About Us

"NTU is a big university and we have many collaborations with MINDEF and other defence organisations. We need to coordinate that to make it more efficient, to know what the left hand and right hand are doing. Therefore we have to put up this office where a lot of the defence-related research is going to be put together, coordinated and funded, and have a more direct dialogue with MINDEF. It will also serve as NTU’s main interaction point with MINDEF and we will continue to work closely with MINDEF to strategically identify future critical research areas, capabilities and educational opportunities."

 

NTU President Professor Bertil Andersson (2011-2017) 

At Temasek Laboratories@NTU 10 year anniversary celebration, 2014

 

The Office of Research & Technology in Defence & Security (ORTDS) was initially set up in 2015 to further advance the strong partnership of MINDEF and NTU by consolidating NTU’s expertise and capabilities in this vital sector. It comprises all defence-related centres and laboratories in NTU.  

The office is the entry point to all the defence science & security - related centres and laboratories in NTU.

Fast-forward to 2020, ORTDS has expanded their stakeholders to other local and foreign government agencies and is the portal to all NTU's research and academic resources in the domain of Defence Science research.  

Our Purpose

ORTDS's Ecosystem consisting MINDEF-NTU Research Centres, Local Defence & Security Agencies, NTU Research Capabilities & Administration and Other Collaborators

The current landscape for the defence science & security research is complex. In addition to our current partners, it is important to search and bring new partners into the NTU ecosystem. To attract new collaborations, we need to keep our channels accessible and our processes efficient.

ORTDS's unique position as the coordinating office to serve as a master planner role within the defence and security domain in NTU's research landscape. It will be able to orchestrate and plan strategic initiatives across disciplines and entities to ensure key areas are addressed. In the long term, we aim to influence directives and spearhead NTU's new strategic thrusts in the area of defence security research through collaborations and enhance exploration into new discovery areas and novel applications.

Our Objectives

Bridging the gap

As the Defence & Security strategic planning office, we partner with local Defence & Security agencies to develop the technology and to stretch the frontiers of defence science & security R&D by synergising existing and building new capabilities.

Through:

  • Enhancing Collaboration
  • Providing sustainability
  • Strategising and ensuring growth

 

We plan to add value to the defence and security research community through the following areas:

  1. Facilitate collaboration integration and provision of strategic oversight
  2. Catalyse innovative, relevant and dual-purpose research
  3. Improve efficiencies and synergy between investment & resources
  4. Facilitating and bridging the gap in discovery and application
  5. Groom young scientists and engineers to build continuity of local talent pool
  6. Promote talent attraction, retention and core team stability