This edition of i.Bits highlights the progress of Time Voyager’s expansion into the Chinese gaming market and also Singapore’s Media Development Authority’s (MDA) i.JAM funding initiative. The achievements of companies and projects that were supported by MDA has helped contributed to building the interactive digital and media industry both locally and regionally.

1. Time Voyager pushes into China’s gaming market

Singaporean game developer Time Voyager is preparing to launch its flagship game, Chaos Gate, into the China market. The game is being licensed through online game publisher Kingsoft and will be free to play.

Time Voyager’s inception began as a childhood hobby. Founder Chris Loo had a passion for gaming and decided to take it further than just thumbing buttons on a game control. Push came to shove when Mr Loo was based in China in 2008. “I was working as a property investment manager in Shanghai, and I noticed that the gaming industry there was thriving. Earning profit margins of 30 per cent was the norm,” said Mr Loo. The University of San Francisco computer science graduate decided to capitalize on the opportunity. Says Mr Loo, “What really attracted me to the gaming industry was the absence of geographical boundaries. A game developer can sell his product in any country, and is not limited by his location.”

With the Chinese market in his crosshairs, Mr Loo made sure to avoid mistakes made by many game developers. “Many high-end gaming products fail in China because developers do not account for the lower bandwidth and poorer computer specifications that Chinese gamers have,” he noted. With the help of Singapore’s Media Development Authority (MDA), Time Voyager developed the JX 3 Engine Software which allows the company to produce games with lighter installation packages to suite the requirements of the Chinese market. MDA’s FutureScape program awarded the company about $900,000 to develop the game engine, which lets players add their own characters, worlds and quests to the game.

Time Voyager also has a physical presence in China as Mr Loo recognizes the need for it. The company hires more than 40 local staff which handles art and content creation while been backed by about 20 counterparts in Singapore who focuses on developing the platform.

The development of Chaos Gate has taken about three years and is a multiplayer online role-playing games that involves traveling back in time to the era of the Three Kindgoms and ancient Greece to retrieve special stones in order to save the planet. The game is integrated into social media platforms such as Facebook.

Mr Loo also has plans to expand into other markets. “We plan to launch distribution offices in Europe and America in the coming years to market Chaos Gate,” he said, “we intend to cater to the lucrative European markets by having the game translated into the various local languages.”

Adapted from The Straits Times, August 10 2011

2. i.JAM Graduates Another Group Of Companies

When Tactica Labs, a Singapore startup with an innovative mobile advertising platform, needed heavyweight partners, they made the connection through the i.JAM micro-funding scheme that they joined.

Mr. Loo, what is your role in IdeaFactory?

My role at IdeaFactory as Head of Business is really a Hunter. I hunt for cool and wild technologies anywhere in the world and bring them to our associates in Singapore or anywhere in the world, to commercialise them and bring them to market.

Can you share with us a little bit about the products you have found for IdeaFactory?

In Singapore, we have invested in a company called 2359 Media which provides a turn-key publishing platform for mobile apps to help us develop some of our SingTel applications.

We have also worked with PlayCast, an Israeli company that lets people play high-end games without consoles by streaming them from the cloud.

And from the US, we worked with PayLoad, a personalisation engine that helps websites give better commercial recommendations – similar to Amazon, but it uses interesting human psychology patterns to make its recommendations.

What are the characteristics of companies that you wish to work with?

We like to work with companies with cool and exciting technologies that the masses love to use.

These companies also need to have good chemistry with SingTel in terms of seeing eye-to-eye on such issues as the realism of commercialisation and customer expectation.

How does IdeaFactory contribute to SingTel’s overall strategy?

IdeaFactory plays an important role in SingTel’s transformation into a multimedia company. In the telecommunications space, we are rapidly being cannibalised by the adjacent markets in the phone, hardware, multimedia or online business.

SingTel needed to take a big leap into the multimedia business, leveraging on the strengths we have. We have a strong competitive advantage with our customer base and infrastructure.

IdeaFactory takes SingTel from being heavily reliant on the telecommunication business into the multimedia space. We see IdeaFactory as the trigger of an avalanche that will cause multimedia transformation throughout the whole company.

What are the potential areas or products you are looking into?

E-publication is one of them. We have launched the first digital magazine store in Singapore called Delight. People are now reading on mobile phones and tablets not only on paper.

Another areas is next generation games, PlayCast being one of them already mentioned, as well as next generation TV, social networking and collaboration tools.

These are areas we are really moving into in a big way and in the next 3 to 6 months you should see exciting new developments coming out of SingTel.

How has your relationship been with IDMPO?

IDMPO strikes me as a very cutting-edge government organisation, which has played a good matchmaking role between start-ups and companies like ours.

They also help to shorten the engagement process and help us lower the tuition fee on betting on the wrong ones as well.

I would say the relationship with IDMPO has been great; we have invested in some of their start-ups as well.

How would all this collaboration take Singapore to another level?

Singapore has a few key pillars in the financial, construction, airlines sectors, etc, but these pillars which have supported our economy for the last few decades might not be able to bring us forward in the next.

However, in the multimedia space, we are not limited by our space, and we can reach out to a large global population and this is a very competitive advantage we have especially in Asia.

With SingTel’s huge network of over 580 Million customers, we are well positioned to tap into the whole Asian market and lead in Singapore’s multimedia transformation and innovation.

2. Real Time Contextual Insights – An Emerging Science

The current approach to market research is constrained in terms of its ability to accurately predict consumer response based on the limited types of data collected about consumer behaviour via limited channels.

This results in a hit and miss approach adopted by most businesses and organisations when it comes to reaching out to to their target markets and audiences – the message that gets out to them may not be relevant to their interests and needs in a particular context.

Consumer behaviour may be unpredictable but with the right amount and the right types of data framed in the most relevant context, organisations and businesses will be better equipped in conveying their messages at the right time to their target audiences to get better results.

So how can businesses and organisations achieve this? Where can they get this contextual data in real time? This is where research and development into Real Time Contextual Insights (RTCI) comes into place.

What is Real Time Contextual Insights? It is a rapidly emerging area of scientific research. It looks into generating real-time applications and services that help gain dynamic and real-time insights in an interactive setting. These insights will be contextual, incorporating geo-spatial, circumstantial and social networking information on a societal scale.

The Interactive Digital Media Programme Office (IDMPO) is calling for interested parties to submit applications under this programme.

To read more about the Call for Applications for RTCI, go to

http://www.idm.sg/cfp/call-for-applications-real-time-contextual-insights/

3.Interview with Assoc. Prof Adrian David Cheok, Co-Director, Keio-NUS CUTE Center

Researchers at the Cute Center are exploring the frontiers of possibility in the realms of creativity and interactive digital media
Image Source: http://www.mixedreality.nus.edu.sg/

How did the CUTE Center come about?

CUTE Center is a collaboration with Keio University, a top private university in Japan.

In 2000, I started the Mixed Reality Lab in NUS, which is now a joint lab with CUTE Center, and I was doing research on augmented reality, where, for e.g., with a head-mounted display, we can see virtual objects in the physical world.

