Johnson Controls, the global provider for smart and sustainable buildings, announced the official opening of its S$50 million OpenBlue Innovation Center to create a future-ready built environment for Singapore and the region. The new facility, located within the School of Design and Environment (SDE), at the National University of Singapore (NUS), will be a living laboratory for a new breed of customizable, contact-free applications built on Johnson Controls unifying digital technology suite, OpenBlue. Together with its ecosystem of partners — which includes NUS and Microsoft — the center is pioneering the use of a common configuration language that bridges core building technology, as well as behavioral, wellness and spatial data to develop solutions that meet new demands for safety and sustainability in connected spaces.
Safety and energy usage of buildings
The announcement is a testament to Johnson Controls' commitment to develop advanced digital solutions
The announcement is a testament to Johnson Controls' commitment to develop advanced digital solutions that can improve performance, reliability, safety and energy usage of buildings and its occupants. It will allow the company to further build on unique technologies and innovations from similar state-of-the-art sites it currently operates in:
- Cork (Ireland)
- Milwaukee and Birmingham (USA)
- Wuxi (China)
- Pune (India)
- San José (Costa Rica)
These centers are all designed to accelerate the reinvention of urban living, with significant investments targeted at digital innovation.
"Artificial Intelligence and machine learning will play a pre-eminent role in reshaping how we create comfort for people and energy efficiency in a building", said Mike Ellis, executive vice president and chief customer & digital officer for Johnson Controls. “Our unprecedented focus of co-innovating cutting-edge technologies through collaborations such as with NUS will spark greater innovation and true differentiation for our customers."
Net-zero energy building
The ecosystem of partners will tap on the intelligence generated from the center to create evidence-backed solutions
The 240 square-meter center, housed in SDE4, Singapore's new-build net-zero energy building, will have sensors fitted throughout the indoor space — including overhead ventilation to measure air flow.
The lab staff and collaborating researchers will collect and analyze data using Johnson Controls unifying technology suite and analytics to obtain qualitative and quantitative understanding of the interactions among technology, well-being, and indoor environments. The ecosystem of partners will tap on the intelligence generated from the center to create evidence-backed solutions for healthier, safer connected indoor spaces.
NUS will serve as a testbed for OpenBlue Innovation Center's pioneering solutions, which will help the university in its ongoing efforts to develop a smart, sustainable and safe campus for its staff and students. The collaboration also includes joint research and innovation in the areas of built and urban environments, particularly in data analytics, sustainability and operations, as well as people and wellness. There will also be opportunities for collaborations on teaching and internship programs.
Agile and sustainable space usages
OpenBlue, is a complete suite of connected solutions and services
The underlying Johnson Controls unifying technology suite, OpenBlue, is a complete suite of connected solutions and services that combine the Company's 135 years of building expertise with cutting-edge digital technology.
This open digital platform, when integrated with Johnson Controls core building systems and enhanced by ecosystem partners, connects traditionally separate systems to create new capabilities for safer, more agile and sustainable space usages.
With support from the Singapore Economic Development Board, the facility is expected to have more than 100 employees within four years. Johnson Controls currently employs around 800 employees throughout Singapore, and has its products installed in many of the commercial buildings in Singapore. The investment marks the company's commitment to spearhead the creation and adoption of disruptive solutions for the built environment industry in the region.