World Class Media Cluster
Interactive Digital Media
KAI Square was number 62 in Deloitte’s
TechnologyFast Track 500 ranking in 2011.
Dr Neo Shi Yong,CEO and co-founder of KAI
Square receiving the award from John Goeres,
Managing Director (Principal)
of Deloitte Consulting SEA.
Set up in 2006, the Interactive Digital Media Programme Office (IDMPO) supports Singapore efforts to become a vibrant Interactive Digital Media (IDM) hub.
According to a 2011 study by Deloitte Consulting, the IDM sector’s value-added doubled within three years and grew at a compound average growth rate (CAGR) of 26 per cent between 2007 and 2010 to $1.2 billion.
In December 2011, Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500 Asia Pacific Programme, a yearly ranking of the region’s fastest growing technology firms, ranked Singapore’s KAI Square at number 62. Thirteen local companies made it to the list, with two of the top three Singapore winners being IDMPO supported entities.
The sector’s increasingly global and vibrant growth was also evident through the inaugural Demo Asia 2012, a premier tech startup event with roots in Silicon Valley. Twenty Singapore companies and startups that pitched to investors at the event were supported by IDMPO.
Plug-In@Blk71 at Mediapolis Phase 0, a joint initiative by IDMPO, NUS Enterprise, and SingTel Innov8, also created much buzz, with a total of 39 events hosted for startups and investors between September and December 2011.
IDMPO runs four strategic initiatives, namely, i.ROCK (IDM Research Oriented Centres of Knowledge), Futurescape, i.JAM (IDM Jumpstart and Mentor) and IDM in Education.
i.ROCK (IDM Research Oriented Centres of Knowledge
i.ROCK seeks to deepen R&D capacity at local institutes of higher learning through partnership with the best in the world.
It has funded some 300 researchers and attracted universities including Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), Tsinghua University, Keio University, the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, ETH (Zurich) and Fraunhofer Gesellschaft to set up joint centres in Singapore.
While the international research centres (IRC) have garnered significant industry interest, Public Call Projects have also resulted in six spin-off companies and 15 local and international organisations using the technologies developed. One of them is Portege, which developed a Portable Interactive Human Machine Interaction Engine for education, wellness and entertainment. Its SmartCare sensor was commercially deployed at 20 childcare branches to capture and store vital information for childcare.
Futurescape
Futurescape covers industry funding initiatives to develop the IDM sector through innovation. It also spearheads the establishment of test beds. As at end 2011, Futurescape is committed to 92 projects with an investment of $265.6 million and the creation of 1,302 jobs in Singapore.
Razer, a funded entity under Futurescape, unveiled its game concept Project Fiona PC Gaming Tablet at the Consumer Electronics Show in the US in January 2012. Project Fiona is designed to play popular PC games with an intuitive control setup for a mobile gaming experience.
Other successful companies include Mozat and Kai Square. Like Kai Square, Mozat was a Deloitte Technology Fast 500 company. It had about 16 million subscribers from 15 telco partners from the Middle East to Southeast Asia in early 2012.
i.JAM (IDM Jumpstart and Mentor)
The i.JAM programme seeks to ignite grassroots innovation and entrepreneurship. Since its inception in 2007, over 200 projects, 700 entrepreneurs and nine incubators have benefited from some $11.3 million of funding. In addition, an estimated $21.2 million in follow-on funding was raised. To date, more than 30 projects have successfully secured external funding.
The Mobile Gamer (TMG), GameMaki and Anafore are examples of i.JAM funded projects. TMG is a mobile social games company with operations in Southeast Asia and India, while GameMaki is a social discovery application available on web and mobile platforms. Anafore created a customer referral service Referral Candy that has gained traction commercially.
Under iJAM Reload, the second phase of i.JAM, funding quantum was increased from $50,000 per project to $250,000. Startups that are able to raise funding of up to $100,000 will be matched dollar for dollar by the IDMPO. New incubators have also been appointed to provide startups better resources and access to markets in the US, Europe, China, Russia and ASEAN.
IDM in education
This programme works with institutes of higher learning (IHL) and companies to create new education models, pedagogies and IDM applications that enhance learning and teaching.
Out of 13 projects started at IHLs, five were completed in 2011. An estimated 75 per cent of FutureSchools technologies have been beta-tested in local schools such as School of Science & Technology, Hwa Chong Institution and Canberra Primary School, while 30 per cent are ready to go “live”. Forty-two applications were co-developed with the industry and some products have been commercialised locally and internationally.