Pioneering Built Environment Innovation for Sustainability

Built Environment

With limited land and a densely populated urban environment, Singapore has embraced built environment innovation and sustainable practices across construction, infrastructure, and urban design. Guided by the ambitious targets of the Singapore Green Plan 2030, Singapore is leveraging a wide range of innovations to address key environmental challenges. From energy-efficient building systems to smart infrastructure and sustainable construction materials, these technologies aim to reduce carbon emissions, optimise resource use, and improve climate resilience.

Enterprises can explore co-developing innovative products and services by tapping on IPI’s curated list of technologies for sustainability in the built environment, unlocking new opportunities in this evolving sector. This ensures that Singapore’s urban areas remain vibrant, sustainable, and adaptable to future environmental challenges, positioning the city-state as a leader in global green urbanisation efforts. By fostering sustainability in the built environment, Singapore is setting a global benchmark for how cities can thrive through the use of cutting-edge innovation and eco-friendly practices.

Conversion of Lignocellulosic Biomass Side Stream to Plywood Replacement

Plywood is a preferred material used in furniture and home building for its durability since the Egyptian and Roman times. In 2019, the world consumed 165 million cm3 of plywood and was responsible for the creation of more than 3 billion tons of CO2. Applications for plywood are widespread including construction, home, retail, and office interior works and furnishings such as cabinetry, woodworking, renovations, and outfitting . Regulations and protectionism to slow down deforestation plus the tightening of sustainable forestry management lessen the supply of logging for plywood. As global demand continues to be strong, the search for a viable replacement for plywood has become more pressing. More importantly, it is important to find a non-wood-based replacement with similar performance to plywood. Plywood is desirable because of its superior performance properties. Alternatives like medium-density boards (mdf) and particle boards are made from recycled wood waste. Unfortunately, plywood can only be made from virgin wood and there are no direct replacements for plywood currently. This technology leverages the global abundance of lignocellulosic fibre waste which is the discarded waste material after the harvesting and production of palm oil, rice, and wheat. The technology transforms these lignocellulosic fibre wastes into a direct replacement for conventional plywood. This provides a sustainable, economically viable, and environmentally friendly solution to the continuing demand for plywood and the resolution to the growing lignocellulosic fiber waste problem in agri-food-based countries all over the world. The technology owner is open to various forms of collaboration including IP licensing, R&D collaboration, and test-bedding with different types of agrifood sidestreams. In the case of palm biomass waste, rice, and wheat straw waste, the technology is ready for commercialization.