In The News

TUMCREATE BMDV Visit_March 2023 (2)

Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMDV) Visit to TUMCREATE Ignited Rigorous Discussions in the Mobility Domain

On 22 March 2023,TUMCREATE had the honour of receiving Mr Oliver Luksic, the Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister for Digital and Transport, from the German Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport (BMDV) and his delegation, in which the Principal Investiros presented highlights of the mobility research projects undertaken by TUMCREATE and TUM Asia. The visit culminated in several insightful discussions between the delegation and TUMCREATE’s researchers regarding the mobility landscape in Singapore and Germany.  Dr. David Eckhoff, Principal Scientist,  Director of the Simulation Lab at TUMCREATE and Co-Founder of the spin-off company, intobyte, introduced the City Mobility Simulator – #CityMoS – a high-resolution and high-performance digital twin solution for city-scale transport systems. In traffic-laden cities like Singapore, CityMoS gives transport planners a holistic picture of a city’s traffic demands depending on the time of the day, and its the effect on energy consumption, giving rise to more sustainable mobility solutions for cities.     Dr Graham Leedham presented the #Pickupanddropoff (PUDO) project, a result of TUMCREATE’s former mobility programmes. As the intersection of road and pathways, pick-up and drop-off points tend to be busy, comprising heterogenous and erratic traffic. Adding autonomous vehicles into the mix, picking up and dropping off passengers at such points are often the most complex and challenging tasks at hand. Through intensive research of passenger and traffic behaviour under the project hosted by TUM Asia, the research teams devised improvisations to provide an optimal user experience.   It was a fruitful discussion between the delegation and our lead principal investigators exchanging views on the mobility trends and developments in Germany and Singapore, providing some insights into the mobility challenges presented in cities in which TUMCREATE hopes to address them beyond the distinguished delegation’s visit.   

Singapore Pathway to Carbon Neutrality

Singapore’s Pathway to Carbon Neutrality Analysis of New Technologies

Prof Thomas Hamacher (Chair of Renewable and Sustainable Energy Systems, TUM) and S Viswanathan (ERI@N, NTU) were recently awarded the Intra-CREATE project starting on 1 October 2022,  “Singapore’s Pathway to Carbon Neutrality Analysis of New Technologies”. The project The Principal Scientist coordinating the project is Dr Tobias Massier from TUMCREATE.  This is a 3 year Intra-CREATE project in collaboration with NTU to address Singapore’s energy future and the project will be based in Singapore. This project is aligned with Singapore’s commitment to sustainable development and achieving long-term net-zero emissions. Emissions in Singapore are dominated by the power generation, industry and transport sectors. The most significant component is carbon dioxide, primarily from burning fossil fuels in our cars, trucks, ships, trains and planes in the Transport sector,  while the residential and commercial sectors use electricity generated from burning natutal gas in power stations. Singapore’s mitigation efforts includes improving energy efficiency through several programmes by tapping on four switches to transform our energy supply. 1. Solar to counter the intermittency of renewable energy sources 2. Regional  Power Grids to access low-carbon electricity 3. Emerging Low-Carbon Alternatives like the utilization and storage (CCUS) technologies and hydrogen to help reduce carbon footprint 4. Natural Gas produces the least amount of carbon emissions and is currently still the dominant fuel for Singapore. However, there are still limitations. How does TUMCREATE’s new Singapore’s Pathway to Carbon Neutrality Project Analysis of New Technologies ome in? Three groups of scenarios will be examined. The first scenario looks at the potential of the development of a global market for hydrogen or synfuels with Singapore as a regional hub for these energy carriers. The second group assumes intense cooperation of ASEAN countries in the field of energy. The third group remains in the fossil fuel paradigm but reduces emissions using CCU, CCUS or carbon production with Singapore as the central hub in the ASEAN region.  Click to read more about the project HERE If you are interested in embarking on this meaningful journey, do check out the Careers page HERE

TUMCREATE News_P4SG Lab (2)

Proteins4Singapore Project officially took over lab operations on 1 September 2022

The Proteins4Singapore project which aimed to create a new generation of proteins that is nutritious and palatable to secure a sustainable alternative proteins supply for Singapore officially took over the lab space at CREATE Innovation Wing on 1 September 2022. This marks yet another milestone for the project, which comprises a consortium of food science experts spanning digital agriculture, food technology and biotechnology, health and nutrition and life-cycle analysis.  Principal Scientist, Prof Thomas Becker who will be leading the Singapore’s research team, is set to create a new era of a sustainable, secure and resilient food production concept and contribute to Singapore’s ambitious 30-by-30 initiative. Click HERE for the research page. 