As we did more research, I realised that mixed reality is more than just visual media. We are now looking at sharing experiences over the Internet through a multi-modal way – through touch, taste and smell.

How does this impact society? We are looking into a few focus groups such as family and children. At CUTE Center we are looking at how using multi-modal experience communication we can improve children’s learning experience in an interactive way.

Can you share some of the cutting edge research the CUTE Center is working on now?

For example, we are now looking at how the senses of touch, taste and smell can be communicated over distances by electronically stimulating the human taste and smell receptors. With this, you could have cooking shows where the audience is able to smell what is being cooked even though they are far away.

Also, nowadays people are losing touch of each other despite being more connected by technology. So we are also looking at how, for parents who are far away from their children, a hug can be simulated, communicated and felt by their children.

In the realm of fashion and design, we have working prototypes of canvasses that can change its colours and design patterns in reaction to temperature and the surrounding moods.

How close are the products of your research currently to commercial development?

Some of our works in the lab are close to commercialization. One example is a social networking robot for children. Nowadays even children are involved in social networks but parents are concerned about the safety and security issues involved with making friends online.

With this physical robot, they make friends by touching the robots together physically at school, and they will be virtual friends also in the social network, and parents are able to approve who they can be friends with.

Right now we have 3 spin-off companies from the lab – we have entrepreneurs from India, US and Singapore who want to licence the research we are doing. We are probably going to have 3 or 4 more companies this year. I think this is a good way to impact society.

How do you see Singapore as a hub for all this innovation?

Singapore has the unique advantage of being an Asian city with international influences – a mix of Western and Eastern influences – and I believe this is important for creativity and innovation where ideas mix.

There has also been an increased emphasis on developing creativity among the young over the past 10 years. The environment is being nurtured for children to express their creativity.

Singapore also has an advantage in infrastructure – it’s very good at technology, intellectual property management laws – and these are important factors to nurture an innovative playing field.

What do you see are the challenges in commercialization of the research projects?

There is usually a big gap from development to commercialization – as a lab we are good at making good working prototypes – but to make an actual commercial product is a whole different ball game.

In research, we want to move on to the next project once we get something working, not necessarily at the 100% level, but if we want to make something into a product, we have to make it at the 100% level.

Do you have any suggestions or advice to give to budding researchers?

First, find something that you feel is fun, that you are passionate about, and you have your heart completely in it. Stop looking at incremental changes but look at how you can create quantum leaps of innovation. If you have the passion in something, it will naturally drive you to push the boundaries of knowledge and stretch the boundaries of what is possible – so naturally hard work and perseverance comes into the picture. Creativity is now more and more becoming something essential, not just something good to have, and you cannot force creativity out of something that you do not put your heart in.

What do a 3-D modelling company, a knowledge management system (KMS) vendor, and an iPhone app developer have in common? For KPB, BCZ, and buUuk, it is the fact that they are all funded by the IDM Programme Office (IDMPO), and that their work has caught the attention of large movers and shakers such as SingTel and NTUC. These startups are among a small but growing number of innovative, fast responders who are able to quickly deploy IDM products to serve large companies.

SingTel Idea Factory, an innovations team reporting directly to SingTel’s CEO scans the global market for emerging technologies and innovative applications suitable for the SingTel market. SingTel’s global search sometimes ends right back here in Singapore. In recent years, this telecommunications giant has found homegrown start-ups can help boost their IDM strategy.  This is yet another sign that the IDM ecosystem in Singapore is worldclass and becoming increasingly sophisticated. That some of  these start ups have been funded by IDMPO is recognition of this funding agency’s ability to spot and groom innovative start-ups.

KPB is a provider of multi-platform, immersive, and interactive 3-D solutions that allows for the development and hosting of other applications. Together with SingTel, they developed a true 3-D immersive environment with localised information on weather, traffic, bus routes, real-time parking lots availability on Orchard Road and 18 competition venues for the Youth Olympic Games 2010. A key factor contributing to this product is a previous project – also supported by IDMPO – which recreated the entire island of Singapore in 3-D using the same large-scale modelling methodology.

BCZ is responsible for the development of Qryos Knowledge Management System, an innovative tool for companies to better find, analyse, and manage their data. Qryos resides in an application background “listening” to its internal and external environment to understand the user. In so doing, it creates a digital eDNA of its owner, with the aim of better understanding him or her. With a connection to a huge centralized databank hosted on a cloud, Qryos then accesses billions of recorded items of internet preferences and user profiles in orider to make recommendations that help improve the user’s lifestyle and increase his or her daily operational productivity.

buUuk’s flagship product is an app for iPhone, Android and Nokia phones that allows users to find any restaurant they want quickly and easily. The database of restaurants is constantly being updated, and new countries are always being added. The location-enabled app helps you find restaurants closest to you, and the search function makes searching for a particular type of food easy. buUuk has won several accolades, including being voted as one of Asia’s Top 10 apps, and making it on to CNN Go’s list of “11 crucial iPhone travel apps”.

On top of that, buUuk also offers custom app development to organisations. The Straits Times app, for instance, is authored by buUuk. Another notable example is the My NTUC iPhone app. Developed in collaboration with NTUC, the app allows you to find and search NTUC merchants and promotions nearby. You can also participate in NTUC polls and create a custom profile for yourself. The collaboration between NTUC and buUuk came about as a result of a call for proposals jointly hosted by NTUC and IDMPO.

It is likely that the ecosystem here will see more and more start-ups creating IDM products and services for larger companies to aid them in their digital strategies. The advantages of a small size mean that they can quickly create and deploy user friendly apps and services. This is a business model that could work for many homegrown start-ups.

2.BeingThere and Research into Telepresence

Professor Nadia Magnenat-Thalmann, Director of the Institute of Media Innovation at NTU

Professor Nadia is the Director of the Institute of Media Innovation at NTU, which is an incubator of multidisciplinary media-related research. IMI is in collaboration with the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH) and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) to create the BeingThere laboratory, an international research centre for telepresence.

iBits: Tell us a little bit about the work you’re doing at BeingThere.

Prof Nadia: The idea of BringThere is the idea that wherever you are, I will feel and sense you as if you are next to me. We are working to develop three prototypes of the telepresence system of the 21st century. What we’ll first do is try to bring the know-how here. We have some space in IMI. Very soon we’ll buy the necessary equipment and we’ll try to integrate our efforts. I’ll meet with designers and animators who will create the complete scenario in 3D. This project is designed with three centres – the ETH, UNC and NTU –  in mind. We group three know-hows together. It’s a unique model. We share and we empower each other.

iBits: What are some commercial applications of your research?

Prof Nadia: For the first 2 years, we will integrate our efforts, try to improve what our existing technologies. By the end of the two years, I would like to see us meeting up with our counterparts in ETH and UNC with our technology without having to move from place to place. If we can manage to have this kind of experience and demo it to people, we can attract potential companies who can work with us to make this commercially viable. For the next 2 years following that, we will start to experiment on concrete pre-commercial prototypes and scenarios. I already have people coming in, interested in what we’re doing.

iBits: How do you think this will change the way people interact?

