The NRF Investigatorship grant will support SMU Professor Archan Misra’s vision of a smart city where humans and devices work collaboratively on projects.

SMU Professor Archan Misra has received a National Research Foundation (NRF) Investigatorship grant to develop new capabilities in ultra-low power sensing and embedded machine intelligence, which can catalyse innovative applications in smart cities, factories and buildings.

Cities have been the centres of innovation and economic growth throughout our history. By 2050, urban areas are expected to be home to 68% of the global population. As cities continue to evolve, transform and grow, technology has been playing an increasingly critical and differentiating role in the way that cities function. As next-generation digital technologies get more pervasive, they have the potential to transform the fundamental fabric of our cities and in turn deliver on key citizen outcomes – that of more efficient and inclusive services, more economic growth and opportunities, and a sustainable planet, thus driving better quality of life. The question is, what is beyond the horizon? Youths today are the architects of tomorrow’s reality, and it is imperative that we equip our young with the tools required to create the Cities of the Future that we envision. Hear from Dell Technologies’ President of Asia-Pacific & Japan and Global Digital Cities, Mr Amit Midha, on how the Cities of the Future will evolve and transform, accelerated by the increasing adoption of next-generation digital technologies, what skillsets will be in demand, and how you can leverage on resources available to you to thrive in this important growth sector. Mr Midha will join the panellists for a discussion on the potential blindspots which may come as we build these Digital Cities of the future: inequitable access, cybercrime, and sustainability are a few examples. The discussion will also address how some of these adverse impacts could be mitigated, and how the public-private partnership axis can help to ensure that we continue to develop technology in a way that leaves no one behind.