Thales, a global technology leader in the Aerospace, Transportation and Defence & Security, has officially inaugurated the Thales Innovation Hub Singapore, whichrepresents the Group’s first multidisciplinary innovation centre outside Europe.
The concept behind this Hub is to seek inspiration from Asian concepts, Asian innovation and Asian thinking, to arrive at a deeper understanding of the operational needs of clients in the region, and design new products and services that address these specific requirements.
The Thales team will engage customers in user centered innovation, co-designing, prototyping and testing new ideas and concepts across domains ranging from defence, maritime security to aerospace, air traffic management and smart cities.
The innovation team has been trained by the Design Thinking and Innovation Academy from the Design Singapore Council in order to apply the concept of Design Thinking innovation – a new, goal-oriented, problem solving approach developed to look at all potential alternatives of a particular design problem.
Thales has world class credentials in research and technology, and invests 20 per cent of its annual turnover in research and development. The Singapore team will therefore draw from considerable global support, including access to the internal network of design practitioners, a global group of experts from across all Thales’ domains, which fosters cross-collaboration in order to fine-tune design and innovation. The team will be further strengthened by the partnership forged with the Singapore University of Technology & Design (SUTD), through collaboration and internship agreements.
Jean-Bernard Lévy, chairman and CEO, Thales commented: “Innovation is in our DNA. Thales invests more in research and technology than most other industrial groups and with this inauguration we reaffirm this commitment to innovation. By leveraging the multi-cultural and multi-disciplinary Thales teams in Asia and across the world, the entire technology and research portfolio of the Group can be accessed by local clients to meet their needs in each of our strategic countries like Singapore.”
Quek Swee Kuan, deputy managing director, Singapore Economic Development Board, added, “We are pleased that Thales has chosen Singapore to open its first multidisciplinary innovation hub outside of Europe. The decision to locate the Thales Innovation Hub in Singapore signifies the growing importance of Thales’ Asian customer base, as well as Thales’ continued confidence in Singapore as an innovation leader in the region.”