We have defined the area of Co-Space as technologies, applications or service that allow for the simultaneous interaction between both the digital and physical environments. We believe that the area of Co-Space provides much potential for Singapore; and it is premised on the belief that the content contextualisation in a natural, unobtrusive, but pervasive semantic manner is key to unlocking the unfulfilled promise of an information society.

Today, the world of new media is in a state of unprecedented flux.

Created first by the gentle wave of digitisation, which helped us record, store, and then retrieve information, the tide of networking and convergence soon gave consumers the powers of choice, and now, it’s almost as if we are in a whirling swell of information overload; confronted with a barrage of senseless tweets, friendfeeds and blogerati. Information accessibility has exploded onto our screens, pdas and mobile phones, creating a whirlpool of oftentimes nuisance information plaguing us at every move.

Our vision for Co-Space is that one day, seamless interoperability of technologies, gadgets, and devices will enable the creation of new physical experiences and capabilities which are augmented, not cluttered by the pervasive availability of real-time context relevant information.

The pieces are already in place and today, we see more and more evidence of the digital environment being enriched with the realism of artificial intelligence, semantic arbitration and real-time input. There is also a palpable shift towards the real-time capture and processing of real-world information, as motion detectors, traffic cameras, and automatic dehumidifiers control our environments, dictating our every response to the environment.

As content gives way to context, so too must technologies keep up with the times.

We need to re-think the fundamentals of our technologies, and its end goal. Breakthroughs are needed, in order to help navigate the endless stream of contextually irrelevant content.

The IDM PO welcomes breakthrough ideas in the area of Co-Space and we look forward to hearing from you.