January

• 2C2P Wins Red Herring Global 100 Award 2010

2 of our funded projects were named in the Top 100, out of 29 companies from Asia and over 1200 nominees worldwide.  Red Herring 100 lists are highly respected indicators of the most promising technology ventures in the world. This is validation of the Programme’s efforts in growing world-class IDM companies and talents in Singapore.

Singapore-based payment solutions provider 2C2P was declared winner of the Red Herring Global 100 Award last Friday during this year’s ceremony held in Laguna Niguel, California. Regarded as one of the most prestigious awards in the technology industry, Red Herring has chosen 2C2P out of 1,200 companies from North America, Europe, and Asia to be among the coveted top 100 list.  Read more

•  Mobile Social Network Mozat Nabs a Red Herring Global 100

2 of our funded projects were named in the Top 100, out of 29 companies from Asia and over 1200 nominees worldwide. Mozat, provider of Asia’s leading mobile social network, today announced it has been named a Red Herring Top 100 Global Company; one of the technology industry’s most prestigious and sought‐after awards.

Starting with 1,200 successful and highly eligible companies, the Red Herring editorial team deployed a detailed process to identify 200 finalists, then the top 100 winners of this global award. Evaluations were made on both quantitative and qualitative criteria, such as financial performance, innovation, management, global strategy, and ecosystem integration. Read more

February

• GAMBIT’s Snap Escape is a finalist at Mochis Flash Game Awards 2010

Snap Escape is nominated as the Top 3 Finalists for “Best Social Game” at the Mochis Flash Game Awards 2010, to be held in San Francisco on 8th March 2010; The Mochis 2010 is an award show recognizing the best Flash games in the industry (sponsored by Kongregate). Read more

March

• Research positions and PhD scholarships available in Keio-NUS CUTE centre

The Keio-NUS CUTE Center is a joint collaboration between the Keio University, Japan and the National University of Singapore to carry out research in Feeling Communication, Global Computing and Media Telescope Asia. Mixed reality Lab has been involved in cutting edge research in the Mixed Reality arena for many years. They have joined their research expertise to launch an ambitious research programme in Interactive Digital Media with a vision to “Engage all senses in a creating centric approach to make Inventions that will engage millions of children and families”. Results of the research projects have won international awards, have been published in prestigious international journals, presented and demonstrated at top-level global conferences and featured in global media channels such as the Discovery channel. Read more

April

• GeraniumWeb launched as an official programming platform for code::XtremeApps::2010

Organised by the Information Technology Standards Committee (ITSC), the competition creates awareness on the use and value of standards in programming, and cultivates programming talents and interest in Singapore. Read more

May

• MoSoNex wins Gartner Award

MosoNex was recognized by Gartner Group as a “Cool Vendor in Consumer Mobile Cloud Services”, on April 2010 from 1 out of 5 companies. Gartner identifies 5 companies every year. This year 2 are identified from US. Read more

• Reaching a market of 42 million registered users in 210 countries

One of the top 5 companies that MDA funded Garena achieved 42M registered users in 213 countries on the gaming platform. Peak concurrent users are about 450k users.

• Kai Square wins emerging enterprises 2010 award

KAI Square was one of three SMEs that were awarded the top prize of S$390,000 at the 3rd Emerging Enterprise Awards. Organized by The Business Times and OCBC Bank, these awards are one of the key annual entrepreneurial awards that seek out emerging enterprises with revenue of less than S$10 million a year.

June

• Fraunhofer IDM Centre@NTU will open new grounds in research and development using visualisation tools.

Singapore’s capabilities in Interactive Digital Media (IDM) research will be boosted with the setting up of the Fraunhofer IDM Centre@NTU by Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft (Fraunhofer) – Europe’s largest institution for applied research. The centre will focus on the promotion of applied research as well as the commercialization of IDM innovations.

Facilitated by the multi-agency Interactive Digital Media R&D Programme Office at Media Development Authority (MDA) and funded by the National Research Foundation, the centre forms a part of the international network of IDM R&D institutions that Singapore is establishing. Other organisations in this network include the Singapore-MIT GAMBIT Game Lab, the China-Singapore Institute of Digital Media and Keio-NUS Connective Ubiquitous Technology for Embodiments (CUTE) Centre. Read more

• Above Technology Partners with Microsoft

ABOVE Solutions today announced the first interactive media application, TangoFX™, on Windows Phone 7. TangoFX™ is a context aware interactive service that provides live and on-demand cinematic experiences for viewers to watch their favorite content anywhere, anytime and on any screen. Through the Microsoft Bizspark program, ABOVE worked closely Microsoft to develop TangoFX™ and create a world class media application for the upcoming Windows Phone 7 platform.

