Mr Daniel Wee, Deputy Director of School of Information Technology, Nanyang Polytechnic conducting a tour of the Enterprise Technology Innovation Centre for guests

The newly established Enterprise Technology Innovation Centre at Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP) aims at equipping students to meet the expected high demand for SAP-trained professionals in the infocomm sector; this is in line with the iN2015 master plan, in which technology capability development and manpower development are key focus areas.

This joint collaboration between SAP Asia, NYP and Singapore Computer Systems Limited (SCS) is supported by the Defence Science & Technology Agency (DSTA) and the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA).

Over the next three years, an expected 1,000 students are expected to be equipped with the foundational skills necessary to develop solutions based on the enterprise service-oriented architecture (SOA).

Organisations wishing to embark on projects based on enterprise SOA can leverage the centre's infrastructure and expertise. These organisations can then start to adopt enterprise SOA in small pilot projects through co-innovation with the centre, without incurring high infrastructure or training costs.

A Memorandum of Understanding was signed by SAP, NYP and SCS to launch the Centre. Guests who attended the event include (from left): Dr Tan Geok Leng, Chief Technology Officer, IDA Singapore; Mr John Tan, Director of School of Information Technology, NYP; Mr Hans-Peter Klaey, President & CEO, SAP Asia Pacific; Mr Lin Cheng Ton, Principal & CEO, NYP; Mr Tan Tong Hai President & CEO, Singapore Computer Systems and Mr Richard Lim Chief Executive, Defence Science & Technology Agency

Mr Hans-Peter Klaey, President and CEO of SAP Asia Pacific said that enterprise SOA not only delivers flexibility to the customers but also reduce development time and integration cost. "Once again, Singapore sets the pace for IT adoption in the region as this centre is SAP's first for enterprise SOA in Asia," he added.

According to Mr Edward Ho, Deputy Principal for Technology at NYP, the polytechnic would use the centre to build new capabilities and talents based on SAP enterprise technology through industry project collaborations. He added that the collaboration would also benefit NYP students by providing them with knowledge and experience in composing business processes.

IDA's Chief Executive Officer, Mr Chan Yeng Kit, said that local companies will be able to leverage on the centre to develop new infocomm capabilities to stay relevant and move up the IP value creation chain.. This is will in turn equip students with critical infocomm expertise and real-life industry experiences to help them become Singapore's next generation of techno-strategists.