SINGAPORE - Kitchen sinks that help you turn food waste into fertiliser, robot cleaners, and technology systems that clean and provide surveillance at the same time.
These are amongthe innovations being championed by the National Environment Agency (NEA), half a year after it entered into a partnership with seven organisations from different sectors. The initiative is being ramped up.
On Monday (July 9), 11 new organisations joined the Innovating and Curating Better Automation and Technologies for Environmental Services (Incubate) partnership at the CleanEnviro Summit Singapore 2018.
These organisations include Marina Bay Sands, Nanyang Technological University (NTU), and the Singapore Zoological Gardens.
The Incubate partnership is an initiative of the Environmental Services Industry Transformation Map, which aims to drive innovation, promote greater adoption of technology, improve skills, raise productivity and seize opportunities overseas.
The environmental sector comprises more than 78,000 cleaning and waste management professionals and more than 1,700 companies. Thanks to the transformation map, about 30,000 people in the environmental services sector will have higher-skilled jobs by 2025.
Dr Amy Khor, Senior Minister of State for the Environment and Water Resources, said in the opening address at Marina Bay Sands that the environmental services industry needs to tackle low productivity, in addition to the challenges Singapore's ageing population brings.
"NEA will continue to facilitate regular sharing sessions amongst Incubate partners so that ideas can cross-germinate and successes can be replicated across the industry," she said.
The first batch of graduates from a special Environmental Management Association of Singapore (Emas) programme also received their diplomas on Monday.
The course, called the Emas Lead, Energise and Accelerate Performance (LEAP) leadership dual diploma programme, teaches executive and managerial skills to cleaning supervisors.
Republic Polytechnic is one of the new members of the Incubate partnership, and its deputy principal (academic services) Michael Koh said: "Being a partner in the Incubate programme will allow us to benefit from the best practices and the latest innovations in the industry so that we can further enhance our capabilities in this sector."
Dr Koh said: "This partnership also signifies our intent to avail our campus to the trial and implementation of technologies, solutions and innovations that will improve environmental sustainability."
