Inspiring Innovation
Fueling the Future of Media

We are launching the “Future of Media” Initiative to catalyse growth in the interactive digital media (IDM) sector. In 2009, we are including Future Mobile, Future Games, Future TV, Future Worlds and Future Books.

The vision of Future of Media is to pull together companies and combine collectively their user base, distribution networks, development platforms and marketing/ promotion resources with a common goal of accelerating the path to global market and success. Under each Future area, a Partner Network will serve to form a compelling platform for other companies to experiment and commercialise their offerings.

Partner Network

We aim to build a self sustaining mini ecosystem by clustering start-ups, small & medium enterprises and key anchor companies in each of the five areas (cluster called “Partner Networks”). Each Partner Network is encouraged to evolve its own developments based on commercial needs and interests. Companies can benefit from being part of the Partner Network by:

• Synergising to bring about the best of breed offerings;
• Leveraging on one another’s customer base, market access and partners;
• Harnessing one another’s capabilities;
• Inspiring and facilitating innovation; and
• Jointly make Calls for Proposals.

Our Support

Through industry feedback, we understand that companies in this sector face industry challenges in the areas of access to global markets, fragmented local demand, scale and access to funding. We will provide support to fuel growth of this sector through facilitating partnership opportunities for our local companies and match making them with other like-minded industry players:

Projects arising from Partner Networks in these five areas could tap on existing funding schemes for support.

Call for Participation

We are calling for participation in each of the 5 Future areas. Companies which are interested to respond to this Call for Participation may indicate their interest by sending an email to MDA_IMG@mda.gov.sg.

Announcements for Call for Proposals
Future Mobile, Future Games and Future Worlds are announcing Calls for Proposals. The details of each Call will be announced to the industry in April 2009 with a 2 month submission period. Proposals will be jointly evaluated by IDMPO and our network partners.

Please refer to sections behind for more information on each area of the Future of Media.

• FutureBooks
• FutureGames
• FutureMobile
• FutureTV
• FutureWorlds

IDMPO FUNDED COMPANIES IN THE PRESS

A few IDMPO funded companies have garnered interest from the public recently.

Personal e-Motion

Personal e-Motion was featured in The Straits Times because its key product KooBits, has caught on like wildfire in schools here and overseas. Three years ago, only four schools here used it; that number has now grown to 80. About 80,000 budding writers in Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia and China are users.

The program’s appeal lies in its host of easy-to-use multimedia features, said teachers and students. KooBits is now used in schools not only to teach English, but also science, mother tongue and mathematics.

Read Full Article

MXR Corporation

MXR Corporation was also recently featured for wIzQubesTM, a 3D Interactive Mixed Reality Storytelling product which completely revolutionizes the way children read today. The patent-pending technology has won several awards and received press attention worldwide.

MXR has also confirmed a deal with Sanrio Digital to bring HelloKitty into Mixed Reality. Their first demo has been shown at GDC2009 which has received a lot of interests.

Read Full Article

NRF Research Fellowship 2009

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.

Are you among the best in your research field?
Are you ready to lead your first independent research team?

Join the ranks of the elite NRF Research Fellows!

Apply now if you have a PhD degree from a reputable university and work at the forefront of research in your field. A prior post-doctoral stint at a renowned university or research organisation would be a great advantage.

The NRF Research Fellowship provides:

• Complete freedom and independence to pursue your research direction in Singapore
• A 3-year research grant of up to US$1.5 million, with a possible extension for another 3 years
• A competitive salary
• The opportunity for joint appointment at the host university or research institution
• Freedom to select the host institution in Singapore

The NRF Research Fellowship is open to all talented scientists and researchers under the age of 40 years at the date of application, and within 10 years post-PhD. We welcome research in all disciplines of science and technology.

Please apply online at the following web-link before 06 Sep 2009:
https://rita.nrf.gov.sg/NRF_RF_2009/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).

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.

