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

Advisory Council on the Impact of New Media on Society

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

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

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

The Move to Fusionopolis

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

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

$18m boost for IDM projects

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

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

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

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

International Experts Impressed with IDM Efforts

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

More related news
18M Boost for IDM Projects

KooBits and PGK Media Wins the InfoComm Singapore Awards 2008

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Developments of GAMBIT

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

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

Read more about Singapore’s Strengths in Games

A special report produced by the Special Projects Unit, Marketing Division, SPH.

First Meta

After its incorporation in February 2007, First Meta launched MetaSavings and MetaCard – the world’s first virtual-currency-denominated credit card.

‘We work closely with renowned virtual world operators to help them manage their economies,’ says Mr Douglas Abrams, 49, co-founder and chief executive officer.

Its clients include Linden Lab, the creator of the Second Life® world, which has a rapidly growing population of ‘residents’ from around the globe, who create and inhabit a virtual world of their own design.

‘We are making history by being the first company to offer a complete suite of real-world financial services in virtual economies. We are creating the future because we believe that virtual economies will grow in size to rival real economies, creating tremendous social, economic and creative shifts over the next few years,’ he says.

Co-founder and chief operating officer Aileen Sim, 25, says: ‘Besides funding, IDM PO’s public and industry events generated significant industry exposure for our company and our first round of international press attention from TechCrunch, BusinessWeek, CNet was largely the result of IDM PO’s efforts.’

Straits Times RazorTV

The Straits Times RazorTV (ST RazorTV), so called for its ‘cutting edge’ open interface concept, is making waves in a unique convergence of Web TV, video entertainment and social networking.

The free interactive Web TV takes current news websites one step further by offering entertainment and lifestyle videos on-demand as well as ‘live’ streaming news content.

A first of its kind in the world, the mutimillion venture was made possible with substantial funding from MDA, says Mr Felix Soh, digital media editor for English and Malay Newspapers Division at Singapore Press Holdings, the company behind the innovation.

‘Most importantly, MDA helped matchmake us with Ufinity, an experienced local software and hardware company, which we are proud to partner and create this cutting-edge but truly Singaporean multimedia solution,’ he says.

The service aims to deliver content in a ‘young, hip and informal talk-show style, with an edgy and raw treatment of news and views’.

‘Instead of bulky equipment or tapes, you have memory cards and a one-step drag-and-drop editing process, which is easier, faster and more fluid than conventional linear editing,’ says the editor of ST Razor TV, Eugene Leow.

The role of presenter, editor, journalist and radio DJ will also converge. On Aug 8, the new genre of TV went operational on a new five-year Niche TV Licence issued by MDA, which facilitates media companies to enter the local Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) market.

Singapore-Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) GAMBIT Gamelab

The Singapore-MIT GAMBIT Game Lab is a five-year research initiative between Singapore and MIT that sees over 200 students and 30 faculty and post-doctoral researchers involved in developing six or more games each year. Their task is to turn research concepts into playable implementations. Its executive director, Ms Teo Chor Guan says: ‘The strong support from the government for both new start-ups as well as for students has made it possible for them to bring their ideas into reality.’

The second batch of tertiary stdents in Singapore presently on attachment at the MIT laboratory in Boston, USA, is working on the game ‘Backflow’, a networked mobile phone game that allows multiple players to engage in the game.

In its first year, Backflow – a project by students during the summer programme at Gambit Game Lab – has emerged as a finalist in the Independent Games Festival Mobile Competition for Best Game and Innovation in Mobile Game Design last year.

China-Singapore Institute of Digital Media (CSIDM)

Giving media research a boost is the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ first overseas R&D lab – the China-Singapore Institute of Digital Media (CSIDM). Opening next year, the research institute will involve some 40 researchers from China working on Immersive Language Mediation technologies with the vision of helping 100 million people to communicate and learn Chinese and English.

Joint research projects will be conducted with the National University of Singapore on state-of-the-art human language technologies that can understand speech, text and gesture input, provide verbal and visual feedback where appropriate and translate where necessary.

This includes technologies for the understanding and processing of natural language dialogues, and for the translation and learning of English and Chinese.

Says Prof Xu Bo, director of CSIDM: ‘We believe language and cultural differences are the main barriers to a true World Wide Web. This is not only a challenging R&D area, its success would also bring tremendous commercial potential.’

Keio-National University of Singapore Connective Ubiquitous Technology for Embodiments (Keio-NUS CUTE Centre)

Keio University, one of the top universities in Japan, has jointly set up an IDM research centre with the National University of Singapore. It is Keio University’s first fullscale international research centre located outside Japan and will focus on connected lifestyle media and embodied interactive technologies. Keio-NUS CUTE Centre will be jointly funded by Keio University, NUS and the IDMPO.

Operational in the next few months, the research centre will focus its efforts in pervasive content for wearable and body media. It is based on the principle that digital computing devices and media will not just be confined to a personal computer or mobile phone in the future.

Source: Link

In this session, we will be announcing Stream Global as our new incubator, and new partnerships with global industry players such as Akamai Technologies and Microsoft. There will also be a panel discussion on innovation and the process of invention with Prof John Seely Brown, Prof Jose Luis Encarnacao and Dr Kees Schouhamer Immink.

We hope to see you at this event, please register at http://www.ijam.sg/event

i.Match
i.Match, a match-making initiative led by Interactive Digital Media Research and Development Programme Office (IDMPO), to bridge Series-A funding gap between IDM companies and local investors, has completed its first cycle and is moving on to Cycle II.