Prof Nadia: We speak of things that don’t exist, but if we manage to do this there will be a lot less travelling. For example, I’m going down to Switzerland next week to check on the progress there, but in the future, maybe I will just be there virtually, through 3D video conferencing. I can see people exactly as they would be if they were next to me. Why then should I travel to Zurich?

Find out more about BeingThere from their website.

Contact Prof Nadia at nadiathalmann@ntu.edu.sg

3. NExT: Leading the charge towards next-generation search technologies

Professor Chua Tat Seng, Chair Professor at the School of Computing of NUS and head of NExT

One of the cornerstones of the Interactive Digital Media Programme Office (IDMPO), an inter-agency organisation which supports Singapore’s long-term vision of growing into a global IDM capital, is research and development (R&D) into cutting-edge technologies that can translate into commerical success.

The NUS-Tsinghua  Extreme Search Centre (NExT) undertakes just such  research . A collaborative effort between the National University of Singapore (NUS) and Tsinghua University (THU), NExT delves into “extreme search”, which is a search technology that combines current search engine technology with live media and real-time data search

Professor Chua Tat Seng, Chair Professor at the School of Computing of NUS and head of NExT, explains that current search engines are limited to searching only indexed data – data that has been written before. He said, “We want to organise all the so-called evolving and unstructured information on the web  and try to help users make sense of them.”

Such data includes millions of real-time data streams generated continuously from sensors, mobile devices, data sources such as forums and blogs etc. located around the world. The centre concentrates its research on four broad areas: live media search, multilingual forum search, distributed infrastructure, and extreme database support.

In September 2010, the inaugural NExT Steering Committee gave approval for six sub-projects that will culminate in a common prototype. These projects will build up the necessary databases, networks, and infrastructure to support the projects’ implementations of live multimedia search, and fuse it all together to develop smart living environments.

According to Professor Chua, the technology is ready and NExT already possess advanced prototypes of interactive media search that can take the project to the commercial.level. “I think frankly we can easily produce any of these technologies demonstrated,” Prof Chua said. “What we need is a business component, which I admit is not as strong.”

“The key element is the right person to push it, so we’re looking around among my students and external organisations to find the right people with entrepreneurial spirit, who are dynamic, able to see the big picture, and are willing to push things along,” he added.

For now, NExT is looking into deploying an Android-based mobile application on the NUS campus by June. This app will allow students to get information and connect with their friends. This real-world testing will further sharpen the technology through the feedback of test users. Prof Chua gave a detailed explanation of how the app works:

“This network is not just a place for you to interact, it also provides an active role to match you to people who can help you and then try to link to you. Once a student or a staff comes in and tells the application what year he/she is in and what modules he/she is doing, the app immediately generates a timetable for him/her. You’ll be linked to your friends in your courses and classes, and even Halls of Residence. We try to link all these information to facilities on campus. Through this system, you can find your friends, you can find people to help you in your work, you can find friends to exercise with you etc.”

Visit the NExT website to learn more. Prof Chua can be contacted at chuats@comp.nus.edu.sg

4. Tax Incentives for Start-ups

To a newly-incorporated company, what’s the closest thing they can get to free money?

Of course, it’s the numerous tax incentives, grants, and programmes the Singapore government provides for newly-minted local companies. Unfortunately, a study of 2,000 start-ups by DP Information Group last year revealed that most Singapore start-ups were not aware of such helpful programmes.

Singapore’s business environment is characterised by low tax rates and tax incentives. As long as a company is incorporated in Singapore, it is eligible for numerous of such incentives. In addition, the government is extremely supportive of entrepreneurship and offers various grants and programmes to help start-ups push things along. In this article, we take you through the highlights of these incentives and provide you with helpful links to get more information.

First and foremost, the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) has an excellent tax break for new start-up companies. Start-ups are exempt from paying taxes for the first S$100,000 of normal chargeable income for three consecutive years. On top of that, starting from 2008, a further 50% exemption is given for the next S$200,000, bringing the total amount of money eligible for this break to S$300,000.

In addition, exempt private companies (i.e. no corporate shareholders and less than 20 individual shareholders) with annual revenue of less than S$5 million and dormant companies (i.e. no accounting transactions during the year) are exempted from auditing their accounts and can file unaudited accounts. This should save you valuable time and resources needed to run your start-up!

If your start-up engages in intensive research & development, do check out the Production and Innovation Credit (PIC). Introduced in 2010 and enhanced in the most recent Budget 2011, PIC provides tax benefits across a range of activities. Businesses will be allowed to deduct from their taxable income 400% of the first $400,000 of expenditure for each of the six categories comprising:

1. Research and Development
2. Approved Design
3. Acquisition of Intellectual Property
4. Registration of Intellectual Property
5. Purchase/Lease of Prescribed Automation Equipment
6. Training of Employees

The R&D activities can even be carried out overseas, as long as it’s done under the name of a company incorporated in Singapore. For more information, visit http://goo.gl/P5kqt.

In fact, you don’t even have to be making a profit to enjoy tax benefits! This is especially important for start-ups who invest heavily in R&D and do not see themselves making profits for the next few years. The R&D Incentive For Start-Up Enterprises (RISE) Scheme gives out cash grants of up to S$20,250 to companies whose R&D activities incur losses during the first three years of assessment. Check it out here: http://goo.gl/0rSQe.

There are many more tax incentives your start-up can take advantage of, but take note that every tax incentive comes with certain conditions, so be sure to read the fine print very carefully. Navigating through maze of all these incentives available can be daunting. For more information on government tax incentives, visit http://goo.gl/3blpb. If you need genera information on corporate taxes in Singapore, check out http://goo.gl/TRka9.

When you need to raise additional capital for your start-up, a great way is to apply to SPRING Singapore’s various financing schemes. The Startup Enterprise Development Scheme (SEEDS, http://goo.gl/EB8dR), for example, is an equity-based co-financing option which matches dollar-for-dollar the investment of third-parties, up to a maximum of S$1 million. This means that you can effectively double whatever capital you manage to raise from external investors.

But why stop there? Take it a step further and apply for the Business Angel Funds (BAF, http://goo.gl/iaFUQ) scheme. Under the BAF, SPRING works closely with three pre-approved private angel funds to offer equity-based co-financing. If your start-up manages to obtain investment interest and commitment from any of these three angel funds, SEEDS could potentially match that amount of investment dollar-for-dollar, up to a maximum of S$1.5 million.

With such a rich ecosystem and network of support, there seems to be no excuse not to be an entrepreneur.

The National University of Singapore (NUS) and Tsinghua University in Beijing, China, together with the Media Development Authority of Singapore (MDA), have officially launched the new NUS-Tsinghua Extreme Search Centre.

This was announced by DPM Wong Kan Seng at the sidelines of the China-Singapore Joint Council for Bilateral Cooperation. The NExT Search Centre (N for NUS, Ex for Extreme, and T for Tsinghua), facilitated by the Interactive Digital Media R&D Programme Office (IDMPO), focuses on researching the technologies, framework and applications of live media search, as well as exploring the commercialisation of technologies of companies in Singapore, China and further abroad.

