[12 June 2000]
Intel Sponsors First Incubator Lab For Pioneer Undergraduates At The Singapore Management University

Pioneering undergraduates at the Singapore Management University (SMU) will be able to host their own dot.coms on the Internet, thanks to a new Incubator Lab sponsored by Intel Corporation.

The Intel Lab @ SMU uses server and networking products from Intel Architecture-based e-Business solutions. The Lab provides a functional Internet hosting environment for dot.com companies created by students as part of project work at SMU. The concept is similar to stock brokering games where participants are given token money to trade, except in this case, the money is real and the company interacts with the real world.

SMU students will be able to experience at first hand, the risks and rewards of starting up Internet companies. Each start-up will add to the databank of knowledge on different business models and will form the basis of a body of case studies for analysis of best practices and the success or failure of such enterprises.

"The Intel Lab @ SMU is an example of providing students with a 'real life' business dimension within a learning environment. The skills developed at this incubator lab are meant to prepare students for the varied challenges of the e-Business realm," said Professor Janice Bellace, President of SMU.

The university will devise a system of "caps" on the amount each start-up may invest in and students will be guided in their management of financing and in understanding liabilities under a "Venture Creation" course which is part of SMU's curriculum.

This is the first time Intel has sponsored a project of this kind in Asia at the university level. Last year, Intel contributed US$1.5 million to educational projects in the Asia Pacific. Intel education efforts are part of Intel Innovation in Education, a global initiative to realise the possibilities offered in mathematics, science and technology in education.

"Teaching today's students to become tomorrow's Internet savvy managers is an important role for corporations and universities today. The Intel Lab @ SMU is one catalyst for creating innovative technologies for dot.com.s in a world where all businesses will become e-Businesses," said John Miner, Vice President and General Manager, Communications Product Group, Intel Corporation.

SMU's first batch of undergraduates will begin classes on 1 Aug 2000 at an interim campus building on Evans Road, within the Bukit Timah campus currently occupied by the National Institute of Education. The Intel Lab @ SMU will be housed initially at the purpose-built Evans Road building, before moving into larger premises when extensive renovations, refurbishment and restoration work on the existing colonial buildings begin at the Bukit Timah campus.