The Land Transport Authority (LTA) and Enterprise Singapore (ESG) have been collaborating on various co-innovation initiatives with industry partners to co-create solutions to enhance the capabilities, efficiency and responsiveness of Singapore’s land transport industry.
2 Under the latest effort, LTA and ESG are launching a second innovation call in collaboration with IPI Singapore, named “Xcite” – Accelerating Co-Innovation for Transformation & Export. Through this initiative, LTA and ESG hope to work with startups and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to develop innovative solutions that leverage technologies such as artificial intelligence, image analysis and automation to help enhance productivity and efficiency in transport operations and maintenance.
3 Under the latest innovation call, six problem statements have been identified under the themes of lean maintenance, safe assets and productivity. Shortlisted proposals will go through product development and pilot runs before commercialisation. Eligible startups and SMEs that have been shortlisted stand to benefit from ESG’s Enterprise Development Grant, with up to 80% of qualifying solution development costs supported.[1]Please refer to Annex A for more information on the problem statements.
4 One of the problem statements involves the development of a smart centralised management of traffic control plans. It will be supported under the National Innovation Challenge[2] (NIC), as the solution is expected to contribute significant productivity gains to the land infrastructure engineering industry. Successful solution providers for NIC problem statements can get up to $2 million in grant support for solution development and industry adoption.
5 The latest innovation call builds on the success of the first run which was unveiled during LTA’s inaugural Land Transport Industry Day in 2019. In the previous exercise, SMEs were invited to submit proposals to address on-the-ground operational challenges in the land transport sector.[3]In total, LTA and ESG received 22 proposals then, with eight being chosen to receive further support to develop and trial their solutions. Three of these projects were featured at Land Transport Industry Day 2021. Details are at Annex B.
6 This close collaboration with the industry ensures that companies focus their efforts in areas that are of strategic importance to Singapore’s transport sector, and help hasten the commercialisation of viable solutions with government support. We will continue to work with these companies to identify more opportunities to incorporate their proposed solutions into our land transport landscape.
5 For more information on Xcite’s detailed scope and application process, please visit https://go.gov.sg/lta-industrydevelopment or https://xcite.innovation-challenge.sg/.
