Executive Vice President and Head of SAP Global Research and Business Incubation Mr Jason Yotopoulos (right) with EDB Managing Director Mr Yeoh Keat Chuan (centre) and SAP Technical Lead Mr Baljeet Malhotra at the official opening of the SAP Next Business and Technology Research Centre.

The SAP Next Business and Technology Research Centre, SAP’s largest research location and headquarters in the Asia Pacific, was officially opened in Singapore on 10 December.

A collaboration between Singapore’s Economic Development Board, the Singapore National Research Foundation (NRF) and SAP, the centre is situated in NRF’s CREATE Campus. It joins SAP’s research locations worldwide in broadening the company’s efforts to work with government, industry partners and academia in areas such as social business networks and collaboration, real-time intelligence and analytics. These are expected to have a myriad of applications across different industries including transportation, logistics, urban management and smart cities, machine-to-machine sensor-enabled objects, and retail.

The research centre will be home to a diverse, cross-discipline team of researchers and business developers with expertise from biomedical fields to computer science. To meet the anticipated demand from the region, the size of the research team will triple by 2014 to make up 15 per cent of the global research team. The centre will also leverage the local talent pool through a PhD and student internship programme with Singapore universities. At the same time, its location at CREATE Campus will facilitate interaction and collaboration with other research groups targeting urban solutions such as the Singapore-ETH Centre - Future Cities Laboratory.

SAP Next Business and Technology and CREATE have also established an active collaborative relationship with  local and international universities such as the National University of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, ETH Zurich and Cambridge.

Incorporated into the research centre is a Co-Innovation Living Lab which provides a real-world, hands-on collaboration platform to drive co-innovation with customers, partners, and developers around research and development of new products and services. The centre will also be the second location in Asia Pacific to house the SAP Global Business Incubator, creating opportunities globally for entrepreneurs to participate and collaborate in the creation of new businesses.

“By being in the heart of Asia Pacific with our new research centre, this reinforces SAP’s commitment in the region to continue our growth investments and drive the innovation agenda to address the pressing economic, social, and environmental challenges here,” said Mr Jason Yotopoulos, Global Head of SAP Next Business and Technology.
“Singapore is also a strategic hub and springboard for business owners and entrepreneurs, and our Global Business Incubator team will be able to leverage the vibrant scene here.”

One of SAP’s customers is Luxasia Goup, which is collaborating with the research centre to create a new level of customer experience for the beauty industry. Luxasia’s Chief Executive Officer Mr Patrick Chong said, “In a rapidly changing retail environment, we want to delight customers by offering premium quality products and services that differentiate us. Most of all, we aim to bring value to every business partner by innovating with new tools and concepts, alleviating the overall shopping experience in the region.”

Also working with the SAP Next Business and Technology Research Centre is location-based solutions company YFind Technologies. Its Managing Director Dr Ting See Ho said it is looking to partner with innovative companies like SAP who see the tremendous potential for indoor positioning technology and who can help customers execute flawlessly. “Businesses and governments who want to create location-intelligent smart cities will find themselves faced with a massive undertaking. It's a deeply compelling vision, and one that requires the right technology and partners to deliver,” he said.