.
This complements Dell’s announcement on February 10 that it had launched initiatives to help train 3,000 students, recent graduates and mid-career professionals here in practical digital skills in cloud computing, data protection and management, data science. data and data analysis for the next two years.
The R&D areas of the innovation center include augmented reality (AR) to improve customer experiences; cyber security to monitor threats and prevent security incidents; and digital analytics.
Other areas it will look at include cutting edge computing, or computing on or near the data location, which will take advantage of the deployment of 5G mobile networks. Another area is cloud-native architecture, or software and systems specifically designed to be deployed on a network, that can be used to support smart nation building and help modernize the workforce.
Mr. Amit Midha, president of Dell Technologies for Asia-Pacific and Japan, and Global Digital Cities, said that the company’s innovations in cutting-edge computing “will be driven from Singapore.”
He noted that in the next decade, edge computing will dwarf cloud computing or the delivery of computing services and applications over networks.
“Next-generation innovation will be driven and built from Singapore to the world,” he said.
Edge computing will be important in the future, especially for smart cities, as, among other things, it can be cheaper to process and analyze large amounts of data where it is collected and then send the results or selected data over a network. .
This is in contrast to sending a large amount of collected data over the network for analysis elsewhere, which can also be difficult if the network connection is poor or limited.
While Dell has other innovation hubs globally, the one in Singapore is the first outside the US to have an experience innovation group that conducts R&D to improve user experiences, including conceptualizing and the development of products and solutions of futuristic concept.
The Singapore team works closely with the US team on this, including the wellness tracking app and an AR assistant that people can call by scanning a QR code located on all Dell servers, to guide them step by step in the repair and maintenance of their company. hardware.
The US team was also behind products like Dell’s Concept Ori dual-screen folding laptop prototype unveiled at last year’s Consumer Electronics Show. The device can act as a 13-inch tablet and then fold in half to be used as a laptop with a virtual keyboard in the lower half.
Trade and Industry Minister Chan Chun Sing, who opened the Singapore hub at International Business Park on Monday, said the opening is timely as it complements Singapore’s efforts to emerge stronger from the Covid-19 pandemic in two ways. main.
They are leveraging digital capabilities to enhance the resilience of the country’s supply chain and innovating to support industry and workplace transformation.
Chan noted that as the pandemic disrupted supply chains globally, Singapore implemented programs such as the Research, Innovation and Enterprise plan to deepen the R&D capabilities of companies in supply chains.
Pursuant to this plan, Dell successfully used technology to help keep Singapore’s supply chains resilient. The company’s artificial intelligence (AI) and analytics team modeled historical demand data from past pandemic events and increased the supply of consumer hardware.
This helped Dell move inventory quickly to fulfill consumer orders.
The pandemic also accelerated many companies’ plans to digitally transform to reach a larger customer base, as well as having measures to work remotely, such as working from home.
For Dell, the Global Innovation Center here will support service to users remotely, such as on IT issues; enable workers to collaborate across devices and workplaces; and support the well-being of users by monitoring their posture and mental well-being during work.
This is in addition to the digital transformation work that the center will analyze.
“The government will continue to support and invest in such capabilities, to ensure that Singapore can distinguish itself on the world stage even in the midst of the pandemic,” said Mr. Chan.
While Dell did not disclose whether it received co-funding from the government, it said the Singapore Global Innovation Hub is supported by Digital Industry Singapore, a joint office of the Economic Development Board, Enterprise Singapore and Infocomm Media Development Authority that relates to technology. . sector.
The investment of US $ 50 million that went to the center was made over three years from 2019, of which US $ 23 million will be invested this year.
The center also houses existing R&D facilities for the development of digital products and solutions, such as the Singapore Design Center that designs Dell products such as its monitors, keyboards and mice; a hardware prototyping lab dedicated to product design and innovation; and an AI experience zone.
On why Dell chose Singapore for its Global Innovation Hub, Midha noted that Dell has been engaged with the Republic over the years – the company has been here for more than two decades since 1996 and the country is the company’s headquarters. in Asia-Pacific, with about 2,000 employees here.
He believes Singapore is becoming a global center, such as for finance and technology, adding that the country has a great rule of law, as well as a university and banking infrastructure.
“There is a great opportunity in … using Singapore to create global innovation,” Midha said of the new innovation center here.
[ad_2]
