Alibaba Cloud has entered into a partnership with the National University of Singapore (NUS) in an effort to accelerate Singapore’s smart nation initiative through the launch of an innovation incubator programme.
The innovation incubator programme will nurture a new generation of data scientists for Singapore and the region through a tie-up with Alibaba Cloud Academy.
Local start-ups will also have the opportunity to present their ideas to venture capitalists around the world.
"We are very excited to partner with NUS, Singapore’s leading academic institution in science and technology to help nurture the next generation of data scientists,” said Raymond Ma, head of ASEAN, Australia and New Zealand (A/NZ) at Alibaba Cloud.
"The partnership reinforces Alibaba Cloud’s ambition of building a sustainable ecosystem where young science talents can learn, develop and flourish."
The agreement will enable business analytics students at NUS to secure internships at Alibaba Cloud in an effort to develop local talent around key strategic domains such as big data, cloud computing, business analytics and artificial intelligence under the guidance of experienced mentors.
“NUS is fully committed to developing local talents in the areas of big data and AI to advance Singapore’s Smart Nation initiative,” said Associate Professor James Pang, co-director of NUS Business Analytics Centre.
"Our partnership with Alibaba Cloud expands students’ horizons by giving them the opportunity to learn under mentors from Alibaba Cloud, and gain access to cutting-edge technological developments. In this way, NUS students could pursue their interests beyond their curriculum.
"We are also very excited to conduct joint research with Alibaba Cloud to push the frontiers of data science."
Furthermore, an education certification programme will be offered to students from the universities Master of Science in Business Analytics programme developing their on-the-job capability in such areas as big data, cloud computing, business analytics and artificial intelligence.
The programme is offered by the NUS Business Analytics Centre, which is supported by the NUS Business School and NUS School of Computing.
Researchers from NUS Business Analytics Centre will also work with Alibaba Cloud to identify potential research projects for collaboration.
