EnterpriseSG commits S$4m to HDB housing innovation call
The new call targets construction productivity, ageing infrastructure and heat resilience; promising ideas may later be piloted in HDB projects.
Enterprise Singapore has committed S$4 million to a new Housing & Development Board (HDB) Cool Ideas Enterprise call for proposals on construction productivity, ageing infrastructure and heat resilience, HDB said in a 28 October release. HDB also announced a 317-square-metre Building Research, Innovation & Collaboration (BRIC) Lab at its Centre of Building Research, with opening scheduled for 28 October. Together, the measures give Singapore built-environment firms a funding and testing route tied to public-housing problems.
Cool Ideas Enterprise is HDB's programme for companies developing solutions to challenges in public housing. Enterprise Singapore's S$4 million commitment backs the new call, which HDB says eligible firms can tap to support development of innovative solutions.
The BRIC Lab is intended as shared research workspace for companies in the programme and others developing solutions relevant to HDB. HDB says participants will be able to use testing and validation facilities for work such as 3D printing, precast production, solar installations and cool coatings, alongside technical input from its engineers and researchers.
For firms building construction and building-maintenance technology, the combination offers a route to test ideas against public-housing requirements before seeking broader adoption. HDB says promising solutions may later be piloted in its housing projects, giving selected teams a route to test whether the technology works under real public-housing conditions.
Source: HDB's 28 October announcement.
