ESI Group and the DesCartes Program Aiming at Transforming Singapore Into a Hybrid, Ethical and Sustainable Smart Nation
25.1.2022 10:00:00 EET | Business Wire | Press release
Regulatory News:
ESI Group, Rungis, France, (ISIN Code: FR0004110310, Mnemo: ESI), a global player in virtual prototyping for industries, is collaborating in the launch of the DesCartes project in Singapore by providing its scientists, its expertise in hybridization methods and its virtual prototyping software solutions to the various stakeholders.
DesCartes a 5-year and a 35 million euros budget collaborative program, has been selected by the National Research Foundation (NRF) of Singapore and is based on the CREATE campus, "Campus for research excellence and technological enterprise", the international research hub of Singapore. Behind this very French name lies one of the largest collaborative programs of the CNRS: the "Program on Intelligent Modelling for Decision-making in Critical Urban Systems", dedicated to Hybrid Artificial Intelligence.
A smart city project to a better extent: A smart nation project
For many years, many smart cities projects have been launched. The principle of these smart cities is to collect data generated by sensors, to deploy specific applications, such as sensors indicating air pollution, alerts on accidents, traffic conditions in real time... However, the concept of smart nation carried by Singapore differs from the others because it pushes the concept to its paroxysm: from the digitization of an entity, a building, a single system to the digitization of a whole city interacting in real time.
From electrical grid optimization to delivery drones
DesCartes is developing hybrid AI methods, combining AI with knowledge-based models (physics, engineering), to enable trusted, real-time decision-making that is "people-centric" and "in harmony with society." All in response to complex situations related to critical urban systems in the context of Singapore's "Smart Nation." This research will be applied, for example, to urban mobility or energy management, or to anticipate the needs of future transportation networks, smart industries, or smart buildings. "For example, we aim to develop solutions to optimize the supply and demand of the electricity network, or solutions to improve the flow of cab drones or delivery drones, or to develop intelligent predictive maintenance applied to industrial tools," explains Dominique Baillargeat, director of CNRS@CREATE. Systems in the city that will be able to analyze data on the use of services by the population and then make optimization decisions.
ESI's role in this project.
ESI, recognized worldwide for its predictive physics modeling and virtual prototyping expertise, will play several roles in this program. First, its Scientific Director, also a member of CNRS and ENSAM, Prof. Francisco Chinesta, will be the program director. In addition, the Group will make its performance simulation solutions (VPS, VA One, Simulation X, etc.) and its expertise in hybridization and model reduction methods available to the partners and the program. ESI will thus be able to predict material behavior in real time, anticipate incidents (associated with damage, cracks, corrosion, etc.), model the wind for better use of drones, and make city management more intelligent and human-friendly. Finally, ESI will bring all its engineering expertise to optimize the platform in which the data will be used to make the right decision at the right time.
Dr. Francisco Chinesta, leader of the engineering activity for ESI in this project, says: "The goal of the Singapore program is to think and design an interconnected smart city with features that will revolutionize the concept of smart cities. In this project, it is essential to place the citizen - the human, but also more generally the living - at the heart of the hybridization devices. All the partners in this project aim to make Singapore an ethical, responsible and secure new city."
The Descartes program partners
The Descartes project involves on the French side:
- CNRS
- 13 universities and prestigious schools : Université Paris-Saclay, Université Toulouse Paul Sabatier, Université Lyon III Jean Moulin, Université de Bordeaux, École Nationale de l'Aviation Civile, Université Paris Sciences & Lettres, Université de Strasbourg, Arts et Métiers, INP Grenoble, INP ENSEEIHT, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Paris-Saclay, Université Grenoble-Alpes, Université Côte-d'Azur.
and, on the Singaporean side:
- 3 universities: Nanyang Technology University, National University of Singapore, Singapore University of Technology and Design.
- A*STAR: Agency for Science, Technology and Research. A*STAR is the national R&D agency of Singapore.
It is developed in collaboration with five industrial partners: ARIA, CETIM MATCOR, EDF, ESI Group and Thales.
About ESI Group
Founded in 1973, ESI Group is a leading innovator in Virtual Prototyping solutions and a global enabler of industrial transformation. Thanks to the company’s unique know-how in the physics of materials, it has developed and refined, over the last 45 years, advanced simulation capabilities. Having identified gaps in the traditional approach to Product Lifecycle Management (PLM), ESI has introduced a holistic methodology centered on industrial productivity and product performance throughout its entire lifecycle, i.e. Product Performance Lifecycle™, from engineering to manufacturing and in operation. Present in more than 20 countries, and in major industrial sectors, ESI employs 1200 high level specialists around the world and reported 2020 sales of €132.6 million. ESI is headquartered in France and is listed on compartment B of Euronext Paris.
For further information, go to www.esi-group.com.
