SINGAPORE – Media OutReach – 5 November 2021 – Global technology leader Cisco and National University of Singapore (NUS) today launched a Corporate Laboratory to boost innovation and research in key technology areas. Established with an investment of S$54 million over five years, the Cisco-NUS Accelerated Digital Economy Corporate Laboratory is supported by National Research Foundation, Singapore (NRF Singapore).

Launch of the Cisco-NUS Accelerated Digital Economy Corporate Laboratory on 5 November 2021

Front Row (left to right):

Mr Andy Lee, Managing Director, Singapore and Brunei, Cisco

Mr Gan Kim Yong, Minister for Trade and Industry

Professor Tan Eng Chye, NUS President

Back Row (left to right):

Mr Naveen Menon, President, ASEAN, Cisco

Mr Irving Tan, Chairman, Asia Pacific, Japan and China, Cisco

Professor Ho Teck Hua, NUS Senior Deputy President and Provost

Professor Chen Tsuhan, NUS Deputy President (Research and Technology)

Photo Credit: Cisco-NUS Corporate Laboratory

Minister for Trade and Industry Mr Gan Kim Yong graced the launch ceremony, which was held at NUS earlier today, as the Guest-of-Honour.

Based in the NUS Kent Ridge campus, the Corporate Lab will bring together talent from NUS and Cisco to focus on five strategic research areas, with the aim to boost Singapore’s knowledge-based innovation-driven digital economy. The focus areas are:

• Artificial Intelligence (AI): Exploring usage of technologies like machine learning to transform and scale customer service operations of large businesses
• Healthcare: Developing an enabling network and intelligent infrastructure for healthcare in hospitals and at home
• Cybersecurity: Strengthening Critical Information Infrastructure through research into advanced, network-centric cyber threat detection
• Urban Infrastructure: Developing architectures and solutions to support design and operation of urban infrastructure and smart industries
• Future Workforce and Productivity: Driving productivity by understanding who needs to learn, how they learn, and how to generate skills and competencies needed for a future-ready workforce

Please refer to the Annexe for more information on the research projects that the Corporate Lab will undertake.

These technologies are key not just in relation to successful digital transformation of businesses but also to efforts of governments across the world as they look to digital adoption to improve citizen services. This is especially critical right now as companies and countries prepare for a post-pandemic future where digital-first interactions, a hybrid workforce, and smart urban infrastructure are likely to become ubiquitous. The success of all these trends will be underpinned by cybersecurity and the ability of businesses and governments to keep critical information infrastructure safe from malicious actors.

Naveen Menon, President for ASEAN at Cisco, said, “Over the past 18 months, we have seen the role technology has played in keeping the world running as we grappled with the pandemic. As we prepare for a post-pandemic future, one thing is clear – technology will be central to every aspect of businesses and governments, and their interaction with consumers and citizens. In this digital-first era, building local innovation capabilities that deliver globally relevant solutions will be critical to the success of countries. At Cisco, we are delighted to have the opportunity to play our part in Singapore’s growth through this collaboration with NUS.”    

Singapore is among the global leaders in adoption of technology through its Smart Nation initiative, which focuses on Digital Economy, Digital Government, and Digital Society. These are respectively aimed at: digitalising industries to increase business efficacy and create new jobs and opportunities; using data, connectivity and computing decisively to transform the way citizens and businesses are served, and the way public officers are enabled to contribute fully to their work; and digital inclusion to ensure all Singaporeans have access to technology and are equipped with the skills to use it safely and confidently.

Professor Tan Eng Chye, President of NUS, said, “Digital transformation is an inevitable direction for businesses and societies, and this has been accelerated by the COVID-19 situation. We need to be nimble and innovative to reap the benefits of digitialisation. Data sciences, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, optimisation and analytics are NUS’ key research strengths. We are therefore very excited to partner Cisco to jointly create scalable systems solutions and capabilities to capitalise on data and artificial intelligence technology to improve our living environment, create economic opportunities, and build a more connected and resilient society.”

Professor Low Teck Seng, Chief Executive Officer of NRF, said, “The Cisco-NUS Corporate Lab will develop critical digital capabilities across multiple domains including healthcare, cybersecurity, urban infrastructure, which are strategic and important areas of research for Singapore to ensure Singapore continues to maintain our competitiveness as a global Smart Nation. This partnership will help foster stronger industry-research ties, and pave the way for more industry-research collaborations within our science and technology ecosystem.”

Liz Centoni, Executive Vice President, Chief Strategy Officer, and GM, Applications at Cisco, added, “As we move into the digital-first future, businesses have a unique opportunity to leverage the advancements in technology to solve key issues, opening up new revenue and growth opportunities. At Cisco, we firmly believe that innovation can happen anywhere. That is why we are committed to working with partners worldwide to develop and commercialise next-generation technologies and solutions so they can benefit users everywhere. We are delighted to have the opportunity to work with NUS on this initiative in Singapore.”

