06 April 2021

Tech company Sea has donated $50 million to the National University of Singapore for research and education in the field of computing.

The funds will go to NUS’ School of Computing. It will also be used for the recruitment and development of academic and research talent through scholarships for undergraduate and postgraduate students, research fellowships, visiting professorships and professional development.

At a recent event held on NUS’ Kent Ridge campus, Education Minister Lawrence Wong said that Sea’s contribution will complement the Government’s efforts and investments in the area of technology.

In his speech, Mr Wong said: “Sometimes we worry that as artificial intelligence becomes more developed, robots and machines will take over the role of humans. But the smarter a machine becomes at calculating data and providing answers, the more it forces us to think about what is uniquely human about us, beyond our ability to calculate and reason. What’s more important is that along the way, we learn to cherish the things in us that are most human – qualities like compassion and generosity, duty and honour, and our ability to transcend our own needs, and to care and look out for one another.”