S$800 Million Committed to Research and Innovation for Transport and Connectivity over Next Five Years

1.           Singapore will more than double its investment in research and innovation for transport and connectivity to S$800 million over the next five years, under the National Research Foundation’s Research, Innovation and Enterprise (RIE) 2030 Flagship . This is a major national initiative led by Ministry of Transport to build new local capabilities across the transport ecosystem, to strengthen Singapore’s position as a world-class global transport and connectivity hub.

A New Approach to Advance Transport Research and Innovation

2.           RIE2030 builds upon earlier efforts from RIE2025, where our research and innovation efforts were targeted at strengthening sector-specific capabilities (refer to Annex ↗ (opens in new tab) for examples of key achievements). The latest investment under RIE2030 integrates these research efforts and builds cross-cutting capabilities to enhance connectivity across the aviation, maritime and land transport sectors. Through continuous innovation for the future, we can unlock new possibilities to transform our transport ecosystem and strengthen our global connectivity and competitiveness.

3.           Approximately two-thirds of the S$800 million investment will be directed towards building two key capabilities – Autonomy and Digital Twins for Connectivity for the transport sector:   

a.           The Autonomy workstream aims to enable large-scale, safe and manpower-light transport operations that span across land, air and sea, by combining autonomous platforms, AI and robotics. It covers the development of next-generation testing and certification frameworks for autonomous vehicles and unmanned aviation systems, as well as the development of autonomous maritime operations and cooperative autonomous systems for cargo transloading using robotics/embodied AI.

b.           The Digital Twins for Connectivity workstream aims to enable end-to-end visibility, prediction, and coordinated orchestration of cargo and passenger flows. By integrating relevant transport data across land, sea, and air transport modes and applying AI-enabled simulations, it will support the planning and management of movement of goods and passengers in, out and through Singapore as a single, connected system. We will apply this to cargo and supply chains across logistics nodes to optimise cargo flows, airport operations (for example, better forecast weather to reduce impact on airport operations) and road traffic flows (through intelligent land traffic management); and where possible, to mitigate potential disruptions early.

4.           The remaining investment will be directed towards sector-specific research to deepen capabilities within each sector, as follows:

a.           Aviation: Technology-Enabled Air Hub

i.            In aviation, research will focus on building new capabilities, in the sky and on the ground, for the Singapore air hub to meet rising demand for air travel and increased volume in air cargo. In the sky, the R&D projects will leverage AI to optimise flight movements across airports and reduce flight time and carbon emissions, anticipate and mitigate weather disruptions to reduce delays and diversions and provide decision support tools for air traffic controllers to help them manage higher workload.

ii.           On the ground, the R&D projects will focus on AI and automation to enhance the efficiency, safety and resilience of airside operations, help aviation workers with manual, strenuous tasks like baggage handling and improve passenger experience from gate to kerbside.

b.           Maritime: Smart and sustainable port and ship operations

i.            In maritime, research will focus on autonomous port operations, safe and efficient delivery of alternative energy, smart ships, as well as intelligent and integrated port services. Singapore will need to serve an increasing number of vessels (e.g., cargo, crew change, bunkering, hull cleaning, supplies) amidst tighter constraints on sea space and manpower. Better orchestration of all activities in the port will become key. Investments will go towards AI-enabled port level efficiency analytics, predictive vessel traffic management, and smarter coordination of port services, so that vessel turnaround times can be reduced and operations better synchronised through timely data exchanges and proactive management.

ii.           The investment under RIE2030 will also enable Singapore's domestic transition towards cleaner fuels in line with the national goal of achieving net zero emissions by 2050, and support international maritime decarbonisation in line with the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) ambitions under its 2023 GHG Reduction Strategy. As alternative fuels may introduce new safety risks, research will focus on enhanced risk management tools to detect and predict the spread of fuel or chemical leaks, supporting their safe deployment across the maritime sector.

c.           Land Transport: Next-Generation Mass Transit Technology and Automated Depots

i.            In land transport, research will focus on next-generation autonomous mass transit technology and automated rail depots.

ii.           As new technologies to automate rail systems emerge, our research will identify and test potential upgrades to improve the performance and resilience of our rail systems. As Singapore's rail network expands, systems are becoming more complex to maintain while depot operations remain labour-intensive. Investment under RIE2030 will go towards exploring next-generation rail technologies that simplify system design and reduce maintenance needs. It will also support the development of highly-automated rail depots that use AI and sensors to enable more effective predictive maintenance and automate maintenance tasks, augmenting the capabilities of our rail workforce.

Building on a Strong Foundation for the Future

5.           The investment in research and innovation under RIE2030 builds on the foundation built through investments under RIE2025 to enable Singapore to build cross-cutting capabilities in connectivity as well as across the transport ecosystem, while continuing to deepen sectoral capabilities. We will continue to partner with industry stakeholders to co-develop solutions that address real-world transport challenges, so that we strengthen Singapore’s standing as a world-class global transport and connectivity hub.  

6.           The RIE2030 funding is open to Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs) and research institutes. Industry may participate through collaborations with IHLs and research institutes where this contributes to advancing national research priorities and growing the research ecosystem. Further details on the application process will be announced over the course of the RIE 2030 tranche.

¹ For more information on RIE2030, please refer to NRF’s Media Factsheet ↗ (opens in new tab) on the domains and RIE Flagships.