While the local expansion of foreign multinationals such as Electronic Arts and Lucasfilm tend to hog the headlines, a new market study shows thecountry’s nascent interactive digital media (IDM) sector is in fact rife with local talent.

According to Deloitte Consulting, local firms make up 79 per cent of the local IDM industry and foreign companies accounted for the remaining 21 per cent.

This study, which polled 130 companies across the sector on their performance from 2007 to 2008, is one of the first few attempts to take a snapshot of a fledging industry which only came under the government spotlight in the last fewyears.

The Deloitte report revealed that there are around 585 IDM-related companies in Singapore and they added 1,500 jobs in 2008 to bring their combined employment tally to nearly 7,400.

Start-ups make up 19 per cent of IDM companieshere while small and mid-sized enterprises account for the lion’s share at 67 per cent. Large companies accounted for the rest, the survey showed.

The sector’s headcount boost is in line with its sizzling growth during the year, with itsvalue-add growing at a rate of 25 per cent to $798 million at the end of 2008. The IDM industry’s revenue also grew at a similar pace from an estimated $1 billion in 2007 to $1.3 billion in 2008.

‘This strong growth can be explained by intenseinvestments, R&D (research and development) and localisation in Singapore over the 2007 to 2008 period,’ according to the Deloitte report.

‘Such high growth suggests that Singapore is heading in the right direction,’ the firm said.

During the year, the Media Development Authority of Singapore (MDA), which manages a $500 million war chest from the National Research Foundation, invested heavily to boost R&D in the IDM space.

These included allocating $40 million in seedfunding to support digital media start-ups as well as introducing a scheme to co-finance the creation of new computer games.

MDA also roped in partners such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to set up gaming labs and rallied investorsand distributors to set aside more money to fund local productions.

Sister agencies such as the Economic Development Board weighed in by wooing foreign media giants to plant their development operations here.

Last year, the governmentwent a step further to zone out a piece of land in Buona Vista to play host to media and gaming companies.

Called Mediapolis, the 19-hectare premises could eventually house dozens of new buildings for accommodating production houses, gamedevelopers and post- production companies when fully-completed in 2020.

‘In order to further monetise R&D-based innovation, Singapore should seek to promote greater technical standardisation, further collaboration within the IDM ecosystem andprovide customised funding to meet innovative companies’ needs based on their life cycle,’ Deloitte said.

Source : The Business Times
Author : Winston Chai

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SINGAPORE’S next generation of digital media whizzes are being grown with money from a $500 million fund that has gone into building digital classrooms, as well as promising commercial ventures by start-up companies and MNCs.

And now, funding will also go to research projects by companies in digital media, the Media Development Authority (MDA) said yesterday.

In the last two years, money from the Interactive Digital Media Programme Office (IDMPO) has helped 120 start-ups, and provided seed money for 68 other companies.

Funds have also gone to 64 schools and educational institutions to help them enhance teaching through digital media.

Among them was a project by the National Institute of Education to develop a multi-player game on mobile phones that would facilitate learning.

Started in 2006, the IDMPO aims to fuel the growth of interactive digital media and its research and development (R&D). To be disbursed over five years, it has more than six funding schemes now.

MDA revealed where the money had gone at yesterday’s Computer Games, Multimedia & Allied Technology (CGAT) conference but would not say how much had been given.

It hopes to fuel the growth of the media sector from $4.7 billion in 2005 to $10 billion by 2015, and add 10,000 jobs.

‘Singapore has a chance to create the next breakthrough in media,’ said Mr Michael Yap, deputy CEO and programme director of IDMPO, at the event.

Interactive digital media can encompass the areas of gaming, next generation Web and mobile technology, to name a few.

First Meta, a virtual credit card company in virtual worlds like Second Life, received funding in 2007 for R&D and manpower. Founder Aileen Sim said it saved her a lot of the heartache that most start-ups face.

‘The money allowed us to do up prototypes and other costly research. It also opened doors to investors, who saw us as more credible,’ said Ms Sim, who added that her company’s monthly revenue has hit the mid six-figures now.

