The Berkeley Education Alliance for Research in Singapore (BEARS) center is a University of California center for research, graduate education, and innovation with the goal of achieving an international sd hallreputation. BEARS serves as an intellectual hub for interactions between UC Berkeley researchers and their counterparts from universities, polytechnics, research institutes, and industry in Singapore and Asia. Initial collaborations have already been established with Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and the National University of Singapore (NUS). BEARS will develop a broad network of partnerships and relationships with government agencies, universities, and industries in Singapore and in the region beyond. UC Berkeley expects the impact of BEARS to be the creation of new industry sectors in information technology, energy technologies, engineering, construction and related areas.

Funded by the government of Singapore through the National Research Foundations Campus for Research Excellence and Technological Enterprise (CREATE) initiative, BEARS is a non-profit University of California company incorporated in Singapore and managed by UC Berkeley. BEARS has launched its headquarters and two major inter-disciplinary research groups (IRGs) led by more than 20 senior UC Berkeley faculty and focused on the development of technology solutions for sustainable, low carbon, low-greenhouse gas emission energy solutions on both the supply and demand sides:

Building Efficiency and Sustainability in the Tropics (SinBerBEST) led by Professor Costas Spanos.

Singapore-Berkeley Research Initiative for Sustainable Energy (SinBeRISE) led by Professor Connie Chang-Hasnain.

There will be a continuous cohort of UC Berkeley professors, post-doctorates, and PhD students on extended research stays at BEARS headquarters in the new CREATE campus in Singapore. Major research interactions will involve groups of post doctoral fellows and PhD students from UC Berkeley, as well as affiliated researchers from other institutions across the globe that are also working within the CREATE campus. The SinBerBEST and SinBeRISE programs, together, are expected to engage more than 100 faculty, researchers, post-doctorates, Ph.D. students, and staff at BEARS. Collaborating BEARS researchers from NTU, NUS, and other Singaporean institutions are expected to conduct research stays at UC Berkeley as well.