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

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)

iMATCH helps raise investment needed to give IDM companies the extra push to further commercialise their products and grow their companies. This is done by first exposing selected companies to a rigorous programme consisting of an intensive business plan and investor presentation master class, one-on-one business plan improvement meetings and personal coaching sessions. The selected companies will then be given the chance to pitch their projects to venture capitalists (VC) and other potential investors. On top of private investment, these companies will also quality for R&D grants from IDMPO or co-investment in their projects by SPRING SEEDS Capital of SPRING Singapore.

Designed to uncover the best of local IDM companies and to introduce them to local VCs and other equity investors, the initiative has brought on board 40 potential investors. They include major corporate investors such as Singapore Press Holdings (SPH), ST Electronics and Mediacorp Technologies as well as venture capitalists headquartered in Asia, Europe and North America such as IDG Ventures Vietnam, Stream Global and Vickers Financial Group. Two key investment communities in Singapore – the Business Angels Network South East Asia (BANSEA) and Singapore Venture Capital & Private Equity Association (SCVA) are also behind this initiative.

Mr Michael Yap, Executive Director, IDMPO said: “In 2007, we supported many innovative IDM start-ups and companies, some are coming of age and seeking investment for further growth. i.MATCH builds upon the work done by stimulating entry of more private investment and capital into the sector and helps to facilitate the investment process.”.

Mr Png Cheong Boon, Chairman, SPRING SEEDS Capital said “As more IDM start-ups seek to grow and establish themselves in this arena, access to capital is critical. We hope to support them through our co-investment and connections.”

One of the corporate investors of this initiative, Ms Janice Wu, Senior Vice President (Corporate Development), Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) said:” We applaud IDMPO’s initiative to link innovators to industry players. SPH is excited to be part of this initiative to grow and develop the IDM industry in Singapore. SPH has launched many interactive digital media products and monitors IDM developments very closely. Ideas that would allow us to meet the changing needs of our existing customers and reach new audiences would be most welcome.”

Agreeing with the approach of this initiative is also Mr Reza Behnam, IDG Ventures Vietnam. Mr Behnam said: “This is a great initiative to support and encourage early to mid stage start-ups. It gives the entrepreneurs the opportunity to showcase their companies to many investors in one setting. This initiative reduces the time, resources, and stress-level associated with fund-raising and allows the entrepreneurs to get feedback from the investment community in an expedited and efficient manner.”

To further create a self-sustaining ecosystem in the IDM sector, IDMPO is working to attract the support of global enterprises to buttress the development of new services and to promote them widely. To date, Apple, Hewlett Packard and Friendster have agreed to support our local IDM companies by offering their worldwide distribution platforms. In addition, they will also commit resources in the areas of development and marketing for new projects being developed on their platforms. The support lending from world class enterprises is a boost to our IDM sector.

Ms Tan Yen Yen, Vice President & Managing Director, HP Singapore, said: “HP is excited to partner IDMPO in this initiative to nurture the local IDM sector. Not only will we be able to build up a strong network of IDM partners here, we will also be able to explore commercialising some of the mScape content developed.” HP will offer its mScape software to local IDM companies to build mediascapes using Web, mobile and Flash mobile content and applications. Mediascapes are mobile, location-based experiences that incorporate digital media with the sights, sounds and textures of the world around the user.

The i.MATCH initiative is IDMPO’s ongoing effort to interlock the four key groups of stakeholders in IDM R&D namely Institutes of Higher Learning, industry players, start-ups and individuals and schools, to create innovation and capacity in IDM.

Companies interested to be part of i.MATCH can contact Chua_Wee_Nian@mda.gov.sg. More information can be found on www.idm.sg.

For media enquiries, please contact:

Jasmine Wong
Assistant Manager, Communications
Media Development Authority of Singapore
Tel: +65 6837 9364
Fax: +65 6336 4142
Email: jasmine_wong@mda.gov.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.

