Cover image shows CARES researchers and the Communications team at the CARES booth at Singapore Maritime Week (SMW 2025).
CARES continued its second year as exhibitors at Singapore Maritime Week 2025 by participating in a 3-day booth from 25-27 March 2025. The event allowed researchers and our spin-off founders to meet with industry stakeholders to showcase our latest maritime technologies and enterprise solutions.
SMW 2025 reinforced the importance of collaboration and innovation in tackling maritime challenges and the role of university R&D centres such as CARES that are committed to supporting Singapore’s maritime decarbonisation goals.
As Singapore celebrates its 60th year of independence (SG60), SMW 2025 is a timely reminder that Singapore has and continues to play an important role in maritime trade. As one of the largest bunkering hubs in the world, the goal of decarbonisation is not only timely but an immediate need.
Maritime research projects
From left clockwise: Dr B Harikrishnan, Dr Tan Yong Ren, Dr Mutian Ma and Mei Qi Lim introducing CARES’ research projects to booth visitors.
– Dr B Harikrishnan shared his work in creating a numerical model on ammonia combustion, which would allow engineers to design better gas turbines. This forms part of the Low-Carbon Energy Research (LCER) programme in Singapore.
– Dr Tan Yong Ren shared his research to understand the combustion properties and safety concerns of ammonia and hydrogen fuel blends. This work falls under the Hydrogen and Ammonia Combustion (HYCOMBS) project which will be working to establish a training school to share knowledge and ideas from the lab.
– Dr Mutian Ma shared his work on air pollution modelling and measurement, including the benefits of using sensor-installed drones to detect air pollution and gas leaks in ships. This would reduce the resources and time involved in manual inspections.
– Srishti Ganguly and Mei Qi Lim explained the capabilities of The World Avatar™, a dynamic knowledge graph, to integrate data across multiple domains to provide a holistic understanding of complex problems such as simulating pollutant dispersion and predicting emissions from alternative fuels.
Enterprise and industry outreach
Visitors interested in products ready for the market spoke with our spin-offs. 3Y Energy works to retrofit legacy engines and assess biofuel blends while EMICAST focuses on emissions forecasting to help ships meet regulatory standards. EMICAST introduced a new voyage analyser tool that uses data from a ship’s voyage history to inform shipping performance.
Prof Epaminondas Mastorakos, Director of Industrial Relations at CARES, hosted a speaking slot “Bridging university R&D with the maritime industry” to discuss the latest technological development from university R&D centres (CARES, Melbourne Energy Institute, and Université d’Orléans) with an industry perspective (RINA) on how the industry can lift R&D to a higher TRL stage.
From left clockwise: Dr Yichen Zong, co-founder of 3Y Energy; Dr Li Chin Law, co-founder of EMICAST; and speakers — Prof Michael Brear, Prof Epaminondas Mastorakos, Prof Christine Rousselle and Dr Donato Zangani.
Singapore Maritime Week is an annual event organised by the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore for global maritime leaders and industry captains to discuss key issues and industry developments. It is also a platform to demonstrate the latest technologies and facilitate collaboration among stakeholders. The 2025 event attracted 20k local and international visitors. The maritime research showcased by CARES at this event is supported by the National Research Foundation, Prime Minister’s Office, Singapore under its Campus for Research Excellence and Technological Enterprise (CREATE) programme.
