The facility provides customers with the opportunity to view and experience the full range of the company’s micro and nano imaging solutions.
|
|
(L-R) Ven Raman, Managing Director, Carl Zeiss S.E. Asia & India; Dr Hermann Gerlinger, Board Member, Carl Zeiss AG, and President and CEO, Carl Zeiss SMT AG; Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports & Second Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts; and Dr Ulrich Simon, President & CEO, Carl Zeiss MicroImaging GmbH, officiate the opening ceremony.
|
| |
One of the world's leading companies in the optical and opto-electronic industry, Carl Zeiss, has unveiled its Advanced Imaging Centre in Singapore. Built to a tune of S$30 million (US$21.7 million), the facility at International Business Park in Jurong East is a world-first that provides prospective customers with the opportunity to view and experience the full range of the company's micro and nano imaging solutions. Previously, they had to travel to several facilities in Germany to test the equipment before purchase.
Says Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports, and Second Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts, "Singapore is proud to host this first and only Advanced Imaging Centre in the world. It will be an important piece of infrastructure to support the R&D efforts of companies here which could then lead to further possibilities in the future."
The opening of the facility reflects Carl Zeiss' commitment to expand its business in Singapore and Asia-Pacific. The region is the fastest growing market for the firm and contributed 16 per cent of its global revenue last year. According to Dr Hermann Gerlinger, Board Member, Carl Zeiss AG, and President and CEO, Carl Zeiss SMT AG, Singapore was chosen because of its "geography, business-friendly regulations, continuous growth rates and language capabilities".
|
|
One of Carl Zeiss' new products, the LSM 710 NLO Laser Scanning Microscope defines new standards for sensitivity and flexibility.
|
| |
Boost To Singapore's R&D Industry
The Centre will serve several functions for the German company - it will be the company's regional information technology and administrative backbone, as well as an R&D centre. Given the rapidly growing investment that industrial and bioscience companies in Asia-Pacific are pumping into advanced precision imaging tools in the recent years, Dr Gerlinger is confident that this new facility will attract corporate visitors to Singapore.
"State-of-the-art imaging solutions are critical for the industrial, bio and life science sectors to develop quality products and successful medical research," says Dr Gerlinger. Carl Zeiss is the only company that deals with the entire spectrum of optics, from consumer camera lenses to microscopes that make even single atoms visible, he adds.
Among other things, the products featured at the Centre promise non-destructive 3-D magnification of complex living specimens and contamination-free dissection of samples using lasers, both of which facilitate bioscience and medical R&D.
Carl Zeiss customers will be able to visit the Centre and test its products, as well as use the equipment to carry out their own research. Currently, the company has synergistic partnerships with Biopolis, the National Eye Centre, the National University Hospital and Nanyang Polytechnic.
Illustrious History
Founded in Germany as a workshop for precision mechanics and optics in 1846, Carl Zeiss currently employs 12,300 people in offices in over 30 countries. It has production centres in Europe, North America, Central America and Asia. As its headquarters in Southeast Asia, Singapore is the company's strategic gateway to further expand into Asia-Pacific to meet the region's growing demand for advanced imaging solutions.
Carl Zeiss offers cutting-edge imaging products and solutions for biomedical research and medical technology, as well as for the semiconductor, automotive and mechanical engineering industries. Along with planetariums and high quality consumer goods such as camera lenses and binoculars, the company's products reach out to millions of consumers around the world. And now, it will be able to do so and offer much more from its new Centre in Singapore.
Says Dr Gerlinger, "Carl Zeiss is very pleased to be working closely with Singapore's Economic Development Board to further strengthen its footprint in Singapore and Asia-Pacific. Singapore, with a strong foundation in engineering and biosciences, is therefore a strategic location for Carl Zeiss to grow its business in Asia-Pacific and bring its solutions closer to its customers in the region."
|
|
|