With funding from IDMPO, it is currently working on converting virtual game currency into money that can be used in real life.

Mr Yap also announced that firms can start applying for new, additional funding for its latest initiative, Future of Media.

The money is to encourage companies to innovate and conduct research on next-generation media applications in television, mobile phones, virtual worlds or three-dimensional Web, books and games. MDA will accept and fund 50 to 100 companies to work on each ‘future’ field.

It wants to work these future services and applications into its massive virtual city, Co-Space, first launched about a year ago as its answer to Second Life.

IDMPO is a testament to how funding can water growth.

Between September 2007 and September last year, applications from start-ups applying for seed money of up to $50,000 leapt threefold.

Yesterday, the Media Development Authority (MDA) announced that it had committed the amount to help ‘sustain the growth of Singapore’s media sector amid the economic downturn’.

Last year, the authority injected $180 million into the sector.

The money, said the agency’s chief executive Christopher Chia, will be used to co-fund between 200 and 300 new projects over the course of the year, with the aim of creating some 2,000 new media jobs and strengthening Singapore’s burgeoning media industry.

The media sector has enjoyed steady growth of 8 per cent between 1996 and 2006, outpacing the economy’s 5.2 per cent growth. It generated an estimated $20 billion in revenue last year and currently employs some 58,000 people.

The downturn, though, has put a dampener on the sector, said Dr Chia, speaking at the third annual Media Business Forum, held at the high-tech business park Fusionopolis. Increasingly risk-averse investors, for instance, have become less willing to put money into media projects. This prompted the MDA to step in, to help ensure there is work for promising media firms, and that they have enough cash to develop and produce new projects and export them overseas.

Yesterday, it asked media firms to submit proposals for public service programmes that promote values like racial harmony and volunteerism; for TV products that could be given new life as video games or films; and for projects to develop and distribute Singapore’s music worldwide.

Smaller, high-risk research and development-related ideas could receive outright grants. For large-scale productions like feature films, the Government will co-invest and share in the receipts if the production makes money.

The MDA will also release submission details for interactive digital media projects like video games and online television later this year.

Financing aside, it is also facilitating efforts to help the media industry in other ways, from holding training workshops to matchmaking film producers with suitable foreign film distributors, said Dr Chia.

Source: The Straits Times

Progress of Singapore’s media sector
Singapore’s media sector has enjoyed steady growth since the industry’s national blueprint Media 21 was unveiled. As at 2006, the media sector1 contributed $5 billion value-added and $19.5 billion revenue to the economy, employing 54,700 workers.

The compounded annual growth rate of the media sector from 1996 to 2006 was 8.0%, higher than 5.2% for the overall economy.

Recognising the growth prospects of the sector, the Government announced in Parliament last month that it will set aside $230 million over five years under the Singapore Media Fusion plan to develop the local media industry, representing a 40% increase in funding from the previous Media 21 blueprint. That is on top of existing NRF support of $500 million over five years for interactive digital media
research and development.

Said Dr Christopher Chia, MDA’s Chief Executive Officer, “For the coming year and beyond, MDA will focus on funding and developing high-value and exportable content and applications, with an emphasis on helping Singapore companies to leverage digital media and adopt a 360° approach to exploit original intellectual properties across multiple platforms and formats. To this end, we will issue major calls for proposals throughout the year across TV, film, publishing, music, interactive media
and games, aimed at stimulating a strong pipeline of projects for local media companies.

“Alongside efforts to boost industry activity are stepped up capability development initiatives to train manpower and match talents to projects, that will help to prepare the media sector for the upturn.”
Stimulating a strong pipeline of projects Leading the first wave of project calls at today’s Media Business Forum was the request for innovative public service programmes that can travel across platforms and borders. In a separate call under its “360° TV” initiative to build brands and franchises around media properties, MDA requested for original TV concepts that leverage various digital media distribution avenues and partnerships. Both calls are expected to result in more TV content produced out of Singapore. This year, MDA aims to support 2,380 hours of broadcast content, 200 hours more than the previous year.

