Singapore-based technology services company NCS has launched an AI Mission Centre to help organisations move artificial intelligence projects from experimentation to large-scale deployment. The company also plans to increase its workforce of Intelligentisation Forward-Deployed Engineers (iFDEs) from 100 to more than 300 over the next two years.
Announced on October 29, 2026, the centre is designed to support public- and private-sector organisations in adopting AI across their business operations. The expansion of the engineering workforce will involve reskilling existing employees as well as hiring new talent.
Forward-Deployed Engineers are specialists who work directly with client teams to understand business requirements, develop AI solutions and support their implementation in real-world environments. NCS said the engineers will help organisations identify priority challenges, redesign workflows and deploy AI systems securely.
The centre brings together industry specialists, AI engineers and platform teams. It will also use NCS’ Sunshine.AI suite of products and platforms to support enterprise AI deployment. The company aims to turn successful projects into reusable solutions that can be scaled across organisations and markets.
Alongside the launch, NCS announced three strategic memorandums of understanding with Changi Airport Group (CAG), Singapore’s Institute of Mental Health (IMH) and Life3 Biotech.
Under the agreement with Changi Airport Group, the partners will enhance and scale iFerret, an intelligent runway surveillance system designed to detect foreign object debris using AI. The system is intended to support airport operations by identifying potential hazards on runways.
The partnership with the Institute of Mental Health will explore AI-powered digital solutions to improve patient care and support healthcare workers. One of the initial initiatives involves Bio-ID, an AI-based facial recognition solution designed to strengthen patient identification and support safety considerations in inpatient care. The institute will validate the solution in its wards before considering wider deployment.
With Life3 Biotech, NCS will work on AI-driven biomanufacturing optimisation. The collaboration aims to combine AI and advanced bioprocessing technologies to improve production efficiency, scalability and sustainability.
NCS is also expanding its employee training initiatives. All employees will receive AI fluency training covering areas such as prompt engineering, responsible AI and working with AI agents. More than 2,000 AI practitioners are also being continuously trained in advanced skills for building and deploying agentic AI solutions.
The company is redesigning software engineering roles and developing work-study programmes for university, polytechnic and Institute of Technical Education graduates.
NCS Chief Executive Officer Sam Liew said the initiative is intended to help Singapore move beyond AI experimentation and demonstrate how the technology can be deployed at scale across industries and public services.