TangoFX™ is also the industry’s first open standards-­based real-­time collaborative interactive media platform. The software platform runs an advanced user interface and video applications in a limited memory footprint, allowing for optimal implementation on a variety of network and devices. Using smart on-screen widgets, the interactive service enhances the cinematic experience by allowing viewers to connect with friends and family, and pick, share and discuss scenes of mutual interest while watching live or on-demand content. Read more

July

• GAMBIT in the News: Carneyvale showtime featured in Game Career Guide and Mypaper

GAMBIT is featured in the Fall 2010 edition of the Game Career Guide, an annual guide published by the Game Career Guide website, a leading website specifically for students and educators in the game industry.

The GAMBIT mention comes in an article entitled “10 Student Games That Matter – Important games from students that went pro”. The author lists 10 student games from the last few years that have had an important impact on the game world, Carneyvale: Showtime being one of them. Read more

• Learning Journey to MDA

A flash of a card with an encoded bar code under the eye of a camera, and a 3 Dimensional figurine pops up to greet you. That’s what technology can do now, and was also what clearly impressed the NTUC delegation at a Learning Journey to the Media Development Authority on 5 July 2010.

Organised by the Ong Teng Cheong Labour Leadership Institute, a delegation of 45 union leaders and staff led by NTUC Secretary-General Lim Swee Say was brought into a world of innovative technology, seeing how the evolution of technology has enhanced user experience in the computer world. Read more

• Launch of NUS-Tsinghua Extreme Search  Centre (NExT)

The National University of Singapore (NUS) and Tsinghua University in Beijing, China, together with the Media Development Authority of Singapore (MDA), launch the NUS-Tsinghua Extreme Search Centre, or NExT Search Centre (where N stands for NUS, Ex stands for Extreme, and T stands for Tsinghua). Facilitated by the Interactive Digital Media R&D Programme Office (IDMPO), the NExT Search Centre aims to carry out leading-edge research into the technologies, framework and applications of live media search, as well as explore the commercialisation of technologies to companies in Singapore, China and abroad. Read more

• Singapore Media Showcase debuts at Shanghai World Expo

The Singapore Media Showcase, presented by Media Development Authority  debuts at the Singapore Pavilion, with over 72 square metres of a multi-sensory media experience, powered by cutting-edge technology from Singapore’s homegrown interactive digital media companies. Visitors experience a three-dimensional downtown Singapore through Singapore’s very first stereoscopic 3D racing game developed by IDMPO-funded TQ Global and engage in next generation learning through Mixed Reality commercialized by another IDMPO-funded company MXR Corporation Pte Ltd. Read more

August

• Temasek Polytechnic, iEcopolis & LG Electronics Singapore Sign S$8 Million Five-Year Partnership to Develop Campus Infrastructure of the Future

Temasek Polytechnic (TP), iEcopolis, and LG Electronics Singapore (LG), today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to collaborate on developing TP’s i-Digital campus. To be developed at a cost of S$8 million over the next five years, the i-Digital campus will bring together iEcopolis’ eco-intelligent infrastructure solutions and LG’s business technology innovations to create future learning and test-bedding environment for TP’s 15,000 student population.

This step is in line with the Media Development Authority’s (MDA) “Future of Media” programme which supports the development and delivery of next-generation applications, services and experiences. TP is working with the Interactive Digital Media (IDM) Programme Office hosted by MDA on setting up a Co-Space Testbed to offer an environment for made-in-Singapore innovations to support the Future of Media eco-system. Read more.

• IDMPO companies gain traction in China

 IDMPO leads match-making mission to China to partner IDMPO start-ups with opportunities in China. Some 18 business deals and agreements were signed. Among the deals and agreements signed during the trip, most were by companies supported by the IDMPO/NRF. Two IDM-funded projects became the anchor for the Singapore Pavilion.

TQ Global unveiled 3D TQ Motor, a racing game that lets drivers race along a 3D stereoscopic car race through Singapore. This becomes the most popular exhibit at the Media Showcase, with hundreds queuing up to experience racing through 3D Singapore. The display catches the attention of the Chinese media and is well featured. IDMPO supported the R&D for the game engine. Read more.

