Research and Innovation

The Closing the Resource Loop Initiative (CTRL) Funding Initiative is a $80 million research and development (R&D) programme under the Singapore’s Research, Innovation and Enterprise (RIE) Plan for sustainable resource recovery solutions. It funds R&D to tackle key waste streams like e-waste, plastics and food, and to invent useful and safe applications for treated waste residues. CTRL contributes to our efforts towards meeting the Singapore Green Plan targets and to pursue a circular economy under the targets to pursue a circular economy under the Zero Waste Masterplan Singapore.

CTRL seeks to increase resource recovery, prolong the lifespan of the Semakau Landfill, promote environmental sustainability, raise digitalisation and automation in Singapore’s waste management sector, and mitigate carbon emissions arising from waste treatment and disposal.

It comprises three broad R&D tracks:
(1) Resource Recovery - treatment and recovery of resources from key waste streams,
(2) Residues as Resources - treatment of residue streams and the safe applications of these treated materials,
(3) Rethinking energy from waste - development of novel solutions to maximise energy and resource recovery while minimising carbon emissions.

For more information and enquiries, please click here.

Environmental Services companies can tap on financial assistance from Enterprise Singapore to improve capabilities, drive innovation, and go global.

The National Innovation Challenges (NICs) are periodic open innovation calls for academia and industry to work together with public agencies to develop practical and impactful solutions to large and complex problems. By bringing industry partners, public agencies, and innovators together to work on the challenges, these calls seek to harness Singapore’s vast research and innovation capabilities to develop new technologies to sustain our long-term growth and resilience. NEA and Enterprise Singapore (ESG) have jointly launched innovation calls and request for proposals for industry solutions as part of the NIC.

NEA has established a regulatory sandbox under the Environmental Services Industry Transformation Map (ES ITM) to create an environment for experimentation, to promote innovation in Singapore’s environmental services industry. It allows the regulator to assess the impact of the new technologies and solutions before determining the appropriate regulatory adjustments. Interested parties can apply to experiment with innovative environmental services-related technologies and solutions in a controlled environment within a fixed duration, without compromising environmental, public health and safety aspects.

Under the Innovating and Curating Better Automation and Technologies for Environmental Services (INCUBATE) Programme, NEA partners technology and service providers as well as premises owners to address challenges in environmental services by conducting trials of technologies and innovations, and sharing the results and learning of such trials.

The NEA and the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) co-funded a WTE Research Facility (WTERF) that uses high-temperature to convert solid waste into gases and harmless slag. By using the municipal solid waste from NTU as feedstock, this research facility allows researchers to 'plug-and-play' component technologies to test their performance in a realistic operational environment.

For more information and enquiries, please click here.

Towards our mission to supply good water, reclaim used water, tame stormwater, and resist rising seas, PUB lends its support to various water-related research and development (R&D) in the region and globally. PUB’s R&D activities not only encourage new ideas and technology, but also position Singapore as one of the world leaders in water resource research and management strategies.

The Competitive Funding for Water Research is a funding scheme for basic and applied R&D of innovative and novel solutions for the water industry. It is part of the Singapore’s Research, Innovation, and Enterprise (RIE) Plan.

The PUB Global Innovation Challenge accelerates the discovery and adoption of smart solutions and new technologies to improve operational excellence and meet future needs. Companies, researchers, and innovators from around the world are welcome to propose solutions to PUB’s challenges, with selected applicants given the opportunity to validate and deploy their ideas.

The Living Lab (Water) Scheme accelerates the commercialisation of new promising water technologies by incentivising their early adoption in Singapore. It is part of Singapore’s Research, Innovation, and Enterprise (RIE) Plan.

The Industrial Water Solutions Demonstration Fund (IWSDF) is a component of the Water Efficiency Fund to support high-impact and innovative projects to treat and reclaim fresh water from industrial used water for process reuse. Companies with monthly water consumption exceeding 10,000m³ are invited to propose projects that can reduce their water consumption by at least 5%.

The Innovation Budget(IB) is a fund ringfenced from EnterpriseSG to support commercialisation of innovations from water companies. IB can also be used to support overseas test-bedding where there is further technology development conducted. IB aims to support water companies, especially SMEs to venture into new markets or adjacencies by defraying some of its cost.

PUB fosters the growth of water innovations by facilitating the testing of products, processes, systems, and services. PUB offers industrial test-bedding sites to the public and private sector, and has the operational know-how to facilitate the projects from conceptualisation to completion.

