Singapore Management University wins at GovMedia Conference & Awards for AI-Powered Campus Assistant Suite
Modular AI assistants improve access to campus information, support students, and streamline operational workflows.
Singapore Management University (SMU) has won the Singapore Digital Transformation of the Year – Education award at the GovMedia Conference & Awards 2026 for its AI-Powered Campus Assistant Suite, an initiative that enhances how students, staff, and campus teams access information and services.
Rather than deploying a single all-purpose chatbot, SMU adopted a modular approach by developing three assistants tailored to distinct needs across the university. Built on Microsoft technologies, including Azure AI and the Power Platform, the suite comprises:
Ask:Smoo, which supports common policy, IT, HR, and campus service enquiries for the SMU community. This chatbot is named after Smoo, the official, lion-themed mascot of the SMU. By reducing manual searches and routine email follow-ups, Ask:Smoo helps administrative teams manage repetitive queries more efficiently and focus on work requiring judgement and direct action.
Student Chatbot, which supports academic and administrative queries such as course registration and degree planning. Students can now get timely answers to common queries with this chatbot. Another plus is that it frees up academic advisors from answering repetitive queries, and they can now spend more time on complex queries and student wellbeing.
Lost & Found Assistant, which digitises the lost-and-found workflow for the Office of Safety & Security. This replaces a traditionally paper-based process and supports item reporting, photo analysis, description generation, categorisation, and centralised matching, making records easier to manage and track in real-time.
SMU will continue to refine the suite through user feedback and analytics. Its modular design also provides flexibility to extend AI-enabled support to other functions over time, including HR onboarding, teaching assistance, and safety communications.
GovMedia Conference & Awards recognises trends and best practices transforming the public sector across Asia Pacific. The awards programme promotes excellence and provides a platform for exemplary government and public-sector initiatives.
The GovMedia Conference & Awards is presented by GovMedia Magazine. To view the full list of winners, click here. If you want to join the 2027 awards programme and be recognised for your organisation's government projects and initiatives, please contact Marni Marco at +(65) 3158 1386 and [email protected].