Developing technology enablers for a smarter Singapore

The Corporate Lab is led by Mr Jeremy Lim, Manager of the Cisco Singapore Co-Innovation Center, and Associate Professor Biplab Sikdar who is a faculty member of the NUS Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, as Co-Directors.

The Corporate Lab will employ and train more than 100 researchers, analysts, engineers and students to work on 15 research projects. It will also provide scholarships for doctoral students who will work on projects associated with the Corporate Lab.

In addition, the Corporate Lab aims to deliver 17 new technology solutions, 12 improved products and services in areas such as AI, healthcare, supply chain, urban infrastructure and cybersecurity, and also benefit/partner at least 100 Singapore-based companies to use and refine the developed solutions.  

About Cisco

Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) is the worldwide technology leader that has been making the Internet work since 1984. Our people, products, and partners help society securely connect and seize tomorrow’s digital opportunity today. Discover more at newsroom.cisco.com and follow us on Twitter at @Cisco.

About National University of Singapore

The National University of Singapore (NUS) is Singapore’s flagship university, which offers a global approach to education, research and entrepreneurship, with a focus on Asian perspectives and expertise. We have 17 faculties across three campuses in Singapore, with more than 40,000 students from 100 countries enriching our vibrant and diverse campus community. We have also established our NUS Overseas Colleges programme in more than 15 cities around the world.

Our multidisciplinary and real-world approach to education, research and entrepreneurship enables us to work closely with industry, governments and academia to address crucial and complex issues relevant to Asia and the world. Researchers in our faculties, 30 university-level research institutes, research centres of excellence and corporate labs focus on themes that include energy; environmental and urban sustainability; treatment and prevention of diseases; active ageing; advanced materials; risk management and resilience of financial systems; Asian studies; and Smart Nation capabilities such as artificial intelligence, data science, operations research and cybersecurity.

For more information on NUS, please visit www.nus.edu.sg.

#Cisco #NationalUniversityofSingapore

SINGAPORE – Media OutReach – 5 November 2021 – NTUC LearningHub (NTUC LHUB), a leading Continuing Education and Training provider in Singapore, announced today that Mr Jeremy Ong will assume the role of Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

Most recently, Jeremy was the Chief Customer & Operations Officer at AXA Singapore, a role he took on since October 2019. Prior to joining AXA Singapore, Jeremy was a Senior Vice President in NTUC Enterprise Group CEO’s office from August  2018 to September 2019, focusing on group level transformation, ecosystem development, M&A, and strategic partnerships. His career with the NTUC Enterprise Group of social enterprises started at NTUC Income from January 2014 to July 2018, where he was the Chief Technology Officer & Head of Customer Operations. He has also served on the Board of NTUC Link, the group’s loyalty business, from 2016 to 2018. This positions him well to drive NTUC LHUB’s mission; to upskill the workforce for better work prospects, upgrade competencies to command higher wages in order to uplift their welfare in a new world order.

Prior to joining the NTUC Enterprise Group, Jeremy held senior executive roles in various technology firms including BCS Information Systems, NCS Group and Singapore Computer Systems Limited. In these roles, Jeremy had implemented IT strategy to drive digital transformation of insurance business, developed IT Architecture roadmap to modernise core legacy systems using cloud solutions, and delivered the nation-wide FAST payment system that enables PayNow. He has extensive experience running DevOps & Security Centre, adopting Data Analytics, Robotics and AI to support strategic projects; as well as managing teams of more than 400 project managers, analysts, solution architects and software engineers to provide IT operations and applications support for a top-tier global bank across various countries.

Beyond his experience and insights in technology, Jeremy is also savvy in business management, having led large cross functional team with diverse skillset in key leadership roles across customer experience, product development, branding and marketing, harmonising business functions and operations across various institutions. In AXA, he spearheaded a company-wide initiative to simplify and innovate business processes and systems to strengthen customer propositions.  With over 25 years of working experience and a deep appreciation in technology, operations and innovation, Jeremy is well suited to lead NTUC LHUB, especially on its digital transformation journey.

Jeremy holds a Bachelor of Engineering (Electrical Engineering) from the National University of Singapore, and he is a graduate of the inaugural Asian Financial Leaders Programme from Singapore Management University, IMD Business School, The Wharton School at University of Pennsylvania, and Tsinghua University.

Mr Ong says, “NTUC LearningHub’s goal of ensuring the lifelong employability of our workforce is commendable especially in this current age of disruption and digital transformation. Having previously been part of the NTUC Enterprise Group, I am excited to be back and contribute towards the Labour Movement, especially with its increasing focus on digital and workplace transformation and strategies towards revolutionising the future of learning. It is a privilege to serve as the incoming CEO of NTUC LearningHub. I look forward to journeying forward with the tripartite partners, alongside employers and the Government in continuing to support and empower both workers and businesses.”

