April 16, 2013
Ngee Ann Polytechnic’s Design Students Learn Public Safety Design from Motorola Solutions
Motorola Solutions Foundation Grants S$21,000 to Encourage Students
Singapore, April 16, 2013 – Global Business responsibility today goes well beyond designing and manufacturing solutions that people, businesses and governments can use. It is the article of faith that is underpinning the global business agenda of corporations whereby they seek to benefit the communities where they operate. Motorola Solutions Inc. (NYSE:MSI) today announced that it is collaborating with one of Singapore’s leading institutions of higher learning, Ngee Ann Polytechnic (NP), in a Public Safety Design-focused knowledge exchange programme The intent of this collaboration with the polytechnic’s School of Design & Environment (DE) is to share the specialized public safety design knowledge that Motorola Solutions is known for and has gained over decades, with the students from the Product Design and Innovation course.
The initiative aims to enrich students’ learning in applying technology & innovation in Design studies to practical industry needs. This programme is backed by a financial grant from Motorola Solutions Foundation, the charitable arm of Motorola Solutions. The framework of engagement is designed to enrich the curriculum, enable interfaces between Design students and Motorola Design specialists, evaluation of students’ projects, a bursary, a 3-month internship with the Motorola Solutions Design team and cash awards for top students’ projects.
KEY FACTS:
- Motorola Solutions Foundation under its innovation grants programme has put forward a grant of S$21,000 to help Motorola Solutions collaborate with Ngee Ann Polytechnic’s Diploma in Product Design & Innovation.
- The programme focuses on enriching the learning of Design students in Year 2 and Year 3. As a part of the engagement, in addition to the awards and internship, the students are provided four lecture sessions by Motorola Public Safety Design team specialized in Design. In addition, Motorola also contributes in project evaluation and critiquing of prototypes in the students’ projects.
- The grant supports different categories of awards – Gold, Silver and Bronze and Merits. These awards are to recognize the best project submissions by Year 2 and Year 3 participants. The awards for Year 2 students carry a value of S$2,000 for Gold, S$1,500 for Silver, S$1,000 for Bronze, and S$500 each for three Merits. In case of Year 3 students, the awards carry a higher value of S$4,000 for Gold, S$3,000 for Silver, and S$2,000 for bronze, and S$1,000 each for three merits.
- The grant also contributes S$3000 towards a bursary for a Year 3 Design student.
- A Product Design internship of 3 months with the Motorola Design Team in Singapore is awarded to 1 student, as part of this knowledge exchange programme.
- The company’s mission-critical design philosophy involves undertaking investigative studies in High Velocity Human Factors, an area of cognitive research that helps develop products for first responders by working with them in crisis situations to study their communication needs. This user-centered device design process delivers purpose-built technology that integrates the rigors of social science with the art of design, integrating ergonomics, cognitive and clinical psychology, as well as physical and cultural anthropology.
The Motorola Solutions Foundation also announced that it will support 30 new Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) projects in Asia Pacific this year. In 2012, the Motorola Solutions Foundation has generously awarded 30 grants in 12 countries across Asia Pacific, including markets like Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan and Thailand.
Having awarded over 50 grants since its inception in 2011, the Motorola Solutions Foundation has been committed to empowering communities in which it operates in. Through these grants, the Motorola Solutions Foundation collaborates with organizations such as universities and public safety agencies to foster programs that aim to improve public safety and support education. The grants allocated in 2012 will help support initiatives this year, and the Motorola Solutions Foundation expects more than 79,000 students, citizens and first responders to benefit from these programs.
SUPPORTING QUOTES
Matt Blakely, Director of the Motorola Solutions Foundation
“Motorola Solutions is dedicated to helping people be their best in the moments that matter and inspiring the next generation of innovators. Through the Motorola Solutions Foundation, we have the distinct privilege of fulfilling this purpose by supporting inspiring and worthwhile organizations like Ngee Ann Polytechnic. We are proud to see these valuable programs take an active role in the communities where we live and work, such as Singapore.”
Mrs Choo Cheh Hoon, Senior Director at Ngee Ann Polytechnic
“Ngee Ann’s partnership with Motorola Solutions adds an exciting dimension to the Product Design & Innovation course since public safety is an important consideration in product design. I thank Motorola for its strong support and hope our combined efforts will inspire the students to design quality innovative products that are not only attractive but also safe to use.”
Grace Ho, Country President, Motorola Solutions Singapore, and Head of Solution Sales, Asia Pacific
“We take a holistic view of our business responsibilities, this means paying close attention to what we do, and how we do things. This collaboration with Ngee Ann Polytechnic’s School of Design and Environment is an expression of the importance we assign to contributing to the ecosystem, especially in the area of education. Our specialization in public safety technology design is unique and is a result of working and being trusted for decades by public safety agencies and users. We believe this knowledge sharing initiative with the students is socially inclusive and beneficial to the larger ecosystem.”
Website: Motorola Solutions Foundation 2012 Grants List
Website: Motorola Solutions 2011 Corporate Responsibility Report
About Motorola Solutions Foundation
The Motorola Solutions Foundation is the philanthropic and charitable arm of Motorola Solutions. With employees located around the globe, Motorola Solutions seeks to benefit the communities where it operates. The company achieves this by making strategic grants, forging strong community partnerships and fostering innovation. The Motorola Foundation focuses its funding on public safety, disaster relief, employee programs and education, especially science, technology, engineering and math programming. To learn more about Motorola Solutions’ corporate giving and its Foundation, visit www.motorolasolutions.com/giving
About Ngee Ann Polytechnic
Ngee Ann Polytechnic is one of Singapore’s leading institutions of higher learning with more than 16,000 full-time students, 4,600 part-time students and an alumni community of more than 130,000. The polytechnic offers 48 full-time courses through its nine academic schools - School of Business & Accountancy, School of Design & Environment, School of Engineering, School of Film & Media Studies, School of Health Sciences, School of Humanities & Social Sciences, School of InfoComm Technology, School of Interdisciplinary Studies, and School of Life Sciences & Chemical Technology. Ngee Ann also supports Continuing Education and Training (CET) through its CET Academy which offers a wide range of part-time programmes.
As the first polytechnic in Singapore to introduce interdisciplinary studies to students, Ngee Ann pioneered a broad-based and multi-disciplinary approach to learning. It was the first polytechnic in Singapore to launch Mobile e-Learning (MeL) in 1999, integrating a notebook ownership scheme, a wireless campus network and an e-learning platform. The entire polytechnic is now fully enabled for students to connect to the wireless network. About 95 per cent of all the teaching modules are available online. Ngee Ann was also the first to partner an overseas educational institution to offer a degree under the Ministry of Education’s Polytechnic-Foreign Specialised Institution collaboration framework.
Another key thrust for the polytechnic is forging partnerships with industry and research partners to enrich students’ learning journey and keep them up-to-date with market practices. Ngee Ann also has an Environmental & Water Technology Centre of Innovation and a Marine & Offshore Technology Centre of Innovation which serve as one-stop centres to catalyse the growth of SMEs that tap on their technological capabilities to develop commercially viable solutions. Both Centres of Innovation were set up under a strategic partnership between the polytechnic and SPRING Singapore.
For more information, please visit www.np.edu.sg