AUT Technology Park sets up Singapore office
AUT’s Technology Park is spreading its wings globally with the opening of an office in Singapore in an effort to help IT
start-ups sell their products in the lucrative Asian market.
Previously the Technology Park had a presence at the New Zealand Trade and Enterprise office in Singapore and when the
government organisation pulled out, Tech Park Chief Executive Jonathan Kirkpatrick saw an opportunity that could not be
missed.
“It was great timing for us because we are currently strengthening existing links in Singapore and taking over the
office reflects the consolidation of our efforts,” he says.
AUT Technology Park is a research and commercialisation centre engaged in innovative projects with a high-tech
orientation and commercial potential. It assists business start-ups to realise the commercial application of their ideas
in fields such as robotics, software engineering, artificial intelligence, neural computing, bio-medical and educational
technologies.
Several of the Technology Park’s business start-ups have been involved in discussions with commercial partners in
Singapore and have entered into formal partnerships giving access to distribution networks in a variety of Asian
markets, he says.
One of the most exciting developments is the licensing of a Singaporean company to develop NeuCom, a self-programmable,
learning and reasoning computer environment devised by AUT’s Knowledge Engineering Discovery Research Institute, which
is based at the Technology Park.
To be launched next month, NeuCom is based on connectionist modules and learns from incoming data in an on-line
incremental, life-long learning mode. It can extract information that will help professionals discover new knowledge in
a range of fields from science and engineering to medicine, bio-informatics and business, says Jonathan Kirkpatrick.
AUT Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) Professor Philip Sallis also visited Singapore where he finalised an articulation
agreement with Nanyang Polytechnic and had discussions with the Singapore Institute of Management and the Singapore
Management University.
The agreement could bring students from the institutions to study a variety of subjects at AUT in the coming years,
particularly in the fields of Business and Health, he says.