Highlights of Cycle I include:
• 13 companies presented at the first i.Match Showcase event on 29 July
• 69 investors have joined the i.Match Investor Core Group to date
• ICG investors continue to follow-up with i.Match Cycle I companies for Series A investment

The i.Match Cycle II Showcase is tentatively scheduled for end October/early November. To participate in Cycle II and be part of the i.Match Programme, please visit imatch.sg to register.

Apple and IDMPO Call for Proposals
Education Technology Development (ETD) Program is a joint initiative by Interactive Digital Media, Program Office and Apple South Asia Pte Ltd. The objective of this program is to enhance learning and teaching experiences in the education industry. The program encourages local developers to develop innovative education related applications on Mac operating system and/or iPhone operating system.
The call for proposals for the ETD program will open on September 1, 2008, and all submissions must be made by September 26, 2008 at 12pm. IDM Program Office will review the proposals assisted by Apple South Asia Pte Ltd. The proposals shall be reviewed on the following criteria:
• innovation and effectiveness in education
• use of Mac OS and/or iPhone OS
• robustness and reliability
• scalability and extensibility
• availability of a public beta in the course of 6 months

You can attend Apple ETD Briefing on 1st September for more information.
Please visit the i.JAMMING Networking Session / Apple ETD Briefing registration page for details and registration.

Friendster and IDMPO Call for Proposals

IDMPO is working with Friendster to help local developers market, distribute and monetize their apps and services to Friendster. The Friendster Developer Platforms provide APIs to access Friendster data and seamless integration points within the Friendster web site to create compelling applications for Friendster’s over 75 million users.
As part of the programme, Friendster will offer,
• A developer support group and forum for general Q&A
• Featured placement on Friendster.com and Friendster’s monthly newsletter (to over 20 million subscribers)
• Integrated Sponsorships: Friendster works with developers and advertisers to build a compelling user and brand experience
• Help building Fan Profiles, so they can more effectively market their apps to the community

You can attend Apple ETD Briefing on 1st September for more information.
Please visit the i.JAMMING Networking Session registration page for details and registration.

Stream Global, the new i.Jam Incubator

IDMPO is pleased to announce Stream Global as our partner and incubator of IDMPO’s i.JAM (IDM Jumpstart and Mentor) Program.

Stream Global’s philosophy is to focus on early stage companies to help improve their strategies and business model for the long haul, to seize opportunities and increase revenue in the regional markets and to help them to determine the best method to raise funds and to achieve best value for their business.

“We are glad to work hand in hand with MDA to nurture and mentor the new startups,” said Bill Liu, Chairman of Stream Global Pte Ltd. “I am certain that our partners and associate will be able to add tremendous value to the new IDM startups”.

For more information on our i.Jam programme, please visit i.Jam Programme Overview.

“IRC” does not stand for “Internet Relay Chat”

More that 50 people from various local universities, polytechnics and other agencies turned up for the International Research Centre (IRC) Workshop on 25 Aug held in the Nanyang Technological University.

So what is an IRC? It is a research centre jointly set up by a top overseas Institute of Higher Learning (IHL) or Research Institute (RI) with local IHLs to conduct research in exciting areas of Interactive Digital Media (IDM).

We now have GAMBIT Lab formed with MIT (the US) on games; the China-Singapore Institute of Digital Media (CSIDM) with the Chinese Academy of Sciences (PRC) on language mediation; and the latest one announced on 25 Jul 08 — the Connective Ubiquitous Technology for Embodiments (CUTE) Centre, with Keio University (Japan) on lifestyle and pervasive media. There are several more interesting ones in the pipeline and the workshop was to help each IRC craft sharper and more compelling goals.

Besides that, there was a good discussion on how the IRCs and the local IHLs could share resources and work together for greater synergies. The conversations are ongoing. Suffice to say that they could be embodied by the lyrics of 3 songs: “I can see clearly now the rain is gone…”; “The more we get together, together, together…”; and “We’ve got the whole world in our hands…”

Visit the GAMBIT Website

We have completed i.MATCH Cycle I and are now beginning i.MATCH Cycle II. Highlights of Cycle I include:

• 20 companies attended the Business Skills Masterclass Workshop on 2-3 June
• 13 companies presented at the first i.MATCH Showcase event on 29 July
• 69 investors have joined the i.MATCH Investor Core Group to date.
• 56 people attended the Showcase Event, including 43 ICG members and 13 other guests
• 19 private meetings were held between investors and companies at the Showcase Event
• ICG investors continue to follow-up with i.MATCH Cycle I companies for Series A investment

The workshop is a free, two-day intensive session to help companies further develop their business plans and investor presentations. All companies that attend the workshop will be considered for presentation at the iMATCH Cycle II Showcase (tentatively scheduled for end October/early November).

For more information, please visit the i.Match website.

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)

Today, I am happy to announce that the IDMPO will partner SPRING Singapore to launch a new initiative, i.MATCH. This initiative aims to match IDM companies, especially start-ups that have innovative products at development stage, to potential angel investors or major corporate industry players. This will not just enhance the existing funding support available for the start-ups, but also offer potential angel investors or major corporate industry players the opportunity to invest in new and promising IDM products. IDMPO and SPRING Singapore will also provide seed funding to selected projects. i.MATCH will help catalyse the growth of start-ups and prepare them for the global market.

Download the full speech (PDF)

Nabi Studios, a two-year-old, none-mn-strong game developer, will release its first title, Toribash, on the popular Wii console by the end of the year. Released last November on Windows, Mac and Linux platforms, Toribash is a free-form online fighting game that allows players to create any move they want and customise the look of their characters.

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