In this month’s issue,

Advisory Council on the Impact of New Media on Society
The Move to Fusionopolis
$18m boost for IDM projects
International Experts Impressed with IDM Efforts
KooBits and PGK Media Wins the InfoComm Singapore Awards 2008
Developments of GAMBIT

Advisory Council on the Impact of New Media on Society

The Advisory Council on the Impact of New Media on Society (AIMS) was established in April 2007 to study the far-reaching social, ethical, legal and regulatory implications of a rapidly growing Interactive Digital Media (IDM) sector and to make recommendations to the Government on how these issues should be managed while keeping pace with the development of IDM in Singapore.

For the first AIMS report, AIMS has decided to deal with four time-sensitive issues: e-engagement (or how the Government can use new media to better interact with the public), the regulation of online political content, the protection of minors, and intermediary immunity for online defamation.

Read on
AIMS consultation paper – Engaging new media, challenging old assumptions
Visit the website at www.aims.org.sg

The Move to Fusionopolis

IDMPO, hosted by MDA, has moved to its new home at Fusionopolis this month. With room to grow in the new and spacious building, the IDMPO can expand its operations to play its catalytic role in developing the interactive digital media sector here.

We are also excited about the Singapore Media Fusion (SMF) Centre, which will occupy Level 11 in one of the towers, Symbiosis. The centre will provide a physical environment that brings together the key players in the IDM sector through multitude of collaborative activities. It also will also showcase capabilities of local interactive digital media technologies. Fusionopolis is going to be the central place for digital media, with enough critical mass to generate innovation as a result of its focus on R&D.

$18m boost for IDM projects

13 projects from local Institutes of Higher Learning (IHL) will be given a total of $18 million to do R&D in interactive digital media (IDM). It marks the second round of grants handed out by IDMPO to IHLs. Fourteen projects were selected in the first round last year, and about $22 million was given out.

A panel of international scholars and industry experts was invited to pick the winners out of 85 applicants.

‘It was very difficult to reject projects because they were so good,’ said one of the panelists, Dr
Jose Encarnacao, a computer science expert from Germany. ‘We could have easily accepted twice as many,’ he said.

The funding, which typically goes towards projects with potential for commercial spin-offs, has been a boon for some local researchers. Last year, National University of Singapore researcher Chua Tat Seng received funding for a project that aimed to make video and picture searches more accurate and efficient. The technology has since been picked up by Comcast Corporation, the United States’ largest cable TV provider and one of its largest Internet providers.

International Experts Impressed with IDM Efforts

Overall, the panel concluded that the progress made in the last year was very substantial and exciting. The IRP were impressed by the companies and startups they saw, such as Koobits, Morange, Garena, Fresbo and thought that they had potential to become global players. The Chairman/IRP Dr John Seely Brown said, “I am stunned by your young entrepreneurs. I felt that I could have the exact same conversations in Silicon Valley. I am amazed that Singapore could make that transition within the last two years.”

More related news
18M Boost for IDM Projects

KooBits and PGK Media Wins the InfoComm Singapore Awards 2008

KooBits, an innovative ICT authoring platform developed by Personal e-Motion Pte Ltd, and PGK Media was awarded with the Infocomm Singapore Awards 2008 at the awards ceremony held on Friday night at the National Library penthouse in Singapore.

Personal e-Motion emerged as winner in the competitive e-Education category, earning the credit and recognition for its effort in developing an innovative authoring platform for students and teachers to easily create interactive animated e-books and other multimedia content.

PGK Media emerged as winner in the competitive Research & Development category, earning the credit and recognition for its effort in developing various innovative and world-first products and applications.

Both winners are companies funded by IDM R&D Programme Office (IDMPO)

“We would like to thanks the Singapore Infocomm Technology Federation for the accreditation and the Media Development Authority of Singapore and Interactive Digital Media Project Office for their extensive support which was pivotal in bringing to reality many cutting edge projects.” said Mr Giulio Dorrucci, Chairman & CEO of PGK Media.

Mr Stanley Han, General Manager and Co-Founder of Personal e-Motion also thanked the Media Development Authority of Singapore and Interactive Digital Media Project Office, “for their extensive support which was pivotal in bringing to reality many cutting edge projects.”

Personal e-Motion, PGK Media, together with other SITF awarded companies and institutes, will represent Singapore in the international Asia Pacific ICT Alliance Awards which will be held in Jakarta in November 2008, and bring recognition to Singapore as one of the leading provider for interactive digital media, ICT tools and platform.

Developments of GAMBIT

The Singapore-MIT GAMBIT Games Lab, one of our Institutes of Higher Learning, produced its second batch of students from the recent 2008 Summer Internship Programme. 45 students from the local Institutes of Higher Learning interned at MIT for 9 weeks to produce a total of seven games. Practical hands-on experience learnt throughout the course of the internship helped nurture creative thinking among Singaporean youths and build talent capacity for the local gaming industry.

Students who participated in GAMBIT showcased their projects in a media briefing held on 9 Sept and the Games Convention Asia 2008.

Read more about Singapore’s Strengths in Games