NCS opens AI Mission Centre in Singapore, plans to expand AI engineering workforce to over 300 opens. October 30, 2026 NCS has opened an AI Mission Centre in Ang Mo Kio, Singapore, as part of its efforts to help organisations move artificial intelligence projects from initial testing to large-scale deployment. The company also plans to increase its workforce of AI engineers embedded with client teams from 100 to more than 300 over the next two years. The centre was launched on October 29, 2026. NCS, an information technology and communications engineering firm owned by Singtel, said the expansion will involve reskilling existing employees as well as recruiting new staff. The engineers, known as forward-deployed engineers, work directly with client teams to understand business requirements, develop AI solutions and support their implementation. NCS CEO Sam Liew said the specialists would work with customers to co-create solutions that organisations could eventually own and operate themselves. He said the engineers would understand clients' business domains, identify problems and develop AI-based solutions to improve core business processes. Liew also pointed to challenges such as legacy systems and inconsistent data that can make AI adoption difficult for some companies. Singapore's Minister for Digital Development and Information, Josephine Teo, attended the launch. She said the country needed to build on its existing strengths in AI and focus on turning strategies into practical outcomes. She highlighted infrastructure, enterprise capabilities, skilled workers and supportive government policies as important elements in advancing AI adoption. Alongside the launch, NCS announced three Memorandums of Understanding with Changi Airport Group, the Institute of Mental Health and Life3 Biotech to develop and scale AI-driven solutions. Under the agreement with Changi Airport Group, NCS will enhance and expand iFerret, an AI-powered runway surveillance system designed to detect foreign object debris. NCS chief AI officer Edward Chen said the system can identify debris as small as 4cm along a runway of about 4km. The technology has also been deployed in the Middle East and Hong Kong. The collaboration with the Institute of Mental Health will involve an AI-powered facial recognition system intended to strengthen patient identification and support safety awareness in inpatient care settings. Chen said the trial has involved 180 patients across four wards. Under the agreement, the system will be expanded to all 50 wards and to psychiatric wards in other hospitals. The third partnership is with Life3 Biotech. The agreements are aimed at developing and scaling AI applications across transport, healthcare and biotechnology-related operations. - Advertisement -

NCS, a subsidiary of the Singtel Group, has launched an AI Mission Centre in Singapore to help organisations move from AI experiments to full-scale deployment. It plans to grow its pool of Intelligentisation Forward-Deployed Engineers (iFDEs) from 100 to more than 300 within two years, through internal reskilling and external hiring. The iFDEs are AI specialists embedded within client teams. The centre will draw on NCS' Sunshine.AI suite of products and platforms. NCS also signed three memorandums of understanding with Changi Airport Group, the Institute of Mental Health, and Life3 Biotech. They cover AI work in runway surveillance, patient care, and biomanufacturing. Minister for Digital Development and Information Josephine Teo officiated the launch on October 29, 2026.

NCS opens an AI Mission Centre in Ang Mo Kio, to triple embedded engineers. Forward-deployed AI engineers from 100 to more than 300 in two years. Three MOUs: Changi iFerret, IMH facial recognition, Life3 Biotech. Josephine Teo officiated. NCS Pte. Ltd. (UEN 198101793G), the IT and communications-engineering firm owned by Singapore Telecommunications Limited (UEN 199201624D), opened an AI Mission Centre in Ang Mo Kio on Thursday. Josephine Teo, minister for Ministry of Digital Development and Information (UEN T08GA0017L), officiated. NCS will grow its forward-deployed AI engineers from 100 to more than 300 in two years, by hiring and by reskilling people already on the payroll. The centre is meant to take client work from a proof of concept into production. Singaporemarket research Those embedded engineers sit inside the client's team. Chief executive Sam Liew said they are there to go deep into the domain, rebuild core processes around AI, and leave the customer able to run the thing themselves. Some firms, he said, still trip over legacy systems and messy data. Discover more Singapore market research Business publication subscription Company registration guide "They will go deep into the customers' domain and understand the problem, develop solutions around AI, and actually revamp all the core processes within the business." Businessregistration services Sam Liew, chief executive, NCS, 29 October 2026 Runways, wards, microbes. Three memorandums of understanding went out the same morning. With Changi Airport Group (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. (UEN 200910817N), NCS will enlarge iFerret, the runway-debris system. Chief AI officer Edward Chen said it can pick up objects as small as 4 centimetres along a runway of about 4 kilometres. The kit is already in the Middle East and Hong Kong. Terminal 5 is due in the mid-2030s. At the Institute of Mental Health (UEN 52930996C), a unit of National Healthcare Group Pte Ltd (UEN 200002150H), NCS is trialling facial recognition to identify patients and flag safety issues on the wards. Chen said the trial has covered 180 patients across four wards. Under the new agreement it is meant to go to all 50 IMH wards and to psychiatric wards in other hospitals. HireLawyers Discover more Business directory subscription Business registration services Company search tool The third MOU is with Life3 Biotech Pte. Ltd. (UEN 201920879R), on AI for biomanufacturing. ChatGPT can write a strategy. Teo told the room that any city can produce an AI strategy. "ChatGPT can do it for you," she said. The harder job is a real bias for action. She listed four things that count: infrastructure that can carry the traffic, enterprises willing to try and sometimes fail, people with the skills, and policies that give the work a push. Singapore's cloud-first call more than a decade ago, she said, is the kind of decision that seeds a wider move. The Government has now committed to using AI and agents in public-service delivery, with staff trained for those roles. Singapore, she said, should not give up the edge it has already grown. Google's health summit across town the same afternoon is a different set of partners and a different stack. This one is NCS putting engineers on site, and three live operational problems: a runway, a ward, and a factory floor. Sources. * CNA, Fabian Koh, 29 October 2026, 12.39pm, NCS opens AI Mission Centre in Ang Mo Kio, to triple embedded AI engineers to over 300 Related company Companysearch tool Companies mentioned