This call has now ended. Thank you for your interest.

Digital Advertising Call-For-Proposal

September 2010

Background

MDA has also been driving Singapore’s efforts to build a sustainable digital media industry by supporting the R&D, commercialization and export promotion of the interactive media and games sectors.  To date, there are healthy signs of growth for the IDM sector, with revenues for the IDM sector amounting to $1.5 billion as at end-2009.  Many Singapore IDM companies operating in the social networking and virtual worlds’ space have also made headway in the global marketplace and are today serving some 60 million users in more than 200 countries with various forms of IDM applications.

According to the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), total spending on advertising for Singapore was estimated at $1.4 billion in 2008 and $1.2 billion in 2009.  Of this, the digital advertising spending had increased from $51.3 million (3% of total spending on advertising in 2008) to $64.6 million (5.4% of total spending on advertising in 2009) registering a 26% growth notwithstanding the economic downturn last year.   Nonetheless, Singapore’s digital advertising industry is at a nascent stage compared to countries like the United States, United Kingdom and Japan where digital advertising revenue forms some 10% to 20% of their total advertising revenue.  Therein lies the strong growth potential of Singapore’s digital advertising industry.

To date, the Singapore Government has committed more than S$20 million towards industry and university research projects such as the National University of Singapore-Tsinghua University Extreme Search centre that focuses on leading-edge research in live media search.  Over the next 3 years, MDA and the Interactive Digital Media Programme Office (IDMPO) will be collectively funding S$30 million to spur innovation and R&D to develop a vibrant digital advertising ecosystem.

Call-for Proposals

To support the development of the digital advertising ecosystem, the Singapore infocomm and Technology Federation (SiTF) and SingTel iMedia will be partnering MDA/IDMPO to jointly call for proposals for innovative digital advertising applications services/solutions on platforms that will help catalyse further development of the digital advertising ecosystem.  These proposals could be aimed at developing new IDM R&D projects or for supporting commercialization efforts of IDM applications and services.

Details on MDA/IDMPO’s schemes to support IDM R&D and commercialization activities under the joint-CFPs with SiTF and SingTel iMedia follow below.

SiTF’s Call: Innovative e-Advertising in Digital Space

This call is for innovation technology and R&D efforts in digital advertising for both the local and international market.  Interested companies are welcome to submit proposals for:

• Innovative ideas
• Technology R&D
• Platform / Solutions

Interested applicants may wish to refer to SITF’s CFP slides from here (download  slides).

SiTF’s Background

SiTF is the Singapore infocomm industry trade association. It brings together almost 400 corporate members from MNCs and local companies. SiTF assists its members in business development, market intelligence, overseas trade missions, networking and alliances.

SiTF has nine chapters under its wing – Best Sourcing, Digital Media, Cloud Computing, eGovernment, eLearning, Green IT, Singapore Enterprise, Security & Governance and Wireless. SiTF also owns and manages the Infocomm Singapore Centre (ISC) in Shanghai and has a joint venture with Hangzhou e-Software Park (HZESP) to set up the solution centre in Hangzhou, China, to give local infocomm companies a foothold into the China market. For more information on SiTF, please visit www.sitf.org.sg.

SiTF’s detailed offerings include the following to support qualified proposals:

• Business Incubation by SiTF Mentorship Programme (SMP)
• Professional Mentorship by Luminaries of the ICT industry
• Promotion of the innovative products & services through SiTF events chapters /channels
• Business opportunities through SiTF MatchIT program

SingTel iMedia’ Call:  Future of Digital Media Advertising

This is a call for innovative mobile applications, services and/or content that target local digital Media advertising. The vision of the call is to make Singapore a hub to aggregate, repackage and distribute content-rich mobile applications for international mobile markets.

SingTel iMedia is looking for proposals that:

• help create a vibrant ecosystem for advertising
• applications or services that will help to complement the modern active mobile lifestyle.