Supported by a funding of S$10 million over five years by IDMPO, which is hosted by MDA, with combined contributions in kind from NUS and Tsinghua, NExT has a total vaue of support of approximately S$20 million. The Centre also aims to raise an additional S$4 million in external grants to support its work. The agreement to set up the Centre was signed between NUS, Tsinghua University and MDA on 1 May 2010.

There are plans for NExT Search Centre to engage more than 150 graduate students and researchers, and a total of 25 principal investigators from both NUS and Tsinghua University will be leading various projects at the Centre. The Centre will be overseen by a Management Committee comprising senior personnel from MDA, NUS and Tsinghua University.

The NExT Search Centre will carry out research in the following four areas:

a) Live media search: to research on the analysis, filtering and retrieval of information embedded within thousands of live sensors, along with mobile devices and other associated news, calendar and e-mailing information.

b) Live forum search: to study the mining and retrieval of multilingual and multimedia forum data, including opinion mining, question-answering and extraction of user behaviours and interests.

c) Distributed infrastructure: to tackle the key research challenges in developing distributed and networking support for the sampling, updating and distribution of data from millions of live sensors over large geographical regions.

d) Extreme database support: to examine database support for live stream indexing, and spatial-temporal querying of millions of live streams.

Further links in the media: CNA, ZaoBao 

2.   MXR gains traction in the Chinese market  

IDMPO-supported MXR Corporation recently signed 3 agreements with Chinese companies, as part of its push into the Chinese market. These agreements were signed during the showcase of Singapore IDM companies at the Shanghai World Expo. This media showcase at the Singapore Pavilion featured many of MXR Corporation’s mixed reality products, including its popular Magic Cards product.

The agreements –signed with Changzhou Dinosaur Land Culture & Creative Co. Ltd.Suzhou H&H Capital Co. Ltd. and Shanghai Jiecui Digital Co. Ltd—span a variety of business activities, including co-development of mixed reality products and venture capital funding. Having already established offices in Nanjing, Beijing, and Hong Kong, MXR Corporation is strengthening its presence in the Chinese market with these new agreements.

Of particular note is the investment agreement signed with Suzhou H&H Capital Co. Ltd, by which Suzhou H&H Capital will invest in MXR Corporation to help the company expand in China. Mr. Hou, Chairman of SuZhou H&H Capital Co., Ltd. is optimistic about MXR Corporation, saying: “We are confident (that) our investments are well placed. With the support of the Chinese government and the hard work that MXR’s staffs are putting in to contribute to the development and popularization of Mixed Reality, we believe that MXR can expand successfully in China.” This investment agreement also marks one of the first steps for Suzhou H&H Capital to build plans to invest in Singaporean companies.

MXR Corporation is a spin-off from Mixed Reality Lab of the NUS, and its mixed reality education products have been sold in dozens of countries worldwide since its inception in 2007.

3.    Personal eMotion (PEM) signs licensing deal with Tien Wah Press

PEM has signed a definitive term sheet with Tien Wah Press (TWP), for licensing of PEM’s KooBits software platform.  TWP is among the Top 10 printers in the world and has some of biggest publishers in the world, with its portfolio. The licensing deal requires PEM to commit to using their platform and patented technology to convert books to the interactive e-Platform.

4.   VEEV and CETV partner to develop and market new educational tools

VEEV Interactive has recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with China Education TV (CETV) for a partnership to develop new media educational content and technologies. The 2 companies will be co-developing and promoting several products and services, including the “Chinese Village”, which is a 3D virtual learning community for Chinese language. CETV is one of only 3 nation-wide Chinese broadcasters, and it is the only national education TV station in China.

VEEV and CETV will also be marketing bilingual teacher-training, and vocational and professional training courses. They will jointly develop and market the largest iTNC (Interactive TV Network for Campus), where regional schools can share their work, resources, ideas and experiences.

5.    Time Voyager’s new venture into China

Within two years of receiving IDMPO funding, Time Voyager has set up a branch office in China and also acquired another game company in Hangzhou. With the acquisition of Azure Studio (China), Time Voyager will bring on board Azure’s strengths to enhance the level of in-game art quality and visual effects.

Time Voyager is a Singapore-based, IDMPO-supported company with founders hailing from Singapore, Taiwan and China. The 50-man strong company is currently working on a large-scale 3D Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG) titled “PROJECT A”, and the core development team members have an average of between 8 to 15 years of experience developing online games, animation, software, game publishing and operational management.  

6.    Visual Factory moves into China market

IDMPO-supported company Visual Factory signed an agreement with Beijing Hong Zilan Art Centre to provide a new next generation 3D immersive plug-in for the art centre’s “China Art 114″ website. This plug-in is the foundation of Beijing Hong Zilan’s online 3D art galleries, which promote art to the global market. The new plug-in will support all spectrums of standard web-browsers and will enable web users to enjoy highly optimized 3D graphics for online art.

Visual Factory has also created other similar products such as an online 3D virtual showroom called Cybermuseum for the National Heritage Board of Singapore. The Cybermuseum showcases some collections in the Singapore National Museum, Asian Civilisations Museum, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore Philatelic Museum, as well as the Singapore National Archives. 

Visual Factory recently opened a new representative office in Beijing, and within a month this news received media coverage at the China ArtIntern website , Chine 99ys.com , and China Art guide .These sites went on to state that museums and art institutions are currently looking to use 3D technology, and this brings benefits such as initiating the exchange of different cultural heritages around the world. With future developments in 3D technology being planned, there are now more possibilities than before to bring arts and heritage culture closer to the younger generation.

                                                                                                     Visual Factory CEO Ilan Ofek (first from the left); Ms. Zhou, owner of Beijing Hong Zilan Arts Centre;  Ms. Ying Shu, Chief Representative Visual Factory (China); and Prof. Zhou, owner of Hong Zilan.

Two IDMPO-funded companies were recognized at the recently-concluded Emerging Enterprise 2010 Awards. Multimedia surveillance and intelligence company KAI Square won top honours as one of the three winners, while gaming company Tyler Projects emerged as one of the 15 finalists. The Emerging Enterprise Awards is one of the key annual entrepreneurial awards that seek out emerging enterprises with revenue of less that $10 million per year. OCBC’s enterprise banking head of emerging business Tan Chor Sen, who was on the judging panel, said that on top of being able to deliver outstanding financial results amid poor lacklustre economic conditions, the three firms stood out for having the foresight to grow their business overseas, and expand their innovation and productivity capabilities. Kai Square won $390,000 in the form of an $150,000 interest-free loan, educational and development grants, business consulting services, and brand and product development research services. 