Recognising the potential of the music industry as a platform for the development of local talents, as well as a springboard for creative and business enhancements across broadcast, animation, film and games, a call was also initiated for proposals to transform Singapore into a digital music hub, build the music ecosystem and develop music services to support content productions.

Establishing strategic networks
To galvanise the industry to secure a foothold in niche sub-sectors of the emerging new media arena, MDA today launched a “Future of Media” initiative that aims to form five partner networks for companies to share resources, collaborate, experiment and innovate. The partner networks are Future Mobile, Future Games, Future TV, Future Worlds and Future Books. Each partner network aims to cluster between 50 to 100 companies, ranging from start-ups, small and medium enterprises and anchor companies. MDA will provide support in the form of industry contacts, matchmaking and co-funding the call for proposals.

To kick off the initiative, some 20 companies, including Friendster, G Element, Mozat, QALA Singapore, SingTel and Sun Microsystems, are joining MDA in calling for proposals. The calls will collate the business requirements and demands of technology and innovative applications of these companies, and provide the industry with a network of user base, distribution networks and development platforms for industry members to leverage. For example, SingTel, Mozat and Friendster combined can provide start-ups with access to potentially hundreds of millions of users.

Training and upgrading media manpower
To sharpen the competitive edge of Singapore’s media industry, MDA is working with Workforce Development Authority and the industry on programmes to train and upgrade media manpower, leveraging initiatives such as Skills Programme for Upgrading and Resilience (SPUR) and Professional Conversion Programme (PCP). MDA will commit $6 million to fund the slate of manpower programmes, which is expected to benefit 6,000 media talents this year.

A new programme – Media Training & Attachment (META) – will give global exposure and work opportunities to local talents and media professionals by matching, and upgrading their skills where needed, to projects and companies with corresponding needs. MDA will co-fund such attachments to both local and overseas companies. An estimated 150 talents will benefit from META this year.

In addition, the revamped Singapore Media Fusion industry portal (www.smf.sg) will incorporate a bulletin board that allows organisations that are hiring, to post their manpower or resource requirements. Individuals can also upload their CVs for prospective employers to assess for a better job match.

“Our slate of initiatives is aimed at saving and creating jobs, and also maintaining a strong pipeline of projects through an increased investment in the media sector. By enhancing the media sector’s digital value proposition and increasing efforts in capability development, we hope to strengthen the foundation for growth,“ said Dr Chia.

Four IDMPO funded companies were recently featured in Digital Life for their unique and viable business models, and who have been gaining traction (in terms of profit and user outreach) through social networking platforms such as Facebook, Friendster, Second Life and so on. The four companies profiled were iHipo (international internships), Fresbo (multi-player game), First Meta (Second Life commerce) and Tyler Projects (multi-player game).
Here is the full story

Five New Media Projects set to draw $70m Investments and 300 Jobs
Singapore’s Media Development Authority (MDA) has awarded five new media projects, worth S$7.6 million (US$5.1 million), to help propel local companies with new media services and businesses into the global market.

The five projects, selected from 26 proposals first called for in September 2008, range from development of games to media-rich learning, and is also expected to create 300 new jobs in the local media sector while helping generate some S$70 million in investment for the local media sector.
“Our support will help the companies scale up their international exposure significantly. These projects will in turn support some 200 companies to help build the new media ecosystem,” said Michael Yap (pictured), deputy CEO of the MDA.

Eric Berthier, CEO of Popular e-Learning Holdings, added: “Our initiatives will serve as the leading regional portals for Singapore’s education service providers, media owners and other media service providers. Our partners will have a ready reach to markets in Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong.”
“In light of the present economic climate, the funding from MDA will help defray some of the business risks associated with these new media initiatives and allow Popular to be more ambitious in our development and marketing regionally,” he added.

Tom Navasero, executive chairman of Glocal, said: “The presence of Glocal in Singapore will provide the new media industry the opportunity to find a marketplace for their content to be accessible to over 20 million viewers worldwide in key media markets such as United States, Canada, Japan, Australia, France and the Middle East.”