SingTel iMedia’s detailed offerings are:

• Exposure to SingTel’s 351 million mobile customer base and regional markets.
• SingTel Partnership Network: Accelerates the development of innovative business and consumer applications and offering developers access to resources, which ptimizes costs and effort spent, and shortening time-to-market.
• SingTel App Zone: An upcoming platform for developers to nurture the growth and development of mobile applications where key partners will get priority listing and marketing in the store
• New revenue streams for partner developers in terms of revenue share.
• Feedback & reports for (beta) apps directly from end customers’ comments to help developers improve on their commercial version

Interested applicants may wish to refer to SingTel’s CFP slides from here (download  slides)

Company Background

SingTel is Asia’s leading communications group with operations and investments worldwide. Committed to bringing the best of global communications to customers in Asia Pacific and beyond, SingTel provides a comprehensive portfolio of services that includes voice and data solutions over fixed, wireless and Internet platforms, as well as infocomm technology and pay TV.

SingTel’s network of 37 offices in 19 countries and territories throughout Asia Pacific, Europe and the United States, enables it to deliver reliable and quality network solutions to its customers. Together with its regional partners, the SingTel Group serves 351 million mobile customers in 25 countries as at 30 June 2010.

MDA /IDMPO’s CFP Funding Criteria

Interested applicants may wish to apply for one of the following MDA/IDMPO funding schemes, depending on the nature of their proposed project:

1. i.JAM Microfunding (Fund startups up to $50,000).  Please see details on the application procedures and forms: Form 1.
2. Digital Technology Development Scheme (IDM R&D) (Co-funding up to 50% of qualifying project costs for R&D projects). Please see details on the application procedures and forms: Form 1 and Form 2

1. Digital Technology Development Scheme (Commercialisation) (Repayable grant up to 30% of commercialization project costs).  Please see details on the application procedures and forms: Form 1 and Form 2
2. Please also see these presentation slides for more information.

It should be noted that the above schemes will not support the following activities:

a)     Expenditure outside of Singapore;

b)     Installations, part of live performances, or exhibitions;

c)      Ongoing administrative costs of organizations;

d)     Establishment of infrastructure; and

e)     Operating expenditure not directly related to the project.

The proposals are assessed and approved by an evaluation panel consisting of representatives from MDA and its partners. The selected projects will then be further evaluated and approved by MDA. Applicants will be assessed based on the evidence of their ability and commitment to successfully manage and deliver the project. Candidates may be required to attend an interview after the closing date.

To submit an application, complete the one of the above submission templates and send it to the emails listed below.

For MDA-SITF CFP proposals, please indicate in the subject header [Proposal for SITF CFP], email it to: mda_idmpo@mda.gov.sg and copied to: alan@sitf.org.sg

For MDA-SingTel CFP proposals, please indicate [Proposal for SingTel CFP Application] as subject header and email it to mda_idmpo@mda.gov.sg and copied to: jeansuaw@singtel.com

For CFP proposals that may not fall under the above criteria, please indicate [Proposal for MDA CFP Application] as subject header and email it to: mda_idmpo@mda.gov.sg

Successful applicants will receive an email reply jointly by MDA and the partners on the outcome of their applications.

Period of Call:  8 Sep 2010 to 31 Oct 2010

Please submit your proposals to the emails specified above by 31 Oct 2010, 2359 hrs.

Milestones and Deliverables

The deliverable at the end of the project should be a polished digital advertising application, service for various digital platforms for publishing and distribution.

Development milestones and deliverables will be determined by MDA and the partner(s). Disbursement of funding will be on a reimbursement basis and administered by MDA.

Between milestone submissions, MDA and partners may organize demo/ feedback sessions where team members will be required to showcase and demonstrate work-in-progress builds for play-testing and feedback gathering.

All assets (for example, source code and technology) and copyrights to the completed projects will belong to the applicants. MDA reserve the right to use the projects including the content therein for non-commercial and publicity purposes.

The MDA and partners will require due credits in the website and all promotional & publicity programmes / materials of the completed product as acknowledgement for the support and assistance rendered by the MDA and partners under the initiative.

Applicants are expected to undertake and complete the project upon official approval from panel review.

Termination of Project

In the event that the applicant decides to terminate the project, the applicant would have to compensate MDA/IDMPO or its partners by refunding the entire sum of funds which has been disbursed to applicants at the time of termination.

For enquiries, please contact:

SiTF – Alan Lek, alan@sitf.org.sg

SingTel iMedia – Jean Su, jeansuaw@singtel.com

MDA/ Interactive Digital Media Programme Office (IDMPO) – Desmond Ang, desmond_ang@mda.gov.sg