Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister celebrates collaboration during Imperial visit

Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister Mr Heng Swee Keat celebrated the strong collaborations between Singapore and Imperial during a visit to our campus.

The Deputy Prime Minister and a delegation from Singapore including Singapore High Commissioner to the UK, Mr Ng Teck Hean and Permanent Secretary (National Research and Development) and Chairman, Agency for Science, Technology and Research, Professor Tan Chorh Chuan, visited Imperial's White City Deep Tech Campus to see laboratories working in sustainability and health and discussed ways for Imperial to collaborate more closely with partners in Singapore. 

Imperial’s President Professor Hugh Brady, Professor Azra Ghani and Dr Simon Hepworth welcomed the Deputy Prime Minister to the Campus. 

President Brady outlined Imperial’s global strategy and ambitions for closer collaborations with Singapore. 

Earlier this year, Imperial – which is second in the QS World University Rankings – launched its first overseas research and innovation hub in Singapore to strengthen collaboration between the UK and Singapore.  

Imperial Global Singapore is based the National Research Foundation Singapore (NRF) Campus for Research Excellence and Technological (CREATE). CREATE is an international research campus and innovation hub that hosts interdisciplinary research centres from top global universities and research institutes to work in collaboration with local institutions.  

Imperial Global Singapore sees Imperial’s scientists working closely with university, industry, government, and third-sector partners in Singapore.  

The Hub, which builds on Imperial’s longstanding collaborations with partners in Singapore enables scientists to rapidly scale new scientific breakthroughs and technology to societal benefit and commercialisation in Southeast Asia.  

The Deputy Prime Minister said: “We are glad that the CREATE programme has brought people together. There is strong collaboration between Singapore and Imperial and we share similar views on science, technology and innovation.” 

President Brady said: “Imperial Global Singapore will allow us to develop deeper and broader collaborations with universities in Singapore. All the grand challenges we are trying to solve require unprecedented collaboration across borders.” 

Professor Ghani, from Imperial’s School of Public Health, is collaborating with researchers from Singapore’s Programme for Research in Epidemic Preparedness And Response (PREPARE), National Centre for Infectious Diseases. 

Dr Simon Hepworth, Director of Enterprise at Imperial, gave an overview of Imperial’s White City Deep Tech innovation ecosystem. 

The Deputy Prime Minister then heard from Professor Robert Shorten and Dr Elena Dieckmann who spoke about Imperial’s Transition to Zero Pollution initiative and met Imperial startup, Planet Smart, which are creating biomaterials for the hygiene and agriculture industries. 

The delegation then visited the laboratories of the Henry Royce Institute and UK Dementia Research Institute, both based in the Sir Michael Uren Hub. 

Professor Stephen Skinner, Professor Neil Alford and Dr Michael Leverentz led the tour of the Henry Royce Institute. Professor Skinner will be at the Imperial Global Singapore: Cleantech Partnerships for a Climate Resilient Future event next week in Singapore.

Professor Ravi Vaidyanathan. Professor Payam Barnaghi and Professor David Sharp led the visit to the UK Dementia Research Institute.

Imperial and Singapore

Imperial is Singapore’s top research collaborator in the UK by publications, with over 3,200 co-publications between Imperial and Singapore institutions between 2017-2021.

Imperial is proud to currently host more than 350 students from Singapore and to have more than 3,000 alumni who call Singapore home.

Find out more about Imperial Global Singapore