City of the Future: Singapore

18 Aug 2018

Documentary on the creation and implementation of Singapore’s latest innovations and technology to guide the country into the future highlighted SP’s Food Innovation and Resource Centre (FIRC). Dr Lee Mun Wai, senior manager at FIRC, shared that FIRC deploys food and beverages as a tool to manage health, wellness, performance and fitness. Using the latest breakthroughs in technology, FIRC creates food tailored to caloric and nutritional needs of Singapore’s senior citizens. FIRC aims to develop personalised nutrition for target groups of people – this could apply to people with different lifestyles or people with different health conditions. Documentary also featured Mark Wong, researcher at FIRC, who has built a piece of wearable technology that can monitor a person’s nutritional requirements. He shared that an accompanying app pulls data from the wearable, and the app’s algorithm will compute specialised nutrients that are customised for individuals. A 3D printer could then use the data and print out the appropriate nutrient values suitable for individuals. This system, which pairs wearable tech with 3D printing to create food with personalised nutritional values, is the first of its kind in Singapore and possibly the world. While still an experiment prototype, the potential for the system is staggering especially for optimising health and preventing diseases. Martin also shared that more data will allow FIRC to create a database and identify trends by using machine learning and artificial intelligence. (National Geographic)