Punggol Digital District to start receiving its first wave of tenants this year

Singapore's Silicon Valley draws major tech firms, banks, cyber-security organisations

- Osmond Chia

Singapore robotics firm dConstruct will be among the first wave of tenants to move into Punggol Digital District (PDD) in 2025.

For the company, which plans to test various robots - including a humanoid concierge robot and others that specialise in deliveries and surveillance there is no other place to be.

A major attraction for companies like dConstruct is the district's open digital platform (ODP), Singapore's first estate-wide computer operating system that allows robots, surveillance cameras and all kinds of sensors to plug in and be controlled centrally, without needing to fuss over the underlying control infrastructure.

For instance, companies do not need to configure their systems for different areas, like how a mobile app might work exclusively on iOS but not on Android.

Mr Chinn Lim, dConstruct's chief executive, said the ODP enables robots to navigate lifts and turnstiles throughout the district's eight blocks that occupy an area equivalent to 70 football fields. These robots can deliver items, clean the premises or look out for safety.

"It was difficult to say no (to relocating to PDD)," said Mr Lim.

"There's nowhere else in Singapore that has this kind of technology at a district scale." His company is slated to collect its keys in February and move out of its office in one-north by September.

The ODP is central to the smart district's plans to draw the likes of dConstruct to populate the enterprise park Singapore's take on the US' Silicon Valley.