Qrodo Ranked Top 5 at Euro Venture Summit

Qrodo (68technologies), one of IDMPO’s funded company, was ranked top 5 in the Internet technology category, at the Euro Venture Summit. The European Venture Summit offers entrepreneurs from Biotech & Industrial Biotech, ICT and New Energies the opportunity to grow their businesses across borders by facilitating contacts to an experienced and international network of venture capital and corporate investors, strategic partners and expert advisers.

Out of 100 global companies evaluated by an international advisory Board of industry experts and a group of leading international venture capitalists, investors, international business executives & prestigious experts in their field. Qrodo was ranked top 5 and faired well over average on all aspects reviewed, especially business potential.

S’pore online advertising grew 33.7% in 2008

Singapore’s online advertising industry is seeing a growing number of large brand advertisers coming in, resulting in the market growing by 33.7 per cent to US$190 million in 2008.
Research by Frost & Sullivan shows that the republic’s online advertising market, which was worth US$142.1 million in 2007 will grow at CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 19.5 per cent till 2013 to reach US$413.5 million.

The Internet has become a mainstream source for the supply and search of ‘infotainment’ content; its biggest enthusiast – the youths. Advertisers and media agencies alike are cashing in on this.
In Singapore, paid search advertising accounted for 44 per cent (US$62.5 million) of online advertising revenues in 2007.

This segment is expected to continue growing at a CAGR of 22.1 per cent between 2008 and 2013.
Display advertising was the second biggest segment accounting for 25 per cent (US$35.5 million) of revenues, with banner advertisement and e-mail marketing being the two most popular forms of display ads.

Online classifieds accounted for 19 per cent (US$27 million) of the total revenues in 2007.

2009 National Science & Technology Awards Call for Nomination Now Open!

The National Science and Technology Awards Committee invites you to nominate deserving scientists and engineers for the prestigious National Science and Technology Award (NSTA).
The Awards are the highest honours Singapore confers on individuals and teams who have made outstanding contributions to science and technology in Singapore. Since the Awards’ inception in 1987, 132 individuals and teams have been conferred the prestigious awards.
The nominations are open from now until 3 March 2009. Nominees will have until 8 March 2009 to register and submit their project details. The Awards Presentation Ceremony will be held in September 2009.

More information is at www.a-star.edu.sg/nsta

SINGAPORE – Singapore’s Media Development Authority (MDA) has awarded five new media projects, worth S$7.6 million (US$5.1 million), to help propel local companies with new media services and businesses into the global market.

The five projects, selected from 26 proposals first called for in September 2008, range from development of games to media-rich learning, and is also expected to create 300 new jobs in the local media sector while helping generate some S$70 million in investment for the local media sector.

“Our support will help the companies scale up their international exposure significantly. These projects will in turn support some 200 companies to help build the new media ecosystem,” said Michael Yap (pictured), deputy CEO of the MDA.

Eric Berthier, CEO of Popular e-Learning Holdings, added: “Our initiatives will serve as the leading regional portals for Singapore’s education service providers, media owners and other media service providers. Our partners will have a ready reach to markets in Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong.”

“In light of the present economic climate, the funding from MDA will help defray some of the business risks associated with these new media initiatives and allow Popular to be more ambitious in our development and marketing regionally,” he added.

Tom Navasero, executive chairman of Glocal, said: “The presence of Glocal in Singapore will provide the new media industry the opportunity to find a marketplace for their content to be accessible to over 20 million viewers worldwide in key media markets such as United States, Canada, Japan, Australia, France and the Middle East.”

Source

Related News
Five digital media projects set to draw $70m investments (The Business Times)
$7.6m MDA funding may create 300 jobs (My Paper)
$7.6m fund to encourage development of new media (Berita Harian)
MDA allocates $7.6m to fund 5 new media Projects (Lianhe Zaobao)

DARWINIAN theories are set to hit Singapore TV screens in the form of a cartoon entitled The Future Is Wild.