Solving real-world problems the 3-D way 

In June, the Centre for Advanced Media Technology at the Nanyang Technological University received a boost of $14 million from the MDA, NTU and German research organisation Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft – in a bid to transfer R&D to the market here. This marks the first time Europe’s largest institution for applied research has opened a facility in Asia. As a result of the new funders, NTU’s centre has also been renamed Fraunhofer Project Centre for Interactive Digital Media. Fraunhofer IDM@NTU’s co-director said that they are looking at real-world problems and trying to help solve them with their enabling technologies such as 3-D visualisations as well as virtual and augmented reality. Moreover, the team is also working towards using such visualization techniques to involve visitors in Singapore attractions. IDM Programme Office executive director Michael Yap said that the centre will help enhance the international network of world-class research in Singapore. 

Razer in the News 

Razer, the world’s leading gaming hardware brand, has had a busy past six months. During CES 2010 early in the year, the company was featured in various media, including Tom’s Guide, CNBC, and Fox Business for its IDMPO-funded project TruMotion. This partnership between Razer and Sixense—which has produced the TruMotion motion-sensing game controller—won CNET’s best of CES (Finalist) award, as well as CruchGear’s Best of CES award. In April, Razer announced its global strategic alliance with Shanda and Kylin to work on the game Genghis Khan II. Razer will be providing all user-interface and hardware support for the game, including imparting an Asian flavour to the UI. Just one month later, the PC Gaming Alliance announced that Razer’s Min-Liang Tan, Chief Executive Officer, had joined their Board as director. More accolades are sure to come the way of Razer judging by its impressive performance these last few months. Well done, Razer! 

Above Technology Partners with Microsoft to Launch TangoFX 

ABOVE Technology announced Singapore’s first interactive media application on the Windows Phone 7 platform.  TangoFX is a context aware interactive service that provides live and on-demand cinematic experiences for viewers to watch their favourite content anywhere, anytime and on any screen. Through the Microsoft BizSpark program, ABOVE worked closely with 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 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 & family, and pick, share and discuss scenes of mutual interest while watching live or on-demand content. 

Above Technologies demonstrating the TangoFX application at Broadcast Asia 2010

Research to Market (R2M) Seminar Series: Technologies for Next Generation Media Search 

With increasing integration of computing, broadcasting, networking and the internet, multimedia information has become pervasive and permeates almost every aspect of our lives. Increasingly, we find information coming in different media forms, multiple external sources and encoded in various knowledge representations. Typical media types include text, image, video and audio. Major parallel sources of information may come from the Web, and social network sites such as Wikipedia. To process such information effectively and efficiently, the ability to analyse and fuse the myriads of related sources of information has become critically important.

 NUS researchers from the School of Computing are pioneering a new generation of media search technologies, spanning from web-scale image/video search to multilingual search, scanned text search and speech-based search.

Join the NUS researchers on August 12th 2010, in a seminar on Technologies for Next Generation Media Search, to learn about some of their cutting-edge research in media search technologies, including interactive web-scale media search, mobile music retrieval and its applications, machine translation and multilingual search, and management of surveillance data. Registration is free and all are welcome. For more details and to register, please click here. Contact iloas@nus.edu.sg for more information.

From left: Prof.Chua Tat Seng, Dr.Wang Ye, A/Prof. Ng Hwee Tou, Dr. Sim Khe Chai, Prof. Tan Chew Lim, Prof. Mohan Kankanhalli. The Media Search seminar will cover research undertaken by professors listed above .

The Media Development Authority of Singapore and the Singapore Centre for Chinese Language (SCCL) signed a Memorandum of Understanding on 17 November 2009 at the official opening of the SCCL, officiated by Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew, to collaborate on research in innovative teaching and learning strategies of the Chinese language, including a joint effort to launch a Call-for-Proposal (CFP).

The joint CFP for the development of Chinese language learning and teaching will focus primarily on three areas; oral training, mobile learning and news in education (utilization of textual news articles, audio and visual news clips for the enhancement of Chinese language teaching and learning).

The CFP aims to encourage local developers to research and develop technology with a suitable network infrastructure that can assess students who are learning
Chinese as a second language, diagnose their oral skills and systematically improve their skills through different pedagogical approaches and training in areas that are lacking.

Signing the MOU on behalf of MDA was Mr Michael Yap, Deputy CEO of MDA and Executive Director of the multi-agency Interactive Digital Media R&D Programme Office. He said, “The MDA and SCCL collaboration hopes to apply Interactive Digital Media to uncover innovative applications to promote and transform the learning of the Chinese language. Through this collaboration, the industry will be able to tap on domain expertise and funding to explore and develop compelling ways to learn and teach Chinese.”

Dr Chin Chee Kuen, Executive Director, SCCL said, ”ICT in education is not new, but ICT with research-proven pedagogy and rigorously-tested learning strategy makes all the difference in further elevating ICT-assisted Chinese Language learning. SCCL’s collaboration with MDA hopes to bring together the best of the government, industrial and educational sectors in the field of ICT-integrated Chinese Language learning.”

Interested parties are welcome to submit their proposals by 18 December 2009 using the designated application form, which can be downloaded from www.mda.gov.sg or
http://www.idm.sg/cfp/futurebooks/. The guidelines and offerings by the partner network can also be found on the respective websites.

The Keio-NUS CUTE Centre officially opens

The Keio-NUS Connective Ubiquitous Technology for Embodiments (CUTE) Centre was officially opened by the President of the Republic of Singapore, His Excellency S R Nathan, on 12 October 2009. The S$20 million Centre is a partnership between NUS’ Interactive and Digital Media Institute (IDMI) and Keio University’s Graduate School of Media Design (KMD). Funded by the National Research Foundation’s strategic Interactive Digital Media R&D Programme, this is Keio University’s first full-scale international research centre located outside of Japan.

Prof Hang Chang Chieh, Chairman of the Management Committee for the Keio-NUS CUTE Centre, said, “The establishment of the CUTE Centre reiterates NUS’ commitment towards supporting national development goals and reinforces the leadership position of NUS in interactive digital media related research through its collaboration with Keio University, a world leader in Media Design.”

The Centre is headed by two Co-Directors – Dr Adrian David Cheok, KMD Professor and Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at NUS, and Deputy Director (Research) of NUS IDMI, and Dr Masa Inakage, Dean and Professor at KMD.

On the aspirations of the Centre, Prof Cheok said, “The new centre opens up exciting new opportunities for both NUS and Keio University in terms of research and education, with a strong focus on new types of multi-modal networked communication for children and families. There will be substantial interaction between researchers and students in NUS and Keio through joint lab projects.”
For a start, the Centre will conduct research and development in feeling communication and build a trend-spotting engine of online digital content activities. It will also be working on other areas such as global computing, to install a Global Studio that will provide high-speed networking capabilities between Singapore, Keio University and partner locations. Projects which the Centre have been working on include the “Huggy Pajamas” where parents and children can “hug” one another via a hugging interface device and a wearable, hug reproducing pajama connected through the Internet. The Centre has also been awarded funding by NEC to conduct research funding on “Kitchen Media” and received a substantive grant from the Defence Science & Technology Agency to work on augmented reality in urban combat.

