French utility company Engie will invest $80 million in Singapore over the next five years to develop an innovation centre that will drive digital initiatives and technical competencies in energy efficiency for the region.

Its Centre of Expertise for District Cooling will support the development of new district cooling projects in Singapore and in the Asia-Pacific region, and create 170 jobs for skilled staff, most of whom will be engineers.

"Singapore's Smart Nation initiatives will provide Engie with an opportunity to test new solutions in real cases and to establish one of its main regional development platforms for district cooling systems," it said yesterday.

Engie's expansion here is supported by the Economic Development Board (EDB), and the Singapore centre will become its innovation hub for the Asia-Pacific.

Engie said the centre will develop and roll out digital solutions and services across the region to harness real-time data and insights. This will help customers manage and improve energy efficiency, maximise performance, and create better ambient experiences for their end users.

"Singapore's vision to be a Smart Nation and its leadership in sustainability, innovation and ease of doing business make it an obvious choice to continue to build and test our innovations there," said Engie Group chief executive officer Isabelle Kocher.

EDB chairman Beh Swan Gin said Singapore has been accelerating efforts to develop digitalisation as a key competency across the different sectors in the economy.

"Engie's decision to anchor its Centre of Expertise in Singapore to drive digital and energy efficiency initiatives in the region is a strong vote of confidence in our capabilities. At the same time, this centre will also help groom more Singaporeans to participate in this area of growth."