Kajima invests $100 million in Singapore innovation centre, its first overseas

SINGAPORE – Japan’s Kajima Corporation began for its very first overseas innovation centre at Singapore’s Changi Company Park on Thursday (Aug 27).

The Kajima Global Hub, which represents an investment of $100 million, will also function as its Asia Pacific head office, according to a joint statement released by Kajima, one of Japan’s biggest construction business, and JTC Corporation.

The Worldwide Hub will contribute brand-new building technologies and research study and development abilities to Singapore’s building sector, they stated. The building and construction of the Hub job will also be the first known application of a thorough suite of robotics options by Kajima outside Japan.

Slated to be finished by 2023, the Center will occupy 13,088 square metres of organisation park area, R&D lab area and double volume building laboratory area in Changi Organisation Park. To strengthen its local operations, Kajma will consolidate all 400 personnel throughout its organisation functions – construction, engineering, advancement, research, and style – under one roofing at the Hub.

At the hub, Kajima Technical Research Institute Singapore (KaTRIS) will look into and establish sophisticated construction innovations, in addition to testbed sustainable and wellness technologies. The structure itself will showcase brand-new construction technologies in robotics, digitalisation and automation by incorporating data-driven ecological control technologies and energy-saving solutions for its occupants.

KaTRIS will increase the variety of local research study personnel, while Kajima Global Hub will produce better jobs, bring in local hires and minimize the environmental impact of new developments.

At the ground-breaking ceremony, Mr Yoshikazu Oshimi, president of Kajima, stated: “By promoting open innovations with renowned organizations in the region, both public and private, we aim to build our strong foundation, not just to provide the best services and services to our clients, however to plant seeds and nurture brand-new companies for future generation.”

The Kajima effort follows it signed a memorandum of understanding with JTC last year to share knowledge and team up on R&D.

Minister of State for Trade and Industry Low Yen Ling stated at the occasion: “This newest advancement strengthens Singapore’s value and strength as a relied on and well-connected worldwide R&D hub.”

She said the Covid-19 pandemic has actually offered Singapore’s construction sector a strong inspiration to accelerate the adoption of digital technology and automation, improve efficiency, and minimize its manpower requirements for lower-skilled levels.

“Emerging innovation trends such as robotics and expert system will play a crucial role in re-shaping the built environment sector in a post Covid-19 world,” Ms Low included.

Kajima and JTC will release several joint initiatives including research study on the Structure Info Modelling (BIM) system to digitalise the structure operations in center management. To automate the construction process, they will collectively establish a concrete-finishing robot with Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and a regional SME, Mega Plus Innovation. By early next year, the robotic can lower workforce and labour cost by 50 percent, on top of improving quality and security.

JTC has actually likewise presented Kajima to an NTU start-up, Transforma Robotics, to deploy its painting and examination robots that were collectively developed with JTC, to work together with Kajima’s building and construction robots.

JTC’s CEO, Mr Ng Lang, said; “As the Federal government’s designated Centre of Excellence for Building and Infrastructure, JTC forms strategic partnerships with market partners, such as Kajima, and academic institutes to resolve a broad spectrum of real life difficulties faced by the sector.”

He stated by integrating our engineering abilities with forward-looking industry competence, JTC hopes to accelerate and contribute to the built environment sector’s digitalisation journey.

Kajima has actually been working closely with National University of Singapore (NUS) on “well and green” building design principles. It is likewise partnering the Singapore University of Innovation and Design (SUTD) on the adaptation of advanced innovations such as drones for the building and construction market.

The company is likewise sponsoring the Lee Kuan Yew Global Organisation Plan Competition handled by Singapore Management University (SMU), and participated in the Open Development Platform handled by Infocomm Media Advancement Authority (IMDA).

Moving forward, Kajima will co-create brand-new concepts with start-ups and SMEs to expand open innovation activities at the Kajima Global Hub.