To date, there are 51 interactive digital media researchers based at NUS and 36 researchers at the Keio campus. A total of 14 KMD faculty members are involved in the Keio-NUS CUTE centre and researchers from the NUS Mixed Reality Laboratory are now part of the Centre.

As part of the Future of Media initiative, the Media Development Authority (MDA) has once again marshalled leading industry players to collaborate, aiming to stake a claim in the high growth sectors of online publishing and virtual worlds through the calling of innovative proposals.

Dr Christopher Chia, Chief Executive Officer, MDA said: “The Future of Media initiative has created buzz in the interactive digital media sector. Not only are leading companies like Creative Technology, Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) and ST Electronics (Training & Simulation Systems) joining MDA in shaping the new media landscape, they are actively offering their financial support, development platforms, distribution networks and marketing resources.”

Previous calls for proposals (CFP) on FutureTV, FutureGames and FutureMobile have attracted a total of 73 proposals. This time, the focus will be on FutureBooks and FutureWorlds – two other high-growth areas identified by MDA and the industry.

According to a Deloitte Study (2008), interactive publishing is expected to grow at a Compounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 14% from 2007 to 2015 while the global virtual and immersive media market, estimated at S$18bn in 2008, is set to grow to S$44bn in 2012 at a CAGR of 25%.

FutureBooks partner network

To spur the development, delivery and managing of innovative applications and content on the e-book platform, a FutureBooks partner network championed by major industry players such as Creative Technology and SPH together with other key industry members such as Personal e-Motion (PEM), Singapore Centre for Chinese Language (SCCL), Popular e-Learning Holdings, Times Publishing Group and Pearson Education has been established. The partner network invites companies with innovative ideas for applications, services and business models, to leverage on the technology, global distribution network as well as educational content offered by the partner network members.
Interested parties are welcome to submit their proposals by 18 December 2009. More details in http://www.idm.sg/cfp/futurebooks/

FutureWorlds partner network
To encourage the development of cutting-edge digital technology with virtual realities, 3D multi-sensory simulations and realistic immersive digital environments, the FutureWorlds partner network championed by ST Electronics (Training and Simulation Systems) with key members consisting of Singapore Tourism Board, Street Directory, KPB and Crystal Computer Graphics. Together, the partner network is seeking proposals for applications, services and business models, to leverage on the technology and global distribution network offered by the partner network members.

Interested parties are welcome to submit their proposals by 4 January 2010, details are in http://www.idm.sg/cfp/futureworlds/.

Local IDM Entrepreneurs recognised as Top Achievers in Asian information and communications technology space

MIS Asia is Asia’s leading IT-Management magazine, with an audited circulation of over 10,600 IT-Chiefs in ASEAN and Greater China regions, has identified three IDMPO entrepreneurs as top entrepreneurs in the Asian information and communications technology space.

They are Terence Swee and Dr Pete Kellock from Muvee and Ilan Ofek from Visual Factory.

Muvee
Muvee Technologies is recognized internationally as the pioneer and leader in automatic video production. Their aim is to leapfrog traditional approaches to video editing and unlock a new world of fast, fun, simple video production for everyone.

muvee’s software and services use patented technology so anyone can create and share professional-quality instant home movies out of unedited video, digital pictures and music. The firm now develops consumer products for a range of platforms and devices including PCs, online, digital cameras, camera-equipped mobile phones and photo kiosks.

Visual Factory
Visual Factory’s technologies and products aims to redefine 3D community immersive tools, and representation of unique smart avatars by setting the standards for 3D assets deployment, interoperability and delivering content that engages people anywhere, at any time. The company provides full virtual community/world solution, starting from fast, efficient and cost effective 3D modelling process, attractive 3D community immersive tools.

http://www.mis-asia.com/magazines/cio_asia/volume-4-2009/success-secrets-of-20-top-achievers

IDMPO Companies Winning the SITF Awards 2009
PGK Media, KAI Square and Hibernator have emerged winners at the recent SITF Awards. The SiTF Awards recognizes the emerging trends, innovations and new developments of the Singapore infocomm industry. It is an important entrepreneurial accolade for Infocomm innovations in Singapore and is organized by the Singapore infocomm Technology Federation (SiTF). The award provide organisations, both MNC, local enterprises and institution of higher learning, schools, the opportunity to showcase their innovative product and services. It also offers an excellent platform to create awareness, seek investors and identify business partners.

“What is interesting is that amongst the entire list of finalists, several (Human Network Labs, BoxSentry, RedNano) were funded by the Interactive Digital Media Programme Office (IDMPO), this includes some of the winners as well. This means that almost one third of the finalists were funded by IDMPO.” commented Gwendolyn Regina, one of the judges for the SITF Awards.

Our winners, together with the other SITF Award recipients, will once more represent Singapore in the international Asia Pacific ICT Alliance Awards, to be held in Melbourne this December.

WINNERS
PGK Media – ADME Network & Wish Singapore (Open Category)
Founded in 2001, PGK Media is a Singapore-based broadcaster and operator of innovative digital media networks. PGK digital networks include an advanced out-of-home distribution platform made of interactive large format digital billboards and Singapore’s first independent digital TV terrestrial network offering new ethnic and customized TV channels. PGK is been responsible for many world-first and award winning projects including a first-of-its-kind multimedia in-cab advertising system, the world’s largest floating digital wall launched during Singapore National Day Parade, Singapore’s first Mobile TV broadcasting trial and the latest immersive OOH media platform.
http://www.pgkmedia.com/

KAI Square – Juzz4Logistics (Infocomm Local Enterprise Category)
KAI Square is a young and charismatic company, with the main expertise in multimedia surveillance data processing coupled with wireless computing. Their technological niche provides solutions for a wide range of application systems catering to large corporations and end-users in the internet and mobile devices domains. Kai Square believes in bringing greater business value to their customers and partners by delivering innovative technologies that harnesses the power of Knowledge with Artificial Intelligence (KAI).
http://www.kaisquare.com/

National Technological University – Hibernater (Student Category – Tertiary)
Hibernater is all about the concept of bringing hibernation onto the internet by saving and resuming work states easily. Imagine able to resume your documents, web sites, and so on with one click the moment you log on to another computer. Hibernater also protects us against unintentional overwriting of files. Hibernater also brings the concept of hibernation over the internet, thereby increasing the sharing of resources both for corporate and academic institutions. As compared to remote access applications, Hibernater does not require the host PC to be switched on, thereby saving precious resources and enhancing portability.
http://www.hibernater.com/

FINALISTS
Human Network Labs
Human Network Labs (HNL) is a technology based company, developing mobile software applications on a patent pending technology platform called the PixieEngine, for precise localization of nearby people and objects. With this enabling technology, HNL seeks to develop and implement a new generation information system that is able to link virtual information within our physical space, thereby empowering us with the ability to access information and revolutionizing the way we socialize, communicate, navigate and interact with our physical environment.
http://www.humannetworklabs.com/

BoxSentry
BoxSentry was founded in 2006 to address the challenge posed by conventional anti-spam technologies often misclassifying and blocking legitimate one-to-one email as spam. To meet the urgent need for a solution to this problem with false positives, BoxSentry created RealMail™ and LogiQ™, which today support enterprises, governments and service providers in over 18 countries. BoxSentry’s solutions for email protection integrate the key components of reputation, authentication and protection methodologies to ensure business-safe email for its clients.
http://www.boxsentry.com/

RedNano
Rednano is the local search engine for Singapore. It aims to provide the most relevant search results pertaining to the local Singapore context. Rednano is a product of SPH Search Pte Ltd which is a subsidiary of the media giant in Singapore – SPH Holding.