SPRING Singapore
SPRING Singapore is the enterprise development agency for growing innovative companies and fostering a competitive SME sector. We work with partners to help enterprises in financing, capabilities and management development, technology and innovation, and access to markets. As the national standards and accreditation body, SPRING also develops and promotes internationally-recognised standards and quality assurance to enhance competitiveness and facilitate trade.

Please visit www.spring.gov.sg for more information and news about SPRING Singapore.

• IDMPO at BroadcastAsia 2008
• Gaming Gets Serious
• Gimme a ”C”, ”I”, ”D” and ”M”
• Sound Research in NTU
• Hear That?

IDM at Broadcast Asia 2008

As Asia’s premier digital multimedia technology event, BroadcastAsia will feature a wide range of companies, e.g. broadcasters, production companies, animation houses, content owners, computer graphic producers, online gaming developers. BroadcastAsia2008 “Digital: The Journey Forward” will showcase the latest digital multimedia technology and professional industry equipment and services from exhibiting companies all over the world.

A core focus of the Singapore Pavilion this year is on interactive digital media, and IDM Programme Office (IDMPO) will be having a showcase area within the Media Development Authority Jewel Showcase under the Singapore Pavilion.

The showcase will be featuring some of the projects funded by IDMPO for the past year, and their outcomes thus far. The technologies include 3D rendering, content delivery, and visualization and effects, etc.

The exhibition will be held from 17-20 June 2008 at Singapore Expo. Do come down and catch the exciting showcase by IDMPO and MDA!

For more information, please visit http://www.broadcast-asia.com/

Gaming Gets Serious

Participants at the recent Computer Games, Multimedia & Allied Technology 2008 discussed new IDM innovations, impact on users and future developments.

The theme was gaming, but the discussions were serious at the Computer Games, Multimedia & Allied Technology 2008 (CGAT 2008) conference on 28 April. CGAT concentrated less on the games themselves than on harnessing the available Interactive Digital Media (IDM) to make the games happen.

Instead of testing Grand Theft Auto IV, participants were busy discussing not only games and gaming technology, but also issues like the impact of IDM on users. Blackberries and cell phones are wonderful tools of communication, observed Associate Professor Harold Thwaites, but he asked if they have spawned an “always in contact work ethic”, and a “vacation-connection addiction”.

Another issue, of particular interest to developers of computer games, is the possibility that virtual reality may not need to be 100 percent to promote a “sense of reality”, as shown by the attachment of people to their Tamagotchi virtual pets.

This is exactly of interest to IDMPO, highlighted in the keynote address of Mr. Michael Yap, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, MDA and Executive Director of the Interactive Digital Media (IDM) Programme Office.

Cyberspace, Mr. Yap proposed, is about to go through another evolution where our physical world and the virtual world will merge, or at least the boundaries between the cyber and physical spaces will blur.

This technological revolution is called Co-Space, short for Co-existent Spaces. Users will be able to process information seamlessly across both environments. Physical spaces, fitted out with ubiquitous computing and smart interfaces, will be infused with dynamic, rich media interactivity, so a person could look for all his friends in certain vicinity, for example. With actual spaces co-existing with real-time virtual environments, digital interaction will shift from web “pages” to web “places”.

Mr. Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Minister of Finance, also noted that computer games are “not just fun but a huge site for innovation.” Games, he said, “are providing a scaleable environment in which we are able to experiment and test convergent technology”.

Mixing and matching C”, I”, D” and M”

Singapore’s network of IDM Research-Oriented Centres of Excellence is growing. We have IDMI, iMC, IDMC and now IMI.

IMI is the Institute for Media Innovation, launched on 30 Apr 08, by the Nanyang Technological University. IMI will bring together 100 researchers from a range of disciplines, including art and design, engineering and education, focusing on areas such as next-generation multimedia search, advanced “intelligence” in media, as well as innovative digital cinema and television.