DAvid Eckhoff

Dr. David Eckhoff, one of the Top Speakers for the Automotive Charging & Battery ASEAN 1st International Conference

Dr. David Eckhoff, Principal Scientist and Director of the MoVES laboratory at TUMCREATE is included among the Top Speakers at the 1st International Conference for the Automotive Charging & Battery ASEAN.  The 2 day conference will be held at the Singapore Battery Consortium Fusionopolis Way 2, 138634 Singapore on 12 and 13 September 2022. He will be discussing how digital twin and simulation software is utilised to support the transition to electric transportation, including a particular focus on modelling mobility aspects at a city scale.  His research interests include privacy protection, smart cities, vehicular networks, and intelligent transportation systems with a particular focus on modelling and simulation. Find out more about Dr. David Eckhoff HERE              

TUMCREATE researchers recognised for contributions to Singapore’s 2040 vision for all vehicles to run on cleaner energy

The SITEM project team including TUMCREATE researchers has received the prestigious Borderless Silver Award 2022 in the annual Firefly Awards by the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Singapore (MTI). The annual Firefly Awards celebrate the best of ideas as well as recognise teams and individuals within the MTI Family who have exemplified strengths in the respective Award categories. The TUMCREATE researchers Dr Tobias Massier, Dr David Eckhoff, Dr Daniel Zehe, Marc Gallet, Kuo Yu-Jeng, Xiao Jiajian, and Dr Arif Ahmed were honoured when their efforts were recognised by the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Singapore (MTI). The team would also like to thank fellow researchers and previous team members Dr Sebastian Troitzsch, Andrej Trpovski, and Nagacharan Teja Tangirala for their efforts and achievements, contributing to the success of the research project. From left: Dr Tobias Massier, Marc Gallet, Kuo Yu-Jeng, Xiao Jiajian, Dr Daniel Zehe, Dr David Eckhoff   The SITEM Project Team: A*STAR IHPC & TUMCREATE’s multidisciplinary researchers   Singapore’s 2040 vision to phase out internal combustion engine vehicles and have all vehicles run on cleaner energy to contribute towards Singapore’s decarbonisation commitments, requires a large-scale, multi-agency effort to provide charging infrastructure, electrify public vehicles, and upgrade the electrical grid to accommodate the new demand. The Singapore Integrated Transport and Energy Model (SITEM) describes a research project that supports Singapore’s planning for the transition to electric vehicles (EVs) nationwide. Commissioned by the Prime Minister’s Public Sector Science and Technology Policy and Plans Office (S&TPPO) and in collaboration with all relevant agencies, researchers from A*STAR and TUMCREATE set out to create the first high-fidelity, island-wide simulation of EV transport in Singapore. It is key project with public value for Singapore that TUMCREATE has been working on together with A*STAR’s Institute of High Performance Computing. SITEM is used to conduct a comprehensive analysis of projected electric vehicle (EV) charging patterns and energy demand, while integrating multiple aspects of mobility and energy modelling, including the movements of individual vehicles, drivers’ decisions about where and when to charge, and the interaction of EV charging demand with electricity grid capacity. The SITEM project builds on two primary simulation technologies developed by TUMCREATE: City Mobility Simulator (CityMoS) utilises high-performance computing techniques to enable high-detail transport simulation of the entire island of Singapore, while maintaining short turnaround times. Multi Energy System Modelling & Optimisation (MESMO) is an advanced software framework that combines simulation of electrical grids and optimisation techniques to mitigate the grid impact of distributed energy resources (such as photovoltaics) and new types of loads (such as EV charging). Robust modelling and simulation have potential to reap significant cost avoidance, as projects in the infrastructure and energy space are typically costly and hard to re-work once in the implementation stage. To model such a large-scale and multi-layered system at high resolution, the researchers are employing advanced capabilities including large scale complex systems modelling and optimisation, high performance and distributed computing, advanced data analytics and empirically grounded agent-based modelling of human behaviour. Through advanced scenario modelling and simulation, SITEM delivers insights on how Singapore can optimise EV charging stations’ placement to address drivers’ charging needs and to efficiently allocate energy demand and upgrades across the power grid. SITEM’s has enabled regulatory agencies to explore and evaluate varied pathways to vehicle electrification.   Further information on SITEM

EU Commission S&T Director General Visit to TUMCREATE

EU Commission S&T, Deputy Director General Meets European Scientists at TUMCREATE

TUMCREATE had the honor of co-hosting with EURAXESS ASEAN for an exchange between Ms. Ratso, the Deputy Director General at DG RTD of the European Commission and the key members of the expatriate European researcher community here in Singapore on 15 June 2022.   EURAXESS ASEAN is an initiative of the European Commission established with the aim to provide free access to information about research in Europe, opportunities for research funding, international collaboration and trans-national mobility.   The key purpose of visiting TUMCREATE is to engage with local stakeholders to get a better understanding of the strengths and focus areas of Singapore-based research and to explore closer collaboration with Europe. The expatriate European research community shared insights into their research activities and presented their suggestions on where there is potential for greater collaboration with Europe and how this could best be achieved.   The exchange concluded positively with great connections.