Follow ESI: LinkedIn | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube
To view this piece of content from cts.businesswire.com, please give your consent at the top of this page.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220124005770/en/
Contact information
ESI - Press & Shareholders
Florence Barré
investors@esi-group.com
+33 1 49 78 28 28
Verbatee – Press & Investors Relations
Jérôme Goaer, j.goaer@verbatee.com, +33 6 61 61 79 34
Aline Besselièvre, a.besselievre@verbatee.com, +33 6 61 85 10 05
About Business Wire
For more than 50 years, Business Wire has been the global leader in press release distribution and regulatory disclosure.
Subscribe to releases from Business Wire
Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Latest releases from Business Wire
Rigaku Opens "Rigaku Solutions Center Osaka" to Strengthen Global Semiconductor Metrology Service Capabilities8.7.2026 18:00:00 EEST | Press release
Rigaku Corporation, a global solution partner in X-ray analytical systems and a group company of Rigaku Holdings Corporation (headquarters: Akishima, Tokyo; CEO: Jun Kawakami; “Rigaku”), has opened the Rigaku Solutions Center Osaka (RSC-Osaka) at its Osaka Plant. The new facility centralizes and expands practical training for field service engineers supporting semiconductor metrology systems, strengthening Rigaku's global service capabilities. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260708402770/en/ Photo: Hands-on training using the TXRF-V310 at RSC-Osaka As semiconductor manufacturing processes continue to advance toward finer geometries, higher layer counts, and more complex three-dimensional structures, semiconductor metrology systems require ever greater precision and operational stability. X-ray analytical technologies play an increasingly important role in meeting these demands through highly accurate, non-dest
Dryad Networks Reaches XPRIZE Wildfire Finals Milestone, Demonstrating Autonomous Detection and Suppression of Wildfires in Alaska8.7.2026 18:00:00 EEST | Press release
Dryad Networks, the leader in ultra-early wildfire detection technology, today announced a major achievement in the finals of the Autonomous Wildfire Response track of XPRIZE Wildfire, a four-year, $11 million global competition accelerating new solutions to end destructive wildfires. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260707802818/en/ The Silvaguard Suppression Drone can deliver a 100 liter liquid suppressant to autonomously suppress small wildfires detected by Silvanet Competing against just two other finalists selected from an original field of nearly 300 teams worldwide, Dryad successfully demonstrated the integrated capabilities of its Silvanet wildfire detection network and Silvaguard autonomous firefighting drone system during final testing in remote Alaska. The XPRIZE Wildfire finals challenged teams to autonomously detect and suppress a wildfire without any human intervention across a vast 1,000 square k
Cardiac Dimensions ® Announces Three Major Publications Demonstrating Long-Term Durability, Real-World Performance, and Broad Patient Benefit of the Carillon Mitral Contour System ®8.7.2026 17:05:00 EEST | Press release
Cardiac Dimensions, a leader in transcatheter therapies for heart failure, today announced the publication of three major manuscripts that together form the most comprehensive evidence base ever assembled for transcatheter indirect mitral annuloplasty. These publications span a five-year multi-center commercial registry, the largest single-center experience across both preserved and reduced ejection fraction, and long-term survival results through ten years. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260707656796/en/ Carillon Mitral Contour System® The Carillon Mitral Contour System is the only commercially available indirect mitral annuloplasty device, designed to treat a broad and expanding population of patients living with functional mitral regurgitation. The newly published data further strengthen the clinical foundation for the therapy as Cardiac Dimensions advances toward regulatory submissions in the United State
First Randomized Controlled Trial Shows Promise of a Ketogenic Diet in Psychotic Disorders8.7.2026 16:00:00 EEST | Press release
Published today in Schizophrenia Bulletin, a first-of-its-kind randomized controlled trial (RCT) from researchers at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), and funded in part by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), adds to growing literature on the potential benefit of a ketogenic diet for treating psychotic disorders. The study, which enrolled participants with schizophrenia-spectrum or bipolar-1 disorders, demonstrated rapid metabolic improvements with a ketogenic diet compared to diet-as-usual during an initial one-month RCT open-label phase. Furthermore, those who continued with the optional four-month single-arm ketogenic diet extension saw meaningful gains across metabolic, psychiatric, and cognitive measures. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260618626815/en/ First Randomized Controlled Trial Shows Promise of a Ketogenic Diet in Psychotic Disorders Of the 58 participants enrolled,
Teamily AI Publicly Launches Human+AI Social Platform to Make Building and Growing a Company Easy for Every Team8.7.2026 16:00:00 EEST | Press release
Teamily AI (https://Teamily.ai), together with its Agentic AI Infra platform TensorOpera AI (https://TensorOpera.ai), today announced the public launch of its Human+AI social platform, a product stack that has already served more than 5 million users around the world. Starting today in Palo Alto and rolling out simultaneously across dozens of countries, this first public launch opens the full stack to everyone with a single mission: to make building and growing a company easy for every person and every team. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260708584390/en/ "This is the moment we open our doors to the world," said co-founders Dr. Aiden Chaoyang He and Professor Salman Avestimehr. "We want every person and every team to be able to move from idea to product, from product to market, and from market to growth and investment, with an AI-native team by their side." At its core, Teamily AI enables humans and AI agents
In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.
Visit our pressroom