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US-based 3M to invest US$7.1M into Singapore for R&D centre

clean tech final

With a regional focus, the R&D centre will develop technologies for clean air, clean water and energy efficiency

American multinational conglomerate 3M announced today that it will commit S$10 million (US$7.1 million) over the next three years to set up a Smart Urban Solutions Lab (SUS) in Singapore by 2018.

The project has support from the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB) and will have a regional focus.

The EDB tabbed the project because they believe it will contribute significantly to Singapore’s goal to develop a smart and sustainable urban solutions ecosystem — identified as one of five growth clusters in the 2015 budget.

SUS will be an R&D centre focussed on developing clean air, clean water and energy efficiency technologies to be used for the B2B and B2C community.

The lab will work on technology in three key areas — energy, information communication technologies and environment/clean water.

Energy means focussing on improving productivity and efficiency within the sector. Information communication technologies refers to analytics and communications. Environment, meanwhile, refers to developing green technology like water treatment and air filtration.

The company claims that it has identified 10 development programmes with the potential for being replicated across Southeast Asia.

“We also look broadly at markets, consumer habits, global and local mega-trends to help drive technology development. The launch of the 3M Smart Urban Solutions Lab will help us address Singapore and Southeast Asia region trends around the need for clean water, clean air, energy efficiency and more,” said Ashish K. Khandpur, 3M CTO and Senior Vice President for R&D, in an official statement.

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It has some interesting projects already in the works. Notably, it is working on a flexible LED system that “provides better freedom of LED arrangements for better light and thermal efficiency, leading to overall energy efficiency.”

It is also developing a liquid solution that will improve computer heat transfers, thus cutting down on overall energy efficiency.

With two manufacturing plants at Woodlands and Tuas, an R&D Centre at Woodlands and business operations based at Yishun, 3M is not new to Singapore.

Based in a suburb of St Paul, Minnesota, 3M is a massive scientific research company and boasts US$32 billion in sales and 90,000 employees.

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