NEC expands innovation ecosystem, launches Open Innovation Centre in Singapore

NEC Corporation has opened the NEC Open Innovation Centre (OIC) in Singapore, which forms a part of the wider NEC innovation eco-system, and reaffirms NEC's commitment to foster open innovation and partnerships with the private and public sectors.

Supported by the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB), the OIC is part of NEC's $100 million investment over the five years from 2017 in research and innovation in the Asia Pacific region.

The Centre, operated by the Global Safety Division, is NEC's first of its kind facility outside Japan, which infuses market-leading NEC technology and a deep partner ecosystem to offer cutting edge solutions in areas such as public safety, transportation and aviation.

The Centre provides a platform where solutions can be translated into realistic and relatable use cases. It houses various revolutionary thematic zones which allow an immersive experience in AI and biometric solutions within the context of daily life. For example, in the "home" zone, visitors will be shown how our face can be utilized as a powerful and trusted key to securely access government and commercial services with NEC's Trusted Digital Identity solution.

NEC is also at the forefront of advanced ICT solutions for safety, security and efficiency in air travel. With more people flying today, as well as heightened security threats, passengers are asked to go through more checks and screenings. All this leads to an earnest need for providing a frictionless travel experience.

NEC's One ID-Single token technology takes travel experiences to new heights by providing integrated identity management across the travel process, allowing passengers to authenticate their identity online or in person and ensuring efficient flow within the airport.

"We are delighted that NEC has chosen Singapore to establish its first Open Innovation Centre outside of Japan. Singapore's strong base of enterprises, partners and digital talent offer NEC an ideal location to forge collaborations and translate its strong biometric identification technology into new applications for public safety and commercial domains for Singapore and beyond," said Lily Phua, Director of New Businesses, EDB.

Vinoop Goel, Regional Director in Asia-Pacific from the International Air Transport Association (IATA), comments, "With the number of travelers expected to double in 20 years time, the use of technology will be critical for increasing passenger throughput in the existing airport terminals. NEC's OIC is a good showcase of the technologies that can make air travel more efficient, including IATA's OneID initiative, and we look forward to implementations of these technologies to improve the passenger experience and enhance the efficiency of airline and airport operations."

"The vision of the Open Innovation Centre is to orchestrate a smart and safer city in collaboration with governments and businesses. With a digitally disruptive team at the heart of OIC's operations, new ideas of approaching public safety can be prototyped and launched within the centre and further deployed in global markets. This is only possible with strong support from our industry partners who are already on board the OIC ecosystem," said Tan Boon Chin, Managing Director, Global Safety Division, NEC Corporation. "We believe that a trusted digital identity based on biometrics such as facial recognition technology can transform businesses so as to provide secure and frictionless experience across home, city and aviation."

NEC has been developing biometric identification technologies for more than 40 years, and systems using NEC's Bio-Idiom biometrics have been introduced through more than 700 systems in 70 countries and regions around the world. Moreover, earlier this year, NEC's iris recognition was named the world's most accurate by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology, which has also recently named NEC's face recognition and fingerprint recognition technologies as the most accurate.