WHEN it comes to the future of media in Singapore, one thing’s for sure – interactive digital media (IDM) will be one of the most significant growth pillars, redefining how businesses work and how consumers live and play.

The IDM growth engine is set to continue picking up speed. In recent months, the Interactive Digital Media R&D Programme Office (IDMPO) hosted by the Media Development Authority of Singapore (MDA) has launched several new initiatives that are aimed at catalysing IDM breakthroughs.

A Vibrant IDM Ecosystem
IDMPO has, through its various funding and business-matching initiatives, kick-started numerous quality projects targeting international markets and supported innovations for niche sectors in which Singapore can become a global or regional leader.

Singapore-built digital media applications and services have to date been used by 50 million users from over 200 countries. Some notable examples include: ADME Network, an advanced content delivery platform developed by PGK Media, which enables videos and pictures to be sent from anywhere using mobile devices and the Internet; the mobile application BuUuk, which allows iPhone users to find any restaurant quickly and easily; and NCity, a suite of virtualisation technologies developed by Crystal Computer Graphics, which has been adopted for the virtual world of the Shanghai World Expo. (See Behind the Scenes: Shanghai World Expo Virtual World).

IDMPO’s efforts have created a vibrant IDM ecosystem in Singapore. It has so far funded a total of 330 R&D projects, with 160 new products and services launched and 28 patents filed. The efforts to seed innovation within the young industry have produced over 170 startups and supported more than 550 IDM entrepreneurs.

IDM Research Centre
Moving forward, IDMPO continues to plant the seeds for the IDM industry’s growth not just in size, but in depth as well. Among its recent initiatives to boost Singapore’s capabilities in IDM research was the establishment of the Fraunhofer IDM Centre@NTU.

Facilitated by IDMPO and funded by Singapore’s National Research Foundation, the Fraunhofer IDM Centre@NTU is a collaboration between the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft (Fraunhofer), Europe’s largest institute for applied research. It will focus on the promotion of applied research and the commercialisation of IDM innovations.

MDA, NTU and Fraunhofer will be pumping in a total of S$14 million into the new centre. On top of this, the institution will receive another S$11 million in investment arising from a licence agreement with Fraunhofer.

Fraunhofer IDM Centre@NTU is the latest addition to the international network of IDM R&D institutions that Singapore is building, which includes the Singapore-MIT GAMBIT Game Lab, China-Singapore Institute of Digital Media and Keio-NUS Connective Ubiquitous Technology for Embodiments (CUTE) Centre.

Mr Michael Yap, Executive Director, IDMPO, noted: “We are attracting the best talents and institutions around the world, making Singapore a preferred place for IDM R&D. We hope that the research development resulting from these institutions will be adopted by our IDM industry and give us a competitive edge in this exciting sector.”

Future of Media
The IDM ecosystem continues to flourish thanks to IDMPO’s Future of Media initiative, which encourages companies to innovate and conduct research on next-generation media applications in television, mobile phones, virtual worlds, books and games.

Recently IDMPO announced its selection of 23 projects from the Future of Media call for proposal. It will award a total of S$10.5 million to these projects, which are expected to generate about S$50 million worth of total investments in Singapore and create 200 new jobs over the next two years.

One of the selected projects is TangoFX from Above Technologies. This interactive media platform allows users to create their own television or movie channels and watch shows together with their families or friends no matter where they are, using built-in cameras on computers and mobile phones. It is based on cloud computing and delivers services through the Internet.

TangoFX has been in development for just eight months but has already netted Microsoft and Cisco as partners. Above Technologies has started working with Microsoft to push this service on the Windows Mobile platform and Microsoft’s cloud computing service Azure, said its Chief Executive Officer Poonacha Machaiah. Its collaboration with Cisco focuses on the backend video system for the platform.

Another Singapore firm, Innosoft, which develops mobile applications, would virtually not have hit the big time without business matching from IDMPO. It paired the small company with phone giant Nokia, and the matchmaking resulted in a mobile application, iGV, for Singapore-based cinema operator Golden Village last year.

Under the Future of Media initiative, Nokia and Innosoft are collaborating again, this time on a new mobile application which works like an online cinema. Users will be able to buy and watch movies on their mobile phones, which will be cheaper than going to the cinema, said Innosoft’s Director Dennis Yin.

Commenting on the prospects of the IDM industry, Mr Yin said: “Take the mobile phone sector, for example. These days almost everyone carries a smartphone, and there are more platforms like Google Android. There is a lot of growth potential for IDM.

“I’m grateful to MDA for giving us the opportunity to work on a project with a big partner like Nokia. MDA-organised industry meet-ups have also been very helpful for my firm.”