The 3-D animated series – coproduced by Singapore Technologies (ST) Electronics and Canadian animation giant Nelvana, and co-funded by theMedia Development Authority – is based on an Animal Planet show of the same name, and revolves around a group of kids who explore the evolution of Earth’s creatures in the future.

Executive producer Derek Reeves from Nelvana said that although the main characters were designed in Canada, a lot of extra design work for props, costumes and some creatures were designed in Singapore.

The 26-episode show will be screened on free-to-air channel Okto on Jan 3 next year. One episode is currently on at Science Centre Singapore. Animators at ST Electronics used simulation technologies normally used in aircraft and
military training for the show.

“Simulated artificial intelligence allowed us to create actions automatically, instead of animating them step-by-step,”
said executive producer Chua Woo from ST Electronics.

The series, ST Electronics’ third foray into animation, took around 18 months to make and reportedly cost about US$12million (S$18 million).

The series debuted in the United States on Discovery Kids channel in October last year. When it aired on German TV channel RTL II this September, the show’s first nine episodes captured 10.9 per cent of the market share for children aged three to 13. The best cartoon launch on that channel this year grabbed around 17 per cent of
that market share.

Given the success of The Future Is Wild, ST Electronics is gearing up for a bright future in animation.
“We are developing our own intellectual property on a small scale,” said Mr Chua.

The Future Is Wild airs on Jan 3 on Okto. One episode is now screening at the Science Centre
Singapore until Jan 2. Go to www.science.edu.sg for more details.

Source: MyPaper

In the second phase, SiTF will cultivate these ideas further into the project stage with the ultimate goal for commercialisation by establishing funding mechanisms through close collaboration with government bodies and the industry. The selected projects will also have the opportunity to be matched with SiTF’s vast network of members for further investment. Lead SiTF members like MediaCorp Pte Ltd, Microsoft, SingTel and ST Electronics (Training & Simulation Systems) have already expressed their interest in project domains such as interactive media, mobile digital media, broadcast, IPTV and open source development etc. SiTF will continue to market this program to gain greater interest from more corporations who see opportunity to partner with start ups. Through support from the industry, the mentorship programme hopes to make available up to $10m worth of project funding and support over a period of five years.

On the partnership with SiTF, Mr Michael Yap, Executive Director of IDMPO said: “We welcome the joining of SiTF in our effort to fuel innovation in the IDM space. We believe SiTF’s wide network of industry members would add to the vibrancy of our IDM ecosystem. We are exploring with companies such as MediaCorp Pte Ltd and ST Electronics to conduct joint calls for proposals.”

With SiTF, the IDMPO now has a network of 10 incubators to create support structures for the start-ups, including the platforms for regular pitching sessions and finding industry partners. Collectively, the incubators will nurture some 450 start-ups over the next few years. The existing incubators have facilitated the funding of some 90 projects to date, out of which 15 were completed. Thirty per cent of the completed projects have successfully received private investment.

“These are exciting times for players in the interactive digital media industry. Through the joint mentorship programme, SiTF aims to catalyse growth in the industry by enabling ideas to gain access to the right connections, guidance from industry experts and veterans, and obtain the necessary funding in order to ultimately develop into innovative products and services and bring them to market,” said Mr Ng Chong Khim, Chairman of SiTF’s Digitial Media Chapter.

To find out more about the joint Mentorship Programme, please contact Jacquie Khoo at Jacquie.khoo@sitf.org.sg.

For media enquiries, please contact:

Jasmine Wong
Assistant Manager, Communications
Media Development Authority of Singapore
Mobile: 9296-7004
Email: jasmine_wong@mda.gov.sg

Jacqueline Khoo
SiTF
Mobile: +65 9115 8800
DID: +65 6325 9713
Email: Jacquie.khoo@sitf.org.sg

Media Development Authority of Singapore (MDA)
The Media Development Authority of Singapore (MDA) was formed on 1 January 2003 to champion Media 21, a blueprint to transform Singapore into a global media city. Media 21 seeks to create a vibrant media environment by establishing Singapore as a media exchange, exporting Made-by-Singapore content, internationalising local media companies, nurturing local media talent and developing digital media. More information on MDA can be found on www.mda.gov.sg

