The government has set aside S$48 million over the next five years for 100 scholars from NTU and NUS to conduct research at the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART). Education minister Ng Eng Hen said that the funding will boost the research efforts of NTU and NUS, and ensure a steady supply of PhD students for Smart.

At the Singapore-MIT Alliance's (SMA) 10th anniversary dinner, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said the programme would attract young research talent locally and across the region to 'work with Smart researchers to discover the next breakthrough idea'.

"NTU is committed to fostering innovative research and applying new technologies in the industry. We are very happy to reinforce our long-standing collaboration with MIT and NUS in this new programme. It will definitely provide the impetus to attract promising great minds into Singapore for cutting-edge research. Such global research networking will undoubtedly step up the exchange of knowledge and research collaboration between the universities," says Dr Su Guaning, President, NTU.