Abstract

In late 2022, the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) established the National Centre for Research in Digital Trust or “DTC” for short. Headed by the speaker, Prof Lam Kwok Yan, the DTC is dedicated to building a trusted digital environment for Singapore, its people and businesses. Jointly funded by the National Research Foundation (NRF) and Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA), it also serves as an inclusive platform to bring together industry players, research centres, and institutes of higher learning to drive high-impact research in technologies supporting digital trust principles. These principles include safety, transparency, and accountability. Crucially, the creation of the DTC underscores the importance of building a trusted digital space with an innovative set of technologies known as “trust tech”. But what is trust tech? Why is this technology so important to a trusted digital environment for Singapore, its people and businesses? Most of all, how can trust tech promote safety, transparency and accountability in a borderless digital world? In this RSIS webinar, Prof Lam will address these all-important questions and many more.

About the Speakers 

Lam Kwok Yan is the Associate Vice President (Strategy and Partnerships) and Professor in the School of Computer Science and Engineering at the Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore. He is currently also the Executive Director of the National Centre for Research in Digital Trust (DTC), Director of the Strategic Centre for Research in Privacy-Preserving Technologies and Systems (SCRiPTS), and Director of NTU’s SPIRIT Smart Nation Research Centre. From August 2020, Professor Lam is also on part-time secondment to the INTERPOL as a Consultant at Cyber and New Technology Innovation. He served as the Director of the Nanyang Technopreneurship Center 2019-2022, and as Program Chair (Secure Community) of the Graduate College at NTU 2017-2019. Professor Lam has been a Professor of the Tsinghua University, PR China (2002-2010) and a faculty member of the National University of Singapore and the University of London since 1990. He was a visiting scientist at the Isaac Newton Institute of the Cambridge University and a visiting professor at the European Institute for Systems Security. In 2018, Professor Lam founded TAU Express Pte Ltd, an NTU start-up which specializes in AI and Data Analytics technologies for Smart Cities applications. TAU is a spin-off of the Intelligent Case Retrieval System project, a collaboration between NTU and the Singapore Supreme Court. In 1997, he founded PrivyLink International Ltd, a spin-off company of the National University of Singapore, specializing in e-security technologies for homeland security and financial systems. In 2012, he co-founded Soda Pte Ltd which won the Most Innovative Start Up Award at the RSA 2015 Conference. In 1998, he received the Singapore Foundation Award from the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry in recognition of his R&D achievement in Information Security in Singapore. Prof Lam received his B.Sc. (First Class Honours) from the University of London in 1987 and his Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge in 1990. His research interests include Distributed Systems, IoT Security Infrastructure and Cyber-Physical System Security, Distributed Protocols for Blockchain, Biometric Cryptography, Homeland Security and Cybersecurity. Professor Lam is the recipient of the 2022 Singapore Cybersecurity Hall of Fame Award.