Visitors also get a taste of “next-generation learning” through four educational and interactive applications developed by MXR Corporation Pte Ltd, a leading proponent of mixed reality technology in Singapore. Through MXR products, visitors can manipulate and interact with physical and digital objects in real time, effectively allowing them to merge the real and virtual worlds and experience a whole new way of learning and storytelling. MXR is a spin-off from an IDMPO IHL R&D project. Read more.

• IDMPO-MDA funded local company achieves new breakthrough in “3-D City with localized information” for Youth Olympic Games (YOG)

Singapore, September 21, 2010: KPB Technology Pte Ltd, an IDMPO-MDA (Interactive Digital Media R&D Programme Office) funded company provide the 3-D platform solution to the Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games (YOG) for SingTel as part of the efforts to showcase Singapore as the interactive digital media hub. Read more

September

• Singapore-MIT GAMBIT Game Lab students remains high in demand despite economy downturn last year

In its fourth year of running the annual summer internship programmes at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the Singapore-MIT GAMBIT Game Lab (GAMBIT) continues to see high demand for its interns who have benefited from the programmes. Not only have 86% of its interns from the 2008 and 2009 batches found employment in the Singapore games and media industries despite the gloomy economic outlook last year, some of the GAMBIT alumni have also gone on to win international awards and set up their own games companies.  Read more.

• Government commits S$16.1 billion to support research, innovation and enterprise

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Chairman of the RIEC, announces that the Singapore government plans to spend S$16.1 billion over 2011-2015 on research, innovation and enterprise. The Research, Innovation and Enterprise Council (RIEC), comprising several Cabinet Ministers and eminent international leaders in science and technology, endorsed this allocation at the end of its fourth meeting today. The new allocation was recommended by a Whole-of-Government exercise, and is a 20% increase over the S$13.55b committed from 2006 to 2010. This reflects the growing importance of R&D in Singapore’s development as a knowledge-based, innovation-driven economy. Read more

• Interactive Digital Media – Examining the Growth Wave

Deloitte announces the launch of the IDM Flash Report 2010, the result of an on-going 3-year study to quantify and qualify the trends in this sector. It provides needed benchmarks for both industry and government to track vibrancy, growth, and opportunities in this convergent ecosystem. Read more

Key findings (2007-2009) include:

• 20% CAGR growth in Value-added Revenue

• 15% CAGR growth in Employment

• Strong sub-sector performance in Mobile Media, Virtual Worlds and Games

• Higher proportions of both Local company and Small-Medium Enterprise contribution

• Solid year-on-year growth, despite global economic conditions (15.1% IDM VA Growth versus negative 3.1% Overall GDP in 2009)

• Double-digit growth projected through 2015 and beyond

 October

• Interactive Digital Media in Singapore on Target

The Straits Times ran a 4.5-page feature on 2 October highlighting the growth of Singapore’s Interactive Digital Media (IDM) sector. The figures were revealed in the light of the recently-concluded Deloitte study, which showed that our IDM sector grew an impressive 15% last year, despite the economic recession. IDM has also been identified as one of the 3 growth drivers for Singapore. The IDM R&D Programme Office was credited as one of the driving forces behind the growth of IDM in Singapore. The feature article – consisting of 6 stories – interviewed professionals in the IDM industry, giving an insight into the opportunities ahead and challenges faced. Read more

• Local firm adds a chapter for e-books

One of Singapore’s oldest printings firms, which has served generations of book lovers here, has heeded the call of digital publishing. Tien Wah Press is opnin a new chapter of its 75-year-old history by partnering local start-up Personal e-Motion (a company supported by the IDM Programme Office) to offer an interactive e-book digital solution called TWP Digital Solution. Read more.

 December

• IDM Super Incubator at Mediapolis Phase Ø

 IDMPO and MDA announces a new initiative of Mediapolis Phase Ø. IDMPO will be collaborating with industry partners and incubators to build a IDM Superincubator  within Mediapolis Phase Ø. IDMPO aims to bring in various stakeholders of the ecosystem to populate levels 2 &3 of Blk 71. Blk 71 will provide affordable space, shared facilities for testbed, experiment and collaboration activities to stimulate growth in the IDM ecosystem. Read more