The Climate Science Research Programme Office (CSRPO), under the Centre for Climate Research Singapore (CCRS), has launched two research programmes to strengthen local research capabilities in climate change impact science and promote alignment between research and national priorities.

• National Sea Level Programme (NSLP). The NSLP coordinates relevant climate research in Singapore and addresses key knowledge gaps to understand and model physical mechanisms of sea level rise and variability, with specific focus on Singapore and the wider South East Asia region. Five projects on understanding sea level rise and variability in Singapore and the region have been awarded to local IHLs/RIs.

• Climate Impact Science Research (CISR) Programme The CISR Programme utilises the latest climate projections from Singapore’s Third National Climate Change Study (V3) to understand climate change impact in five key priority areas – sea level rise; water resource and flood management; biodiversity and food security; human health and energy; and crosscutting research to help bridge science-policy translation. The programe contributes to efforts to inform climate adaptation through climate science. Eight projects were awarded in December 2023 under the first grant call. A second grant call was launched in January 2024.

Through Local Research Collaborations and International Research Collaborations, partnerships are established to develop a deeper understanding of weather and climate processes and to enhance weather prediction and climate science capabilities in the region.

The Singapore Food Story R&D programme supports Singapore’s drive to strengthen its food security and achieve its “30 by 30” goal. The programme facilitates the development and use of productive, climate-resilient, innovative, and sustainable technologies for agriculture and aquaculture, as well as new biotech-based foods and ingredients, underpinned by a robust future-ready food safety system.

To further the SFS R&D Programme, additional funding has been allocated under the Research, Innovation, and Enterprise 2025 Plan (RIE 2025) to support research projects in the aquaculture, agriculture, future foods and food safety domains. This second phase will place greater emphasis on addressing food security challenges, which includes intensifying sustainability and circularity as part of Singapore's climate change commitments, coupled with the enhancement of food safety alongside the progressive development of novel foods.

The Environmental Robotics Programme aims to develop robotic solutions for the environmental services industry, in the work areas of:

i. Cleaning of Public Spaces;

ii. Waste Management (Collection, Transportation, Sorting and Disposal);

iii. Inspection, Monitoring and Sampling for Pest and Pollution Control.

The programme seeks to enable productivity gains, maintain a sustainable workforce and enhance current capabilities while also enabling new ones. It comes under the broader umbrella of Singapore’s National Robotics Programme.

Besides grant calls under the various R&D programmes, NEA will also launch innovation calls for R&D. For more information, please click here.

The National Innovation Challenges (NICs) are periodic open innovation calls for academia and industry to work with public agencies to develop practical and impactful solutions to large and complex problems facing Singapore. By bringing industry partners, public agencies, and innovators to work on the identified challenges, these calls seek to harness Singapore’s vast research and innovation capabilities to develop new technologies to sustain our long-term growth and resilience. NEA and Enterprise Singapore (ESG) have jointly launched innovation calls and request for proposals for industry solutions as part of the NIC.

NEA has established a regulatory sandbox under the Environmental Services Industry Transformation Map (ES ITM) to create an environment for experimentation, to promote innovation in Singapore’s environmental services industry. It allows the regulator to assess the impact of the new technologies and solutions before determining the appropriate regulatory adjustments. Interested parties can apply to experiment with innovative environmental services-related technologies and solutions in a controlled environment within a fixed duration, without compromising environmental, public health and safety aspects.

Under the Innovating and Curating Better Automation and Technologies for Environmental Services (INCUBATE) Programme, NEA partners technology and service providers as well as premises owners to address challenges in environmental services by conducting trials of technologies and innovations, and sharing the results and learning of such trials.

• Good air quality is important. While Singapore enjoys better air quality than many cities in Asia, we aspire to make our air better and the city more liveable.

• The Air Quality Monitoring and Control (AQMC) Funding Initiative (FI) supports basic and applied research in urban air quality.

• AQMC improves our understanding of Singapore's ambient air pollutants and funds efforts to develop technological solutions to better monitor them.

• Its outcome supports air quality policy and regulatory formulation as well as NEA's monitoring and management capabilities, with the goal of meeting the World Health Organisation Air Quality Guidelines (WHO AQGs) for all air pollutants in the long term. It seeks to improve our liveability by reducing the number of unpleasant odour incidents.

• For more information and enquiries, please click here.