Interactive & Digital Media (IDM) Sector
The development of the IDM sector requires the collaboration of a diverse range of public sector agencies, educational institutions, industry players and other stakeholders. To achieve this, the National Research Foundation has allocated $500 million over the next five years from 2006 to fund the development of a strategic IDM research programme and the set-up of a multi-agency IDM R&D Programme Office within the Media Development Authority of Singapore to oversee R&D initiatives in the IDM space. This multi-agency team is accountable to the IDM Executive Committee and coordinates a cross-disciplinary effort to deepen Singapore’s research capacity in IDM. Please visit www.idm.sg for more information.

About SiTF
Singapore infocomm Technology Federation (SiTF) is Singapore’s premier infocomm industry association. It brings together 400 corporate members from MNCs and local companies. The main charter of the federation is to assist its members in business development, market intelligence, overseas trade missions, networking and alliances.
The eight chapters under SiTF are: Best Sourcing, Digital Media, eGovernment, eLearning, Security & Governance, Singapore Enterprise, Service-Oriented Architecture and Wireless. Besides working closely with government and foreign agencies, SiTF is also a member of the World Information Technology and Services Alliance (WITSA), Asian-Oceania Computing Industry Organisation (ASOCIO) and Asia Pacific ICT Alliance (APICTA). SiTF also manages the Infocomm Singapore Centre (ISC) in China (Shanghai and Hangzhou) to give local infocomm companies a foothold in Greater China.
SiTF organises several Singapore’s key infocomm events – SiTF Golf Classic, iX Conference, SITEX, and administers the ‘Infocomm Singapore’ brand initiative. For more information on SiTF, please visit www.sitf.org.sg

The National Research Foundation (NRF)
The National Research Foundation (NRF), a department under the Prime Minister’s Office, sets the national direction for research and development (R&D) by developing policies, plans and strategies for research, innovation and enterprise, funds strategic initiatives, builds up R&D capabilities and capacities through nurturing our own and attracting foreign talent, and coordinates the research agenda of different agencies to transform Singapore into a knowledge-intensive, innovative and entrepreneurial economy. It provides secretariat support to the Research, Innovation and Enterprise Council (RIEC), chaired by the Prime Minister. A five-year budget of S$5 billion has been allocated to the NRF in 2006 to achieve this mission. For more information, please visit www.nrf.gov.sg.

RAdm (NS) Lui Tuck Yew, Senior Minister of State for Education and Information, Communications and the Arts, announced the initiative at the i.JAM Networking Session. The initiative is meant to help raise the investment needed by IDM companies to further commercialise and develop their products and their companies.

This is done by putting selected companies through an intensive programme consisting of business planning and presentation classes, business plan improvement meetings, and personal coaching sessions.

These companies will then pitch their products to venture capitalists and other investors who might be interested in their products. On top of the private investments, the companies also qualify for R&D grants from IMDMPO or co-investment by SPRING SEEDS Capital of Spring Singapore.

So far, the initiative has signed up 40 potential investors, including big names like SPH, ST Electronics, Mediacorp Technologies, IDG Ventures Vietnam, and Stream Global.

This initiative is part of IDMPO’s ongoing effort to create an interlocking ecosystem between the four key groups in IDM R&D, which are institutes of higher learning, industry players, start-ups and individuals, and schools, to create innovation and capacity in the IDM industry.

Source: Business Times Online

Other i.MATCH related news

MDA launches iMATCH to bridge funding gap for IDM startups (Channel News Asia)
IDM start-ups to get boost from i.MATCH initiative (Business Times)
MATCH to boost local IDM companies’ search for funding (Berita Harian)
IDM start-ups to get boost from i.MATCH initiative (Business Times Online)
MDA help for digital media startups (The New Paper)
MDA sets digital fund, new niche TV (The Hollywood Reporter)
Singapore govt to support interactive digital media startups (IndiaTelevision.com)