At the Singapore Media Showcase at the Shanghai World Expo, Singapore offered global audiences glimpses of some of its most innovative media content and technologies. On the sidelines a range of deals and agreements were also sealed. Read the highlights: Best of Singapore’s Next-Gen Media Content and Technologies Singapore and China Step Up Collaboration in Digital Media

Recent platforms like the Shanghai World Expo and the business mission led by the Media Development Authority of Singapore (MDA) to Beijing have yielded a spate of deals and agreements between media players in Singapore and China.

These partnerships, spanning areas such as interactive digital media (IDM), film and television, have paved the way for Singapore firms aiming for a slice of the China market. At the same time, the collaborations will result in content with broad international appeal, which will help both Singapore and Chinese media enterprises reach out to audiences in global markets.

Dr Tan Chin Nam, Chairman, MDA, noted: "China is increasingly placing a higher emphasis on developing and promoting its cultural industries to the world. In Singapore, we also recognise the importance of the creative industries in supporting an innovation economy."

A Launch Pad for Singapore Companies
The Singapore Media Showcase, presented by MDA at the Singapore Pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo in August, served as a global launch pad for several of Singapore’s homegrown IDM companies. Among them were TQ Global and MXR Corporation, both of which wowed potential Chinese partners and an international audience with their cutting-edge offerings.

TQ Global’s racing game 3D TQ Motor was developed based on a new game technology known as MMO-IBOE (Massively Multiplayer Online Internet-Based On-Location Entertainment). It offered visitors the thrills of live, stereoscopic 3D racing through virtual downtown Singapore set with real-world scenes.

MXR brought its mixed-reality learning applications to the showcase. Its wIzQubes, wIzCards, wIzOpedia and wIzDirector applications, using mixed-reality technology, enable children to manipulate both physical objects and digital content for a new, interactive way of learning.

Deepening Singapore-China IDM Alliances
The Shanghai World Expo not only provided a stage for Singapore-made content and technologies to be showcased to the world; Singapore and China media players also took the opportunity to affirm and announce a total of 18 partnerships in the area of digital media.

MXR, for instance, has gained a stronger foothold in the China market with deals sealed with three Chinese companies. These include Changzhou Dinosaur Land Culture & Creative, which has commissioned it to create mixed-reality versions of its popular animation character Baby Dinosaur and other attractions for its Universal Dinosaur Town in Changzhou.

Among the deals inked was the S$100 million Gobi Singapore-China Media Ventures Fund, a venture capital fund which will be supporting digital media and technology companies in the early to growth stages. The fund will provide funding support to Singapore companies venturing into China as well as Chinese companies wishing to internationalise projects through Singapore.

Chinese Village, a 3D virtual learning community for Chinese language teaching and learning, is another major joint undertaking. This will be co-developed by Singapore company Veev Interactive and the state-owned Chinese Education Television (CETV).

On the games front, homegrown games company Mikoishi and China Information Broadcast Network (CIBN), which specialises in new media like digital TV, mobile phone TV and online games, cemented their partnership to co-develop the first-ever Singapore-China game, a Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game.

CIBN will also be collaborating with the Singapore Cybersports and Online Gaming Association (SCOGA) on the Singapore Game Box, an initiative for the public trial of new games. It will be launched in China and will boost the visibility of made-by-Singapore games in the enormous Chinese games market.

(For more details, see press release and the full slate of business deals and MOUs.)

A Collaborative Future for Film and Television
Singapore and China share deep historical and cultural connections, and the two countries’ affinity in language and culture will allow filmmakers from both countries to pursue common themes and uniquely Asian storylines that can resonate with global audiences, noted Dr Christopher Chia, Chief Executive Officer, MDA.

That is why, with the rising global interest in Asia, a film co-production agreement between the two countries, signed on 23 July on the sidelines of the 7th China-Singapore Joint Council for Bilateral Co-operation, could not have come at a better time.

Under the China-Singapore Film Co-production Agreement, future tie-ups and co-productions between the filmmakers of the two countries will enjoy the same access to government funding and incentives as national productions. The agreement covers theatrical feature films and telemovies, and includes live action, animation and documentaries.

During the business mission to Beijing in July, MDA also signed a slate of MOUs with various agencies in China, including:

• China International TV Corporation and China Radio Film TV Program Exchange Centre, for exchange programmes, content co-production and participation in annual TV trade markets hosted by the other party
• Central Newsreel Documentary Film Studio and CIBN, for the co-production of five television documentaries on China for global distribution   
• CETV, for the expansion of the scope for a 20-part documentary series entitled Our Children, including extending the content across different programme formats and platforms
• China Film Foundation, for the co-production of a slate of 10 telemovies over the next three years; Singapore and Chinese filmmakers will be matchmade to helm the productions.