One of the professors in the National University of Singapore (NUS) has commented on the increased interaction and dialogue between different disciplines, which is a good development. He himself is involved in IDMI’s work. Now, IDMI stands for the Interactive Digital Media Institute, launched by NUS last year.

There is also iMC, which is Ngee Ann Polytechnic’s iMedia Centre, and IDMC, which could be Singapore Polytechnic’s Interactive and Digital Media Centre or Temasek Polytechnic’s Interactive Digital Media Collaboratory.

The excitement in our Institutes of Higher Learning is palpable and we look forward to good IDM R&D coming from them.

Sound Research

When sound is shaped and packed into a tight beam, it can be projected to a targeted group of audience, creating interesting sound effects. This has various applications such as in billboards, gaming and multilingual teleconferencing, where sound beams of different languages can be projected to different groups of participants in the same room without the need of physical partitioning.

There are however several research challenges to overcome. The first is the enhancement of audio fidelity of the directional sound beam, which is currently limited to speech quality due to the very narrow bandwidth of the physical ultrasonic emitters. Another challenge is to devise ways to control and adjust the sound beam so that more precise control features can be achieved.

Dr Gan Woon Seng from the Nanyang Technological University is now leading a team to work on these challenges in his research project “Next Generation of Directional Sound Beam with Bass Enhancement and Beamsteering to Support New Interactive Digital Media Applications.” For his earlier work in this area, Dr Gan had won the IES Prestigious Engineering Achievement Award in 2001. He also has 10 journal publications as well as 3 local and 1 US patents pending.

This research project is one of the R&D projects in the area of Interactive Digital Media that have been accepted for funding. To date, 26 projects from our Institutes of Higher Learning have been awarded.

He plans to revolutionise the way we hear by creating a new type of mixer console – a visual audio mixer.

Mr. Jim Miller came to Singapore in 2005 to pursue an executive master of business administration, but the programme led to bigger things.

On the advice of his classmate, he started a company that creates software to enhance real-time audio for mixer consoles, in 2007.

Supported by the i.JAM (IDM Jump-start and Mentor) Microfunding Scheme, Versonic Pte Ltd is creating the first visual audio mixer for live shows.

“The visual audio mixer is a concept whereby the sound sources are presented in an intuitive graphical manner. Imagine being able to manipulate the sounds as they appear onstage. A guitar source would look like a guitar, a piano a piano, and so on,” said Mr. Miller.

He was inspired to design something that caters to the needs of the consumer market where according to him, has no quality digital mixers available.

He had previously worked with an engineering team at Euphonix, a US-based company. Its System 5 digital audio mixing console is used by Hollywood movie production companies, television studios and live venues such as the Sydney Opera House.

Though useful for complex audio productions, the product is expensive, Mr. Miller said. So, over the last 10 months, Versonic’s board of five directors has been working on developing its software which he expects to be priced “in the low thousands (US$)”.

The team is considering these ways to bring the yet-to-be-named software to market: Selling just the software, and/or offering it together with hardware.

In the first option, users will have to install the software in their own computers. They will also need to buy additional audio converters to get audio into and out of their computers. Most computers can handle only up to two microphones and up to six speaker outputs.

The second option costs more but enables users to plug in and start mixing audio right away.

“I hope that one day all the schools, live music venues and places of worship use our product,” he said.

While these potential clients might already have their own audio mixers, Mr. Miller is confident that Versonic’s software will gain a foothold in the market.

“There will always be some number of churches that start up each year. And when an established church remodels, it often updates its audio equipment at the same time,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Versonic team is keeping busy with business development, building distribution partnerships and raising funds. The goal is to launch the software next year.

“Frankly speaking, i.JAM and programmes like it are why this company is based in Singapore and not the US. I feel there is a real push to grow businesses locally with a global focus and that is exactly what we are trying to do,” Mr. Miller said.

The i.JAM Microfunding Scheme, launched in 2006, supports people and start-ups with breakthrough ideas that can be development into innovative products and services.