NTUC Secretary-General, Mr Ng Chee Meng said, “Jeremy is no stranger to the Labour Movement family, and we are pleased to welcome him back as CEO of NTUC LearningHub. He brings with him a wealth of experience, leadership and a proven track record in key areas like digitalisation, technology, and people management. I look forward to working closely with Jeremy to help us drive NTUC LHUB’s business and workforce transformation programmes, so that our workers will continue to stay relevant and be future-ready; and our companies will meet their business objectives.”

About NTUC LearningHub

NTUC LearningHub is the leading Continuing Education and Training provider in Singapore which aims to transform the lifelong employability of working people. Since our corporatisation in 2004, we have been working with employers and individual learners to provide learning solutions in areas such as Cloud, Infocomm Technology, Healthcare, Employability & Literacy, Business Excellence, Workplace Safety & Health, Security, Human Resources and Foreign Worker Training.

To date, NTUC LearningHub has helped over 25,000 organisations and achieved over 2.6 million training places across more than 500 courses with a pool of over 900 certified trainers. As a Total Learning Solutions provider to organisations, we also forge partnerships and offer a wide range of relevant end-to-end training solutions and work constantly to improve our training quality and delivery. In 2020, we have accelerated our foray into online learning with our Virtual Live Classes and, through working with best-in-class partners such as IBM, DuPont Sustainable Solutions and GO1, asynchronous online courses.

For more information, visit www.ntuclearninghub.com

#NTUCLearningHub

F&B businesses using the Oddle platform can enjoy greater cost-savings of up to a few thousand dollars with free access to Oddle’s new features including the QR-code ordering platform.

SINGAPORE – Media OutReach – 5 November 2021 – More than just an online ordering platform, Oddle has launched an all-new reservation system to support F&B merchants in these challenging times.

Launched in September 2021, the all-new free-to-use reservation system allows F&B merchants to enjoy more cost-savings with advanced features such as table management. With dine-in restrictions that kicked in on 27 September, restaurants will no doubt face a surge in reservations. This feature benefits restaurants, easing management of reservations, all whilst meeting the increased demand for seats.

In turn, the waitstaff can be freed up to handle other duties, thereby increasing overall productivity. With the replacing of order taking by hand, human error can also be minimised. This contactless ordering process also gives diners greater peace of mind when they dine out. Besides the free-to-use reservation system, F&B merchants will also get free access to Oddle’s QR-code ordering platform.

“As a restaurant-first organisation, Oddle believes in investing in innovation that will bring benefits to our merchants,” says Jonathan Lim, founder of Oddle. “As part of our Online-To-Offline (O2O) mission, we aim to help restaurants bring offline customers online and online customers offline. Within the first month of our launch, we already saw 300 restaurants sign up for the reservation system, including YUN NANS, Lai Haut Signatures, Tsukada Nojo, Orchid Live Seafood and Pizza Express, among others. By using Oddle’s offerings, the restaurants have enjoyed cost-savings of a few thousand dollars annually.”

Empowering the F&B industry through innovation and partnerships

Since the start of Singapore’s circuit breaker in 2020, Oddle has helped more than 1,500 merchants ranging from single mom-and-pop stores, local chains like Paradise Group and Jumbo Group, as well as Michelin-starred restaurants like Odette, and Michelin Plate Keng Eng Kee pivot online. Oddle has also partnered with financial institutions such as UOB, Citibank, DBS and Mastercard to co-fund the restaurant promotions, bringing in sizable promotion funding for the restaurants for the upcoming month of October.

Oddle also stays ahead of the curve by being the first online food delivery platform to:

• Give merchants ownership of their consumer data
• Focus on helping merchants grow organic sales
• Provide merchants a holistic ecosystem with a full suite of integrated solutions, which include:

o   F&B-centric ecommerce

o   Integrated delivery support and management

o   Free digital marketing support

o   Consumers fronting marketplace with 0% additional commission (Oddle Eats)

o   Free Reservation system with table management

o   Free QR self ordering system

Consumer-fronting marketplace with 0% additional commission

Oddle also launched Oddle Eats in June 2020 as an additional free-to-use awareness and sales channel for its F&B merchants. Offering islandwide delivery, Oddle Eats currently has over 1 million users on its platform, allowing them to discover restaurants and order directly from. The brand has also launched its mobile app in August 2021, alongside new campaigns that are beneficial for both F&B merchants and consumers. The National Day S$56 bundles saw participation from 150 merchants. On 30 September 2021, Oddle Eats also rolled out a “Home-based Learning Curated Meals” to support busy parents as they juggle their work and familial commitments during the Stabilisation Phase. So far, approximately 60 merchants (and growing) have come onboard with affordable family bundle deals for 4 to 6 pax ranging from just $50.

