Above photo (from left): Mr. Ethan Yu, Vice President of Alibaba Group and General Manager of Alibaba Cloud Global, Professor Ho Teck Hua, NUS Deputy President (Research & Technology), Mr. Nicholas Lee, Chief Executive Officer, EZ-Link Pte Ltd. Photo credit: NUS
The National University of Singapore (NUS), EZ-Link, Singapore’s largest issuer of Contactless e-Purse Application (CEPAS) compliant cards and Alibaba Cloud, the cloud computing arm of Alibaba Group, today signed a Memorandum of Understanding to collaborate and boost Singapore’s smart computing and data-driven capabilities.
The collaboration between the three organisations will bolster the University’s data science curriculum and pave the way for a pilot data analytics project with EZ-Link. It will also help build local IT skillsets, meet enterprise demands and support the research and development of advanced technologies in the Big Data era.
“NUS contributes to Singapore’s vision of becoming a digital economy through our University’s strengths – creating value through fundamental and applied research, and training the next generation of digital talent. By working with Alibaba Cloud, a global cloud leader, we can tap into its extensive ecosystem and technology capabilities for these efforts. The partnership with Alibaba Cloud and EZ-Link further demonstrates the close collaboration between academia and industry in solving real-world problems, and will help contribute towards a future, cashless Singapore,” said Professor Ho Teck Hua, NUS Deputy President (Research & Technology).
Alibaba Cloud will contribute USD500,000 in cloud credits towards the use of its cloud platform and data centres by students and researchers from NUS for academic and research purposes. IT experts from Alibaba Cloud will also offer hands-on lessons on the use of Alibaba Cloud’s platform for NUS staff and students.
In addition, Alibaba Cloud and NUS will collaborate in the areas of cloud computing, big data analytics, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, quantum computing, and interactive digital media, as well as identifying opportunities for joint research projects and information exchange.
The collaboration provides a platform for all three organizations to work collectively on harnessing data and translating it into ready-to-implement solutions which will positively impact Singaporeans and businesses. Alibaba Cloud and NUS are currently working with EZ-Link to analyze card usage patterns across the EZ-Link card schemes, service touch points, and customer segments to improve customer experience and create better services via real-time insights.