Singapore’s Ministry of Defense (MINDEF) and the French Ministry of Defense (MOAF) have signed an agreement to establish a Joint Research and Development Laboratory (Joint Lab) on 19 April 2023. The agreement was signed by Chan Heng Kee, MINDEF’s Undersecretary (National Defense), and Dr. Emmanuel Chiva, Chief Executive of the French Armament Agency. This is the first joint lab in Singapore that MINDEF has established with overseas countries and partners. The Joint Lab is a demonstration of long-term and productive defense technology cooperation between Singapore and France, a defense research and development (R&D) partnership for over 20 years under the Advanced Research Initiative.[1] (Safari). The signing ceremony was also attended by his French Ambassador to Singapore, H.E. Mindy Tan, MINDEF’s Chief Defense Scientist Mr. Tan Penyam, and French Defense Innovation Agency Chief Major General Patrick Offort.
Led by MINDEF’s Future Systems and Technology Directorate and the French Defense Innovation Agency, the Joint Lab will take a global and interdisciplinary approach to developing artificial intelligence capabilities for impactful defense applications. The Joint Lab brings together the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) and the National University of Singapore’s Temasek Institute (TL@NUS), a major institution that brings together research expertise from the broad ecosystems of both countries. Higher Education Institutions, Research Institutes, Industry. Examples of potential research include computer vision to monitor image and video feeds to detect potential threats in various environmental conditions, and AI for geospatial analysis. Robust AI for visual recognition enhances sensory shaping, and natural language processing extracts and summarizes information for reporting and analysis.
Chan Heng Kee, Undersecretary (National Defense) of MINDEF, said: Joint his lab is deepening its partnership with France. Bringing together leading researchers from Singapore and France will accelerate research to address common security challenges. ”
Emmanuel Chiva, CEO of DGA, said: This is an unprecedented project with our longtime partner Singapore. ”
Professor Khoo Boo Cheong, Director of TL@NUS, said: Combining rich and extensive AI research expertise from the research ecosystems of France and Singapore to develop next-generation defense capabilities. ”
CNRS Chairman and CEO Antoine Petit said: This joint lab will enable him to work with partners in Singapore to explore new research directions, focusing on his AI topics with great potential for defense applications. ”
The establishment of the joint lab is part of MINDEF’s ongoing efforts to improve research and technical capabilities through partnerships with like-minded countries.
[1]The SAFARI (Singapore and France Advanced Research Initiative) agreement is a framework for cooperation between France and Singapore in defense research, science and technology. Since 1997, we have realized more than 70 joint projects.