The Rednano search engine uses federated search function to search across multiple online databases, resulting in multiple information sources with one search query. Federated search makes deep web documents searchable without having to visit each database individually as opposed to traditional internet search engines like Google, that only searches sources indexed by its web crawler.
http://www.rednano.sg/

IDMPO funded research centre, Keio-NUS CUTE Centre, has developed the World’s first social networking robot for children. Petimo is selected by an international review panel as one of the best three submissions for the Como for Children (C4C) design competition held at The 8th International conference on Interaction Design and Children (IDC 2009), this is Petimo’s debut in Europe.

At its prototype state, Petimo already shows great potential. Responsive to touch and movements, the robot also showcased a range of advanced technological capabilities as a future mobile networking device for children. More features are being added, these include touch-screen functionality, various types of covers or skins for the outer finish of the robot for diverse personalisation and personality, as well as a whole range of applications that include games and intuitive features like 3-G technology and more.

Emphasis on Petimo’s creative design was to ensure that all physical properties, emotions, virtual gifts and many more robotic interactions are well-suited to children. In virtual form, the robot enters Petimo-World, its virtual realm. To add friends on it, a physical meet between two robots and its owners must take place and parents act as gate-keepers via Petimo-World’s parent authentication module.

Together, Petimo and Petimo-World is a new mediator in cultivating positive social behaviour and better familiarisation to computing environments among young growing minds.

Wish Singapore brings smiles to thousands during National Day Parade 2009

The thousands of participants at this year Singapore National Day Parade were amazed and surprised by Wish Singapore, a giant circular digital wall floating on the waters of Marina Bay along Esplanade Theatre waterfront. The digital wall, measuring an astonishing 22 meters in diameter and weighting more than 20 tons, was kept afloat by a customized platform anchored at 20 meters in the bay and is considered to be the first in the world. Wish Singapore digital wall offered a simulcast of the NDP live coverage on its 360-degree screen to reach the entire crowd assembled around Marina Bay. Live SMS and video dedication from all around the world were also available and displayed in real-time to engage the public with more interactive services.

“Wish Singapore is another great example of the kind of achievement a dynamic collaboration between the industry and pro-active government agencies could generate.” says Mr. Dorrucci, Chairman & CEO of PGK Media commenting on the collaboration between PGK and MDA/IDM which was a pivotal in the project execution. “We are extremely proud of Wish Singapore and we hope to have brought many smiles to the thousands of Singaporeans who battled the hot weather and long waiting hours to take a glimpse of the NDP show, it was indeed a great feeling.”

Wish Singapore is an integral part of the ADMe Network, an advanced distribution platform operated by PGK Media in co-operation with IDM R&D Programme Office hosted under MDA Media Development Authority of Singapore.

For more information on Wish Singapore please visit http://www.wishsingapore.com.sg
For more information on PGK Media please visit http://www.pgkmedia.com

Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces Visits F11

A high-level delegation led by Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, was given a close-up view of Singapore’s success story during a two-day visit to the city state in August.

The delegation visited Singapore’s twin research campuses, Fusionopolis and Biopolis. Dealing with innovations in physical and life sciences respectively, the two centres provide a potential model for collaboration between private and state agencies.

At Fusionopolis, Sheikh Mohammed was shown around a 3D, virtual Singapore, as well as being given demonstrations of a number of multimedia devices with potential for use in both education and business.

The technologies had been developed at the centre, with a view to being used both by government bodies and companies there, and marketed worldwide.

For more information on F11, please visit http://www.idm.sg/f11/

IDMPO Companies are Finalists at the SiTF Awards
SiTF Awards, organised by the Singapore infocomm Technology Federation (SiTF) is to provide recognition to innovative ICT applications / solutions which are developed locally.

This award, championed by the industry is an important accolade to infocomm innovations in Singapore. It provides organisations, both MNC, local enterprises and institution of higher learning, schools, the opportunity to showcase their innovative product and services. It also offers an excellent platform to create awareness, seek investors and identify business partners.
The SiTF Awards 2009 qualification results are out, 23 out of about 90 nominations were selected. IDMPO is proud to note that 7 out of the 23 finalists are IDMPO supported.
For more information, please visit http://www.sitfawards.com

More Achievements from IDMPO Companies

IDMPO AND Singapore Tourism Board Explores Augmented Reality

IDMPO is working closely with Singapore Tourism Board to explore the use of Augmented Reality technologies for enhancing Tourism in Singapore.

This is part of IDMPO’s FutureWorlds initiative, where IDMPO welcomes partners with capabilities in real-time and immersive digital social media to develop next-generation media solutions that will transform inter and intra-personal communication.

We are interested in the following Augmented Reality solutions

Immersive Experience

- Use of Augmented Reality to recreate historic sites and simulate past events to create an immersive experience for visitors on the actual site.
- Interactive real time immersive games that allow players to participate through a Virtual Reality interface.

Non-Immersive Experience

- Use of Augmented Reality to display real time information about points of interests based on one’s locations.

For the pilot run, we will require the vendor(s) to develop:

(i) an Augmented Reality application at the proposed tourism venue;
(ii) an open platform that allows other companies to leverage on for further development, and
(iii) the type of tourism content to be generated.
(iv) business model and its sustainability

We are open to exploring various mediums to deliver these experiences; for instance, holographic projections, handheld devices and interactive screens,

We look forward to your responses.
For more information, please contact Darren Seah (darren_seah@stb.gov.sg) / Nicholas Foo (nicholas_foo@stb.gov.sg)

If you’re interested to showcase your IDM projects in the upcoming Youth Olympic Games, email priscilla_liu@mda.gov.sg for more information. Meanwhile, here are some projects you can look forward to in this year’s National Day Parade.

PGK Media

Wish Singapore, a user-centric, digital content delivery platform that will be deployed for the first time during this year’s National Day Parade.

An artist rendering shows PGK Media’s Wish Singapore interactive, cylindrical digital billboard floating on Marina Bay during the National Day Parade celebrations.

According to the company, Wish Singapore will take the form of a giant floating digital wall on the waters of Marina Bay, a world-first and the largest ever built in Singapore. During the National Day celebrations, this immersive digital canvas will display Singaporean’s wishes and dedications from all around the world.

Developed and operated by PGK Media in co-operation with the IDM R&D Program Office, Wish Singapore is an integral part of the ADMe Network, an advanced distribution platform composed of wireless out-of-home digital video walls capable of receiving rich media and live content in real time.

