China-based telecom equipment and services provider Huawei and National University of Singapore’s entrepreneurial education arm, NUS Enterprise, have formed an internet-of-things (IoT) accelerator called I5Lab, Tech in Asia reported on Monday.
I5Lab aims to develop IoT innovations in areas such as smart living, transport and logistics. The IoT industry could generate up to $11.1 trillion a year by 2025, equating to about 11% of the global economy, according to a 2015 McKinsey report cited by Huawei.
The incubator will capitalise on Huawei’s real network environment, open platform, and global marketing capability, and will offer participants a range of services such as mentoring, networking, industry-grade test beds and global marketing opportunities.
Lim Chee Siong, Huawei-Southern Pacific’s chief marketing officer, said: “With one of the most connected societies, open data sets and high-skilled ready talent, Singapore is an excellent test bed to nurture IoT ideas that will bring us closer to a smarter future.
“Ultimately we are looking to build our future business partners from the ground up.”
The deadline for submitting business proposals is the end of January 2017, with shortlisted startup teams to be announced the following month.