SAP Labs Singapore Fuels AI Innovation Through Strategic Partnerships
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Key Takeaways
⇨ SAP Labs Singapore has partnered with the National University of Singapore to onboard and train nine researchers by 2030, enhancing its AI capabilities. This collaboration is part of a broader initiative supported by the Singapore Economic Development Board to cultivate talent in AI research.
⇨ The lab has significantly expanded its workforce, nearly tripling from 200 to 420 employees since 2022, which is primarily driven by local talent from universities. This growth facilitates innovation and the development of advanced AI technologies that deliver substantial ROI across core SAP solutions.
⇨ SAP Labs Singapore is pioneering 'Agentic AI', a new evolution of autonomous agents capable of managing entire workflows, promising smarter decision-making and improved process automation. This shift aims to transform traditional business challenges into enhanced efficiency through integrated data applications.
SAP Labs Singapore recently collaborated with the National University of Singapore (NUS) under the Industrial Postgraduate Programme (IPP) to cultivate postgraduate talent with crucial research skills. Announced on March 19, 2025, this partnership is supported by the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB).
As part of this collaboration, SAP Labs Singapore will onboard and train nine researchers within its AI team by the end of 2030. Since its inception in 2022, SAP Labs Singapore has met its initial commitment to hire 200 AI engineers and nearly tripled its workforce to 420 in the past three years.
This expansion is primarily fuelled by talent from local universities, including NUS and Nanyang Technological University (NTU). According to an SAP blog, the Singapore lab is now a key driver of innovation, as evidenced by the numerous AI-related patents filed by its local inventors. The new researchers joining through the IPP from NUS will contribute to novel research areas, complementing the existing team’s efforts to accelerate AI adoption across industries.
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This rapid scaling and achievement of innovation targets have enabled SAP Labs Singapore to effectively test, refine, and deploy AI advancements that deliver tangible returns on investment across core SAP solutions, including HR, finance, and supply chain software.
“Our vision for SAP Labs Singapore was to become a vibrant engine of innovation in Asia, creating cutting-edge solutions for our customers worldwide,” said Manik Saha, Managing Director, SAP Labs Singapore & Vietnam. “Today, that vision has turned into a reality: not only have we nearly tripled our staff while continuing to nurture future talent, but we’ve also pushed the boundaries of what AI can do for enterprises, going beyond experiments to deliver AI solutions that truly make a difference in people’s day-to-day work.”
The lab is now at the forefront of driving “Agentic AI,” an evolution beyond generative AI towards autonomous agents capable of managing entire workflows, promising end-to-end process automation, smarter decision-making, and scalable ROI for enterprises. This success is underpinned by the SAP Business Data Cloud, which unifies data to provide AI agents with the necessary context for intelligent automation.
What This Means for Mastering SAP Insiders
Expect enhanced AI-powered solutions with tangible ROI from SAP. SAP Labs Singapore has successfully tested, refined, and deployed AI advancements that offer tangible ROI across core SAP solutions, including HR, finance, and supply chain software.” This is a direct result of their robust R&D efforts, including the nearly tripled headcount to 420 employees since 2022, many of whom are focused on AI innovation. Additionally, the development and deployment of Agentic AI, such as Joule agents, promises end-to-end process automation and smarter decision-making, ultimately leading to scalable ROI for businesses leveraging SAP.
Agentic AI is driving autonomous workflows. SAP users will likely see a shift towards Agentic AI capabilities within their SAP environments. The R&D teams at SAP Labs Singapore are already playing a central role in driving this evolution, which moves from basic automation and predictive models to autonomous agents capable of managing entire workflows. This signifies a move beyond basic AI features towards systems that can independently manage complex processes, from procurement to invoice management. This advancement, fuelled by local R&D and talent development, aims to transform traditional business challenges into increased efficiency and automation opportunities.
Leverage a unified data foundation for smarter AI applications. The newly launched SAP Business Data Cloud combines large-scale datasets from multiple sources, ensuring that AI agents have the context to drive more intelligent automation. This R&D focus on data integration is crucial for SAP users as it means AI applications within SAP will have access to a broader and more consistent set of data, leading to more accurate insights and effective automation across different lines of business. The success of SAP Labs Singapore in co-creating client features like one-click, guided employee development goals creation in SAP SuccessFactors, and embedded analytics in finance demonstrates the impact of this R&D on delivering practical, data-driven AI capabilities.
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