Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) on Monday said it will set up iCity Lab, a hightech research lab, in association with the Singapore Management University (SMU). The TCS-SMU iCity Lab will be located at the SMU campus, a TCS release said in Mumbai on Monday.

As part of the initiative, TCS will initially invest six million Singaporean dollars directly in the lab over the next three years. The two organisations plan to create a new research facility to develop industry standards and infotech frameworks for the emerging intelligent city or 'iCity' model of urban development.

Apart from the direct investment in the lab, TCS will also support the initiative under the TCS Co-Innovation Network initiative, with collaboration from its global network of innovation labs.

The lab will be located within SMU's School of Information Systems (SIS), and will draw on faculty from SIS, as well as from the other parts of SMU.

"The investment strengthens our commitment to Singapore and we see this as a hub of innovation in Asia. Tomorrow's cities will be designed and built with infotech backbone to enable integrated urban management, improved quality of life and inclusive economic, social and sustainable growth.

Globally, over USD 100 billion is expected to be invested in the intelligent city segment over the next 10 years," TCS Asia Pacific chairman Girija Pande said.

The iCity Lab will leverage TCS' existing suite of urban infotech applications, as well as its large global organisation and partner ecosystem.

"Through TCS-SMU iCity Lab, we will be partnering with surrounding urban centres across the region to change and re- imagine the way the infotech hardware and software infrastructure of cities is going to be designed, built, integrated and managed in the future," SMU's Steven Miller said.