Singapore beckons for digital content

With countries like India looking at non-US markets to expand their share of the digital content pie, Singapore could provide the ideal gateway with its positioning as the regional business hub for computer animation, according to speakers at the session on ‘Digital Content Management’. They explained that the growing computer animation space has given rise to a need for on-demand computing resources for rendering requirements, and farming out rendering was a better option than to invest in in-house facilities.

Thomas Lim, director – IDA (Infocomm Development Authority), Singapore, said, “The pipeline for 3D animation films is immense, with applications moving beyond the media and entertainment domains to architecture, CAD, education, medial and life sciences and others. It is important that we look together at how to take computer animation forward.” Singapore, he added, would attempt to play the role of a Digital Assets Bank, with its advantages and government support to make it a computer animation hub.

It was contended that Singapore stood at a better position to play the Digital Business Hub role for Asia, with its competitive business costs, ready pool of skilled manpower, and a strong base of companies in the ecosystem. The country’s IPR protection norms and initiatives to combat piracy made it an ideal destination, they said.

“We need to leverage each others’ strengths to grab a bigger share of the digital content pie in the future. While most Indian companies are good at the 2D-level, creation of quality 3D content requires file format conversion and rendering expertise which mean very high investment. India and Singapore can partner each other to succeed,” said Alfred Lie, Deputy CEO, Managed Computing Competency Centre. The challenges faced by smaller companies were listed as the need for skilled people, capital investment, scalability of resources in the face of tight deadlines, IPR protection, and the need for channels for receiving, managing and distributing digital assets.

On finding the right people for the job, Tony Sealy, founder and managing director, Intense Animation Studio, said, “No creative services company wants to employ technicians. They want artists. Nurturing creativity is paramount. For the growth of the animation industry, we need to provide an alternative option in career choice through proper training relevant to the industry.” Developing shared utility-based ‘Virtual Remote Rendering’ for management of digital content was mooted as the solution for Asia as a region to take on the global market.

While all the speakers agreed that the Singapore government had a large role to play in making Singapore a digital hub, Alfred Lie added, “The concept prototype is driven by strong software partnerships. We also need to communicate the security issues and how the model can ensure confidentiality.”

Mock Pak Lum, of Media Corp, who is chairman, Digital Chapter, Singapore Infocomm Technology Federation, said that the objective of the association was to develop Singapore to being a digital exchange hub and that it had identified content creation as a key growth area. He said, “Our business is challenged a lot by what is happening in technology. Through ‘Virtual Remote Rendering’ facilities for animation studios, he said that all players would get to share the ‘lessons learnt and visibility generated’ by the project.

Lum stated, “There is a huge investment that small companies cannot manage. There is a need to share and leverage mutual strengths.” He added that besides joint training which could lead to a global standard workforce, there was scope for joint financing of projects, and that different levels in the value chain were represented by various partners.