TUM President to TUMCREATE_14 June

TUM President Visit to TUMCREATE Saw Deepened Collaboration and Scientific Exchanges between TUMCREATE and TUM

The President of the Technical University of Munich, Prof. Thomas Hofmann visited TUMCREATE on 14 June, which saw several insightful scientific exchanges and deepened collaboration between Germany and Singapore.  Over the years, TUMCREATE evolved from delving in the mobility research area of Singapore, to diversifying to several new fronts – with new projects set in motion dedicated to address some of the most relevant challenges that Singapore is facing. This includes scientific areas in food technology, healthcare, and clean energy. With several established publications on the mobility front, TUMCREATE too continues to find research breakthroughs alongside several prominent scientific researchers at TUMCREATE.  The visit by Prof. Thomas Hofmann saw several opportunities for collaboration between Singapore and Germany in driving research innovations and initiating meaningful conversations between Singapore and Germany to solve global issues with focus in Singapore.The visit too enabled much interactions and exchanges with the researchers and investigators on progress and discussing direction on future projects.

DPM Heng _Dr

DPM Heng Swee Keat visits TUMCREATE

DPM Heng Swee Keat visited TUMCREATE in June 2022 to learn about the collaborative research projects with its Singaporean Partners.  The German Ambassador, Dr. Norbert Riedel was also present.   Dr. David Eckhoff (4th from the right) presented the CityMOS: City Mobility Simulator which was developed at TUMCREATE. Prof. Oliver Hayden (1st from the left)  and Dr. Matthew Cove (2nd from the right) presented CellFACE which will be developed at TUMCREATE as well.    TUMCREATE commits to driving innovation towards helping Singapore and the world move forward with urban sustainability.       Picture from left to right:  Prof. Oliver Hayden, Dr. Thomas Aulig, Dr. Norbert Riedel, DPM Heng Swee Keat, Dr. David Eckhoff, Dr. John Soong, Dr. Mathew Cove and Dr. Lim Khiang Wee 

Schnorr-Photo-small

German State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport visits TUMCREATE

On 27 May 2022, the German State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport Stefan Schnorr visited TUMCREATE to discuss research insights on mobility patterns and related energy demand of a Megacity like Singapore on its pathway to electrification with TUMCREATE’s lead scientists. TUMCREATE’s two primary simulation technologies, MESMO and CityMoS, were demonstrated and ideas which would be useful to testbed in Germany as well were explored. From left: Dr Thomas Aulig, State Secretary Stefan Schnorr, Heiko Wildner, Dr David Eckhoff Dr Tobias Massier showcased his research on the simulation of electrical grids and demonstrated TUMCREATE’s Multi Energy System Modelling and Optimisation (MESMO) tool, that combines simulation of electrical grids and optimisation techniques to mitigate the grid impact of distributed energy resources (such as photovoltaics) and new types of loads (such as EV charging). Dr David Eckhoff provided research insights on city mobility and demonstrated TUMCREATE’s City Mobility Simulator (CityMoS), which utilises high-performance computing techniques to enable high-detail transport simulation of the entire island of Singapore, while maintaining short turnaround times and enabling the efficient exploration of wide parameter spaces. The live coupling of the mobility simulator CityMoS and the power grid simulator MESMO provides insights into the dependencies of both systems. These advanced scenario modelling capabilities enable next-generation urban transport planning in smart cities. TUMCREATE’s simulation tools can answer a wide range of what-if questions in the urban mobility domain, such as placement of e-charging stations, while exploring and evaluating varied pathways to vehicle electrification.   Further information on CityMoS Further information on MESMO

Cellface Invite

CellFACE Demo Day

Professor Oliver Hayden, Technical University of Munich, leads a team of highly interdisciplinary scientists for the NRF project “CellFACE – Imaging-based Flow Cytometry for Hidden Haematology Biomarker”. CellFACE is funded by NRF aiming for hidden blood cell biomarker. Using a point-of-care technology combined with a clinically-acceptable workflow the team will provide functional hematology information to the clinical routine for the benefit of patients. A demonstration with engineering and clinical partners from NUHS, NTU, NUS, A*Star, and TUM was given on 6 April 2022 at 11 a.m.

Scroll to Top