Singapore – Financial services firm Ant International has recently announced that it has collaborated with Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University with the goal of enhancing the Asia Pacific region’s digital economic growth.
This strategic partnership enables the duo to work together over the next five years to conduct research that is aimed at advancing digital trust using both organisations’ experience and research expertise on privacy-enhancing technologies.
As part of the MRCA, Ant International will also contribute a total funding amount of S$5m for the five-year partnership until July 2029. This includes providing research funding for the MRCA. Separately, Ant International also aims to invest another S$15m to strengthen the company’s research capacity and subject matter expertise.
Also, with the development of PETs for artificial intelligence (AI), the partnership will advance digital trust and make AI more reliable. This will be achieved by minimising the risk of data leaks, allowing businesses to share data and gain valuable insights without disclosing confidential information.
In addition to this, researchers will have access to real-life use cases from Ant International for their projects, which will focus on advancing industry tools and processes for machine learning and secure insight sharing between businesses. The said initiative will utilise advanced privacy-enhancing technologies, such as zero-knowledge proofs and federated learning.
Ant International and NTU will further study topics associated with large language models (LLMs) that preserve user privacy while training or querying LLMs. Both parties will present their findings at leading conferences focused on AI safety.
On the other hand, a joint research committee will also be established to manage projects established as part of the agreement. The co-chairs of the committee will be the following individuals: Dr. Duan Pu, Ant International’s head of data algorithm and technology department, and Professor Lam Kwok Yan, executive director of the Digital Trust Centre at NTU Singapore.
The MRCA builds on an existing collaboration on privacy-preserving computing between NTU Singapore and Ant Group, which saw the development of a new state-of-the-art Private Set Intersection (PSI) protocol that allows businesses to carry out joint database analysis while maintaining the privacy of their respective data.
Tan Kiat How, senior minister of state at the Ministry of Digital Development and Information, stated, “Robust data protection is important for Singapore’s digital economy. The Ministry of Digital Development and Information has taken steps to strengthen our data ecosystem, including by encouraging the use of privacy-enhancing technologies (PETs).
“I am glad to see companies collaborating with our Institutes of Higher Learning to develop PETs and nurture data protection talent. Such partnerships help us advance the development and adoption of data protection tools in Singapore and the region,” added Tan.
Jerry Yin, chief technology officer at Ant International, shared, “Ant International is pleased to expand our collaboration with NTU through this longer-term partnership. As a global digital payment and financial technology provider, data privacy is a core part of our business as we aim to provide merchants with secure, reliable, and seamless solutions.”
“By leveraging NTU’s academic expertise and Ant International’s industry experience, we look forward to advancing the development of privacy-enhancing technologies with new innovations that address real business needs,” he further emphasised.
Meanwhile, Lam Khin Yong, vice president (industry) at NTU Singapore, said, “Through its Digital Trust Centre, NTU Singapore has built upon and fostered expertise and talent in trust technologies. The collaboration between NTU Singapore and Ant International, a leader in global digital payments and fintech, underscores NTU’s commitment to translating research innovation in the area of privacy-enhancing technologies into practical applications.”
“Together, both parties will aim to pioneer innovative solutions that strengthen digital trust and security, empowering businesses to responsibly leverage data for transformative outcomes,” concluded Lam.
The said partnership was commemorated on July 16 through the signing of a master research collaboration agreement between the two organisations. For this initiative, Ant International was represented by its chief technology officer, Jerry Yin, while NTU Singapore had Professor Lam Khin Yong, vice president for industry, as its representative.
