Singapore’s national water agency, PUB, has secured nearly SGD100 million in initial funding under the country’s Research, Innovation and Enterprise (RIE) 2030 programme to accelerate the development of advanced municipal and industrial water technologies. The funding, provided by the National Research Foundation under the Urban Solutions & Sustainability Domain, includes SGD85 million for municipal water solutions and S$12 million for a new Industrial Water Solutions research domain focused on water-intensive industries.
The municipal water programme will support research into advanced water treatment, desalination technologies, and the management of emerging contaminants. PUB also plans to develop an energy-positive used water treatment Integrated Validation Plant (IVP) by 2027, providing a platform for research institutes and industry partners to test and validate next-generation treatment technologies under real-world operating conditions.
For industrial applications, the new research domain will focus on improving water efficiency and enabling water recycling in semiconductor wafer fabrication and data centre operations. To support innovation and deployment, PUB has established Industrial Water Solutions Innovation Ecosystem Alliances involving universities, research institutes, technology providers, industry associations, and end users. Two alliances were launched during Singapore International Water Week 2026, covering the semiconductor and data centre sectors, reinforcing Singapore’s efforts to enhance water security, sustainability, and industrial resource efficiency.