NEC and IE Singapore strike deal to uphold green industry

The two organisations plan to further improve Singapore’s $62.74bln green ICT industry using NEC’s IT and innovative technologies.

NEC Asia Pacific (NEC APAC), a leading IT and network solutions provider and systems integrator based in Singapore, and a wholly owned subsidiary of NEC Corporation (HQ:Japan), is collaborating with International Enterprise Singapore (“IE Singapore”) and local small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to promote green technologies of the future. On Thursday, IE Singapore and NEC APAC organised a seminar for industry experts to share their industry knowledge of the emerging global green economy.

The growing awareness and need for environmental protection and the resulting “green consumerism” worldwide have influenced governments and businesses to review their current consumption patterns and processes. IE Singapore has also identified Green ICT as a growing area of strength. Strong focus has been placed on building management solutions, e-services, and transport & logistics as promising areas within Green ICT where companies can contribute to globally, according to an NEC report.

According to a recent study commissioned by the British Government, the value of the growing global green economy in 2008 stood at US$8.97 trillion. Considering Singapore’s ICT industry was valued at $62.74 billion in 2009 alone, up from $58.10 billion in 2008, green ICT solutions looks set to become increasingly important for this industry in the years to come.

In line with this growing global trend towards green technologies, NEC aspires to stay ahead of competition, to grow beyond its boundaries and towards its Group Vision 2017, and to address climate change and environmental protection as listed in its Environmental Management Vision 2010 of reducing its net carbon dioxide emissions to zero in FY2010.

To achieve this, NEC has positioned itself to lead in the energy and smart grid business by harnessing its expertise and strengths in IT and network solutions, R&D and its innovative technologies. To date, NEC has developed several “green” IT products and solutions, such as “NEC ECO-center” and “Real IT Cool Project” (database centres), bio-plastics (plastic made from biodegradable plant materials), electric vehicles and automotive lithium-ion batteries, and smart grid solutions.

Mr Kiyofumi Kusaka, CEO, NEC APAC remarked, “NEC has been progressively moving towards creating “greener” products and solutions while minimizing our inputs (using less resources or using biodegradable ones) and outputs (creating less emissions and pollution), and through small but gradual actions like these, we hope to play our part for the environment. Singapore is an important market for us in the Asia Pacific and we hope to partner with local SMEs through IE Singapore to bring our latest green technologies and solutions into other markets in this region”.

As the lead agency under the Ministry of Trade and Industry promoting the overseas growth of Singapore-based enterprises and international trade, IE Singapore’s role in this effort is to support collaborative relationships with Singapore-based companies like NEC APAC. Among IE Singapore’s assistance framework, partnerships can be formed through IE Singapore’s International Partners (iPartners) programme to catalyze international alliances between Singapore-based companies.

“We are heartened to note that businesses are increasing Green practices into their business strategy. IE Singapore has also set up a Green Programme Office (GPO) earlier this year to drive Green initiatives within our organization. We hope IE Singapore’s assistance will provide inroads for Singapore-based companies to export their Green ICT solutions globally. To further shed light on this issue, IE Singapore is also happy to share the findings of a recent study that analyses the provision of Singapore companies’ Green ICT solutions and how they can contribute to overseas markets,” said Mr. Yew Sung Pei, Assistant Chief Executive of IE Singapore.