The nation is capitalising on emerging trends and investing in world-class facilities to benefit media players in Singapore and around the world.

Singapore's media industry has chalked up good progress in recent years. The commercial success of Lucasfilm's Clone Wars television series, KOEI's Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG) Romance Of The Three Kingdoms Online and Scrawl Studio's animated series Milly Molly, are but a few examples of how both international and local companies here are creating exciting content for global markets.

Grooming World-Class Talent for World-Class Studios

Among the strategies that the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB) has outlined to accelerate interactive and digital media development is the effort to build a world-class talent base, which will position Singapore as a leading Interactive and Digital Media education centre in Asia. The presence of Tisch School of the Arts and Digipen Institute of Technology in Singapore are some of the first fruits of this effort. Hollywood concept designer, Feng Zhu, will also launch the FZD School of Entertainment Design in Singapore.

The Republic's cosmopolitan outlook, robust intellectual property protection framework and the availability of talent has made it attractive for companies to set up base here. Companies across various geographies which have established their presence here include Rainbow Studios from Italy, Ubisoft from France, Electronic Arts and Linden Labs from the US, Real U from Germany, Softworld from Taiwan, and Sunwoo Animation from Korea.

Keiko Erikawa, Founder and Chairman Emeritus, KOEI, envisions that the company's Singapore studio will produce talent capable of producing games that transcend cultural barriers, and are able to reach out to a global audience like no others have done

Japanese games developer, KOEI Entertainment Singapore Pte Ltd, is also set to double the size of its operations here. Keiko Erikawa, Founder and Chairman Emeritus, KOEI, says, "Our objective is to groom a pool of talented and passionate developers who want to do Singapore proud and work relentlessly towards creating best-selling titles targeted at the global audience."

Singapore's media industry also gained further dynamism and vibrancy with the hosting of key industry events. In December 2008, SIGGRAPH, the world's leading computer graphics and animation conference-cum-exhibition, held its inaugural SIGGRAPH Asia exhibition in Singapore. In November 2008, Singapore hosted 3DX:3D Film & Entertainment Technology Festival (3DX) - the world's first festival of its kind dedicated to stereoscopic 3D content and technologies. The Republic also played host to the second outing of Games Convention Asia (GCA), one of the world's largest digital games exhibitions, drawing more than 92,000 visitors.

Building a Self-Financing Media Ecosystem

Several media financing companies have made Singapore the headquarters for their Asian operations and, today, more than S$1 billion (US$646 million) worth of media funds are based here. Salon Media Management's S$100 million (US$65 million) Integrated Fund, for instance, is the first of its kind in Asia. It provides a structured framework for the production of media projects through offering legal, financing, insurance and co-production services from Singapore.

The Republic is also the base for FCCE Asia Pacific - a joint venture between Miover Holding and The Creative Farm of Singapore - for the production, management and distribution of Hollywood celebrity and red carpet interviews via television, mobile and Internet to Asia, Australia and New Zealand. This venture reinforces Singapore's position as a trusted media hub for the creation/production and distribution of valuable intellectual property.

Charting New Trends

Singapore is also working with overseas partners to create multi-platform content across television, film and interactive digital media, for which the Media Development Authority (MDA) has devoted S$5 million (US$3.2 million). As an added incentive, MDA has established a grant scheme for producers to encourage the development of more multi-platform intellectual properties. To boost digital media development, Singapore's multi-agency Interactive Digital Media R&D Programme Office (IDMPO) has forged partnerships with renowned R&D institutes in China, Japan and the US. It has also committed S$40 million (US$26 million) to nurturing local start-ups and is pushing forth with innovation in the IDM (Interactive Digital Media) sector by partnering promising companies with established industry players.

Mediapolis @ one-north

The centrepiece of the government's effort to support the future growth of the media industry is Mediapolis @ one-north. It is strategically located within one-north, a 200-ha innovation and R&D hub that is planned and developed by JTC  Corporation (JTC), together with the collaboration of three other government agencies, MDA, EDB and the Infocomm Development Authority (IDA).

The master plan for the 19-ha Mediapolis @ one-north was unveiled on 10 December 2008. The development of Phase One, which began in Jan 2009, will kick off with the building of a soundstage complex on a 1.2-ha plot by local media production company, Infinite Frameworks. The soundstage complex is expected to be completed by 2012.

The hub is designed to be a self-contained centre of expertise that will house a media ecosystem comprising incubators, R&D activities, content development, digital production, broadcasting, industry-responsive education, intellectual property and digital rights management. Mediapolis @ one-north will focus on the development of high quality digital media content as well as R&D in interactive digital media. It will be supported by a strong and robust IT infrastructure, specialised media training schools and a synergistic business environment.

By deploying digital technology, scaling up its media infrastructure to attract big-budget projects, and attracting IP-related media players, Singapore is well placed to become a choice destination for international studios and media firms.