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)

• iMATCH
• Upcoming international events
• BCA
• iDIOTS- NUS Industrial Design Graduation Show 2008
• NRF Research Fellowship

iJAM networking session announcing the launch of iMATCH

An initiative by Interactive Digital Media R&D Programme Office (IDMPO) and SPRING Singapore, the i.MATCH programme aims to provide a conducive platform for both investors and companies ready for further investments to meet and explore. Details will be announced on 30th July 2008 during our i.JAM networking event.

RADM (NS) Lui Tuck Yew, Senior Minister Of State For Education And Information, Communications And The Arts will be the guest of honour.

Also the highlights for the afternoon are various industry announcements as global platform players such as HP and Apple will be announcing a collaborative effort to potentially help provide opportunities for IDM companies reach out to global audiences.

Attendees can also engage in a discussion with our panel comprising of representatives from various corporate industry players or investing firms. Among the panel would be Ms. Lauren Liang from GE Commercial Finance, Mr. Pierre Hennes from Upstream Global and Mr. Eric Chan from ST Electronics. They will be discussing a topic close to eery start up’s heart- “What do investors look for?”.

Two new call for proposals will also be announced at the event. Do join us for an exciting afternoon!

Venue: Swissôtel Merchant Court Ballroom
Date & time: 30th July 2008 1500-2000hrs

For more information, please visit http://www.idm.sg/?page_id=76

Upcoming international events

This year is going to be an exciting year as ISEA, the International Symposium on Electronic Art and the inaugural ACM SIGGRAPH Conference and Exhibition on Computer Graphics will be coming to Singapore.

ISEA will be happening from 25th July to 3rd August 2008 while SIGGRAPH Asia 2008 will take place from 10th to 13th December 2008. Highly acclaimed artists, researchers and industry players will be attending the events. Do visit our events page on http://www.idm.sg/events/ for updates on more events.

For more information, please visit the 2 events, please visit http://www.isea2008singapore.org/ and http://www.siggraph.org/asia2008/.

Broadcast Asia 2008

Broadcast Asia 2008 was held on the 17th to 20th June 2008 at Singapore Expo Hall 8. It was a good chance for exhibiting companies from all over the world, including Singapore, to showcase their innovations and technology to invited trade guests and visitors.

The Broadcast Asia 2008 International Conference was also held in conjunction with Broadcast Asia, along with various other conferences spread out over the 4-day event.

13 companies marveled visitors with their projects at the IDM showcase within the Singapore Pavilion. Seven core exhibitors put up an integrated showcase, with MXR Corporation, Interactive Multimedia Lab (IML) of National University of Singapore, QMax Communications, G Element, ServTouch Eti, PGK Media. Oghma Pte Ltd and XiD Technologies collaborating with each other and leveraging on their existing technologies. Other companies and start ups such as Widgeo.us, Zepth, Versonic, Motion Elements, Visual Factory and Crystal Computer Graphics showcased their individual projects.

iDIOTS- NUS Industrial Design Graduation Show 2008

The National University of Singapore Industrial Design Graduation Show was held on 30 May to 1 June 2008. The event was organized at The Central, with RADM (NS) Lui Tuck Yew, Senior Minister of State for Education and Information, Communications and The Arts as the guest of honour.

One can imagine how lives could be transformed when the numerous projects turn from prototypes to common daily life tools. The projects showcased were classic examples of technological innovation, human interface and ambience integration.

Chen Meihua’s project, memo, is sparked off partly due to her personal interests in people and relationships. This project had also provided her an opportunity to develop a product that is centered on the latent desire of users to build richer memories with family and friends. For her project, she designed a device capable of dual view, to simultaneously catch the subject and the background. She hoped to bridge the gap between the traditional notion of cameras and how cameras were being perceived.

Echopod by Joanne Lin is an audio device which will bring groups of people closer to nature and nature guides. Based on bone conduction and Bluetooth technology, the earpieces work to facilitate and enhance the whole experience of nature tours.

Projects serve to provide students with a broad range of design exercises to learn about scale, human interface, technological innovations, ambience, culture and identity, environmental concerns and sustainability. It adopts a holistic approach in design education that is both humanistic as well as market orientated.
id’s in the idea. Run over to http://www.nusindustrialdesign.com/ to catch come id.

Invitation to NRF Research Fellowship

The Singapore National Research Foundation (NRF) invites brilliant, young researchers who are ready for their first independent research appointments to apply for the prestigious NRF Research Fellowship Awards.
The NRF Research Fellowship (RF) Scheme is a globally competitive programme to attract, recruit and root young scientists and researchers to conduct independent research in Singapore. It will provide attractive funding to brilliant, young scientists to carry out independent, cutting edge research in Singapore. Appointees could be offered concurrent faculty positions at local universities.

Application is to be submitted online at the following web-link before 30 September 2008:

https://rita.nrf.gov.sg/AboutUs/NRF_Initiatives/NRF_RF_2008/default.aspx

Shortlisted candidates will be invited to Singapore to present their research work, meet local researchers and identify potential collaborators and host research organisations. Final selection for the awards will be made by the NRF Scientific Advisory Board co-chaired by Dr Curtis Carlson (President & CEO of SRI International) and Prof. Ulrich Suter (Professor of Polymer Materials, ETH Zurich).

Apply now if you have a PhD degree from a reputable university and work at the forefront of research in your field.