About Oddle

At Oddle, every meal matters. Oddle connects the dots by connecting food makers & food lovers. Oddle’s mission is to enable F&B businesses to grow and manage their brands through an all-in-one integrated solution that is cost-effective. They aim to build a sustainable ecosystem that will take the F&B industry into the future.

Oddle stands out from the other delivery players in the market, as it shares and manages valuable consumer data with its respective merchants, enabling them to build direct relationships with their customers. Merchants can focus on their core business of producing quality food that their customers love with peace of mind as Oddle manages the other aspects of their business, including digital marketing services and logistics support.

Currently, Oddle has over 1,500 merchants on board, including high-end restaurants and chain restaurants such as Les Amis group, Imperial Group, Paradise Group, Dian Xiao Er, Arnolds, White Bee Hoon, Odette, Burnt Ends, and many more. The Oddle merchants also include a list of smaller independent restaurants which are enjoying the benefits of driving their brand awareness through Oddle.

Oddle Eats powered by Oddle – Every meal matters

Oddle Eats is the food discovery platform by Oddle, where food lovers can discover and order deliveries or take-aways from more than 1,500 Singapore’s best restaurants that can be delivered island-wide. Be it pre-ordering for the family, a meal for co-workers, a friend near or far, Oddle Eats allows that accessibility. Food lovers, your food discovery journey begins here at https://eats.oddle.me/.

#Oddle

Frankfurt Airport branch demonstrably meets the highest service and quality standards in the transport of life science and healthcare products

KEMPTEN/FRANKFURT, GERMANY – Media OutReach – 5 November 2021 – Dachser‘s Frankfurt air and sea freight branch has once again received certification from IATA’s Center of Excellence for Independent Validators in Pharmaceutical Logistics (CEIV Pharma), demonstrating its capabilities in logistics services for the life science and healthcare industry.

The transport of life science and health care products must meet exacting standards. Drugs and other pharmaceutical products are often temperature-sensitive, urgent shipments that must be handled in compliance with a complex regulatory environment. As an industry standard, CEIV Pharma certification covers the specific requirements of senders of pharmaceutical products with regard to safe, correct, and efficient air freight services. “This recertification confirms our expertise in the life science and healthcare sector,” says Timo Stroh, Head of Global Air Freight, who is also responsible for the Life Science and Healthcare Logistics Business Field Solution at Dachser. “It certifies the highest standards of service and quality, which we provide to our customers through consistent processes and a GDP-compliant network.”

The same standards apply for recertification as for initial certification. CEIV Pharma certification requires internal and external training, a review of procedures for handling temperature-controlled life science and healthcare shipments, and an extensive assessment of these complex processes by two independent auditors.

“We consider it absolutely essential to meet international standards in the worldwide transport of sensitive products,” Stroh explains. “This benefits our customers. Our location at Frankfurt Airport is immensely important for our global network. As an international air freight gateway with its own charter connections, its direct link to Dachser’s tightly knit overland transport network, and the established CEIV Pharma setup, the location is crucial for the further development of our industry solution for customers in the life science and healthcare sector,” Stroh says.

Dachser Air & Sea Logistics CEIV Pharma certified on three continents

In addition to the Air & Sea Logistics branch at Frankfurt Airport, the other Dachser locations with this IATA certification are Shanghai, China; Mumbai and Hyderabad, India; and Atlanta, US. The Life Science and Healthcare Logistics Quality Management System is implemented on a global level to ensure uniform processes in all countries.

CEIV Pharma provides the pharmaceutical industry with a globally standardized and recognized certification for the handling of pharmaceutical products that meets and exceeds international standards and guidelines. These include the Good Distribution Practices (GDP) as defined by the European Union and the World Health Organization, the standards of the United States Pharmacopeia, and the IATA regulations for temperature-controlled transport.

About Dachser:

Headquartered in Germany, Dachser is one of the world’s leading logistics providers. Using its own in-house developed IT-systems, the company incorporates transport, warehousing, and value-added services to provide comprehensive supply chain solutions. Thanks to some 30,800 employees at 387 locations all over the globe, Dachser generated consolidated net revenue of approximately EUR 5.6 billion in 2020. The same year, the logistics provider handled a total of 78.6 million shipments weighing 39.8 million metric tons. Dachser is represented by its own country organizations in 42 countries on five continents. In Asia, there are branch offices in 48 locations across 12 Business Areas. Its Asia Pacific Regional Head Office is located in Hong Kong.

For more information about Dachser, please visit www.dachser.hk

#Dachser