Vision
In the age of increasing climate variability, rapid urbanisation and emerging disruptive technologies, AESS envisions a resilient, adaptive urban infrastructure ecosystem in Singapore that not only reacts to change, but anticipates and thrives through it.
Through the Engineering Resilience & Smart Infrastructure initiative, AESS will lead a strategic long-term programme that elevates Singapore’s built environment and urban systems by integrating engineering innovation, digital intelligence, and sustainability-resilience thinking — thus positioning Singapore as a global exemplar of urban engineering for the 21st century.
Core Mission
1.Resilience by Design – Embed resilience principles into urban infrastructure: modularity, redundancy, adaptive capacity, and rapid recovery.
2.Smart Systems Integration – Leverage IoT, AI, digital twins and predictive analytics to monitor, manage and optimise urban infrastructure performance in real time.
3.Cross-sector Engineering Collaboration – Unite civil, electrical, mechanical, environmental and data engineers with urban planners, social scientists and policymakers to ensure holistic infrastructure solutions.
4.Future-proof Urban Ecosystems – Bridge the gap between research-innovation and live infrastructure deployment, ensuring solutions are scalable, replicable and sustainable at national and regional level.
Key Programme Modules
1. Urban Infrastructure Resilience Hubs
Establish up to three pilot centres across Singapore (e.g., coastal, inland flood-prone, high-density) that serve as ‘living labs’ for resilient infrastructure innovation.
Each Hub will host multidisciplinary teams to test smart sensors, modular structural components, real-time analytics, and resilience governance frameworks.
Outcomes: demonstrations of resilient wall systems (coastal), modular flood barriers (inland), dynamic load-balancing power grids (high-density).
2. Digital Twin & Smart Operations Platform
Develop a comprehensive digital twin platform representing urban infrastructure portfolios (bridges, tunnels, drainage, utilities) for Singapore.
Feed real-time sensor data (structural health, water levels, traffic flows, energy consumption) into AI models to forecast stress events, congestion hotspots, service issues.
Enable proactive maintenance, rapid emergency response, and optimisation of service delivery.
3. Engineering Leadership Fellowship: Infrastructure & Resilience
A 12-month leadership programme for mid-career engineers (5-12 yrs experience) focusing on the intersection of infrastructure engineering, resilience strategy and digital transformation.
Modules include strategic planning, urban systems thinking, cross-discipline teamwork, case-studies globally (e.g., climate-resilient cities).
Graduates will present “Resilience Project Pitches” to industry/government, positioning them as future infrastructure innovators or leaders.
4. Industry-Academia Accelerator: From Innovation to Infrastructure
Establish a joint accelerator with industry partners, utilities and municipal bodies to fast-track innovations from research into real-world infrastructure projects.
Focus areas: modular construction systems, sensor-embedded smart materials, adaptive traffic/utility networks, resilient energy-storage micro-grids.
Stage-gate process: Proof-of-Concept → Pilot Deployment → Integrated Infrastructure Demonstration.
Target Metrics & Outcomes
Within 5 years, deliver 3 operational Resilience Hubs, each contributing at least one deployed infrastructure demonstration.
Train 100 Fellowship Engineers, with at least 60% advancing into leadership roles or heading infrastructure innovation projects.
Achieve 10 industry-academia partnerships with at least 5 innovations incorporated into Singapore’s infrastructure system.
Produce 20 peer-reviewed publications and 10 patents from the accelerator module.
Establish a “Resilience Index” toolkit applied across pilot sites and replicated in at least two other regional cities by year 6.
Partnerships & Enablers
Collaborate with Singapore Government agencies (e.g., Land Transport Authority, PUB, Singapore’s National Water Agency, Economic Development Board), universities (e.g., National University of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University) and major infrastructure firms.
Secure funding via public-private partnerships, infrastructure innovation grants and dedicated AESS research funds.
Establish governance framework within AESS: Steering Committee, Technical Advisory Board, Ethics & Resilience Review Panel.
Implement systematic monitoring, evaluation and knowledge-sharing mechanisms: annual reports, open data portal for pilot hub metrics, public workshops.