According to the company, discussions also are underway for ADMe and Wish Singapore to support the 2010 Youth Olympic Games in Singapore, the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai and other key events in Brazil and Dubai.

Metaversum

Metaversum, developer of Twinity, the world’s first mirror world – a virtual world made of real people and real places announced that Twinity is an official sponsor of Singapore’s National Day Parade 2009. This year, Singapore fans can celebrate their national holiday at Marina Bay, in the Heartlands, and from anywhere in the world in Orchard Virtual, Twinity.

Singapore is Twinity’s second international capital and follows hot on the heels of virtual Berlin. The first district to open is the area around Orchard Road (Orchard Virtual), the retail and entertainment hub of downtown Singapore.

Twinity’s NDP celebration will be open to all for free and will showcase Singapore to a worldwide audience. Visitors to Twinity on National Day will see a multimedia extravaganza, featuring integrated web, audio, video, and photo collections, an interactive quiz, themed virtual items, and a dance party. Other exciting events and appearances will be announced soon.

Come together @ Orchard Virtual: Get a sneak peak of virtual Singapore now and get ready for the biggest day in the Singaporean calendar. Sign up to Twinity at www.twinity.com/en/singapore and be one of the first to explore orchard virtual Singapore and bring the city to life, even before the official opening.

ServTouch ETI

ServTouch ETI will be providing ‘live’ webcast of eight selected celebrations in Singapore’s heartlands. This footage will also be beamed back to the Float @ Marina Bay during the Pledge Moment, allowing one to see Singaporeans around the island taking the Pledge in unison.

Singaporeans local and abroad with internet connection can also enjoy the celebrations by accessing http://www.ndpeeps.com/live_webcast.html.

G Element

G Element is developing a 3D Marina Bay Presenter system using their GermaniumWeb platform ( www.germanium3d.com) to aid the NDP2009 Committee in providing a unified presentation and visualization of (1) points of interest, and (2) camera views in the vicinity and in-building premises of the Marina Bay Area. The featured solution integrates CCTV camera feeds with 3D buildings and their interiors to provide integrated and concurrent situation awareness. The integration is bi-directional, enabling the user to both receive a selected camera feed in the 3D scene and control the camera’s PTZ parameters within the same view. To learn more, please visit www.germanium3d.com/applications.

G Element is also working with the NDP Command and Control group to implement a 3D solution for the Command Centre. The use of 3D offers vast benefits in terms of planning, control and decision making. G Element have linked up numerous live CCTV cameras to placemarks in GermaniumWeb and also integrated pan-tilt-zoom control for the cameras. The linking of live CCTV feed to an interactive 3D interior/exterior environment showcases the use of the GermaniumWeb API to create novel and robust web applications for operational use.

Qala

Qala’s primary contribution is the deployment Security Cameras and set up of NDP Security & Operations Centre. These are for use by the NDP 09 committee and Singapore Police Force.

IDM in YOG

Singapore will be hosting the first Youth Olympic Games from 14 to 26 August 2010. It will receive some 3,600 athletes and 800 officials from 205 National Olympic Committees, along with estimated 800 media representatives, 20,000 local and international volunteers, and more than 500,000 spectators.
Want to see your IDM projects play a part in the upcoming YOG? Please email priscilla_liu@mda.gov.sg for further information.

Shaping a New Generation of Visual Media Experiences through FutureTV Initiative
Major players of the interactive digital media industry have joined forces to form a FutureTV partner network that will see its members leverage on each other’s capabilities and resources to fuel industry innovation. The goal: To use Singapore as a test-bed for innovative services that will shape a new generation of visual media experiences, resulting in greater interactivity and personalisation in the consumption of content.

To draw participation from the broader industry to be part of FutureTV, the partner network, together with MDA, are launching the first call for proposals to Singapore technology and media companies to submit ideas for creating, aggregating, managing, distributing and monetizing visual media to anticipate and shape future patterns in the consumption of visual media.

Targeting start-ups as well as established media companies in Singapore, the Call hopes to solicit exciting ideas to enhance consumers’ experience of visual media, innovate with tools and devices to allow content to be delivered to a variety of access devices, and create a variety of value-added services such as media (rather than text-based) search, advertising engines, interactive video, customizable interfaces, and next generation advertising engines. In particular, the Call offers Singapore start-ups a headstart by enabling collaborations with established players to access bigger markets globally, marketing and promotional tie-ups, and sharing of market intelligence.

The submitted proposals will be evaluated by a joint MDA and FutureTV Partner Network Evaluation Panel based on criteria such as innovativeness and market potential. More details of the Call can be found at www.idm.sg.

Singapore, Sweden sign digital-media MOU

The Media Development Authority (MDA) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on interactive digital media with Sweden’s Business Region Gothenburg.

The MOU aims to link Singapore and Sweden in the joint development and commercialisation of new digital media technologies, applications and services.

Under the agreement, Swedish companies can leapfrog the competition into Asian markets by using Singapore as a test-bed. Those looking for partners to expand their base in Singapore will receive matchmaking support by MDA.

Singapore companies can also look forward to testing their technology under the Swedish environment.
Other joint explorations being discussed include a collaboration between Singapore Science Centre and its Gothenburg counterpart, Universum.

Regional chapter of IAB aims to boost ad spending on sector

The digital advertising sector in Southeast Asia is set to receive a boost.

Leading companies from the industry are forming a regional chapter of the Interactive Advertising Bureau, which will be based in Singapore.

Digital advertising has become increasingly common on the Internet, and even on mobile devices. But industry players said there is still a lot of potential for growth in the sector.

They believe the region offers significant growth opportunities, and aim to raise the interactive advertising share of total ad spending in Southeast Asia to 20 per cent by 2020. The current level is estimated to be around 2 per cent of the total.

Ken Mandel, managing director, Yahoo Southeast Asia, Founding Member of IAB, said: “Southeast Asia is a fantastic opportunity; you are talking about half a billion consumers. In terms of online users, we are probably about 100 million only, so there is a lot of growth to come.”

One of the bureau’s aims is to change the mindsets of companies in charge of media buying through education. It will also make research data available to them.

Their studies suggest that digital advertising will be particularly effective for reaching the 18 to 24 years old demographic.

Mr Mandel said: “Some of the differences are in terms of expression. I think in the West, you have a lot of people who want to have lots of friends, whereas some of our markets in Southeast Asia, they just want to express themselves, they want to write, they want blog.”

The bureau said it will be necessary for the industry to invest in the sector in order to keep up with changing media consumption habits, and to prepare their businesses for future growth.

Andrew Lanni, chairman, Programming, Adtech Expositions, said: “Marketers should at least say, if my target market is spending 20 per cent of their time online, then I at least need to be spending something similar, or at least need to increase my spending to close that gap.”

Observers said the bureau should be able to achieve its target, if the results of a similar group set up in the UK nine years ago are anything to go by.

Back then, spending on interactive advertising was at about 2 per cent, but has since been grown to 20 per cent, the highest in the world.

Source: Channel News Asia
For more information about the IAB and its plans in Singapore, visit http://www.iab.sg.