The Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART) is a major research enterprise established by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in partnership with the National Research Foundation of Singapore (NRF) in 2007. SMART is the first entity in the Campus for Research Excellence and Technological Enterprise (CREATE) being developed by NRF.

SMART is MIT's first, and to-date only, research centre outside the United States.  It is also MIT's largest international research programme.   MIT faculty members have laboratories at SMART, mentor postdoctoral associates and graduate students, and collaborate with universities, research institutes and industries in Singapore and Asia.

Our Objectives As a leading research hub in Asia, SMART aims to:

• identify and carry out research on critical problems of societal significance and develop innovative solutions through its interdisciplinary research groups (IRGs);
• become a magnet for attracting and anchoring global research talent to Singapore;
• develop robust collaborations with researchers at local universities and institutions in Singapore;
• engage in graduate education by co-advising local doctoral students and post doctoral associates; and
• help instill a culture of translational research, entrepreneurship and technology transfer through the SMART Innovation Centre.

Interdisciplinary Research Groups Headed by senior MIT faculty members, research projects are organised into interdisciplinary research groups (IRGs). SMART expects to engage over 900 MIT and Singaporean researchers, comprising of faculty, postdoctoral fellows and graduate students, to work and collaborate in the IRGs:

• The BioSystems and Micromechanics (BioSyM) IRG aims to establish Singapore as the center of innovation for healthcare technologies of the future by merging diverse engineering and bioscience disciplines.
• The Center for Environmental Sensing and Modeling (CENSAM) IRG aims to develop a model of the natural and built environment of Singapore. The “virtual Singapore” model will be an invaluable tool in areas such as urban planning, environmental forecasting and environment impact assessment.
• The Infectious Diseases (ID) IRG aims to develop an integrated research programme to study pathagen-host interactions of infectious diseases such as respiratory syncytial virus, influenza, tuberculosis, malaria and dengue.
• The Future Urban Mobility (FM) IRG aims to develop in and beyond Singapore a new paradigm for the planning, design, and operation of future urban passenger and freight transportation systems that enhance sustainability and societal well-being.

SMART Innovation Centre Similar to the highly successful Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation at MIT, the SMART Innovation Centre aims to bring the market definition closer to technology development, by having each selected project worked on by a team that includes either an entrepreneur or a venture capitalist right from the start.