SINGAPORE, 20 NOVEMBER 2008 – The Institute for Infocomm Research (I2R), part of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), has inked a memorandum of understanding with industry partners such as Philips, Motorola, PGK Media, EVVO Media and Zentek Technology to collaborate on NextGen TV programme.
A*STAR is Singapore’s premier research organisation which nurtures public sector research and development in biomedical sciences, physical sciences and engineering.
Focus on NextGen TV research
I2R will work with the partners on the key focus areas of its NextGen TV research programme, said the research body. The focus area encompasses scalable media coding and delivery, smart multimedia content search, indexing and recommendation; and rapid content personalization.
According to A*STAR, the MOU’s overall objective is to collaborate on a number of technology-focused research-and-development activities that will unite some of industry’s potential industry players in Internet Protocol TV services.
The market for Internet-based Protocol TV services is growing rapidly. In the Asia Pacific alone, growth is expected from about 10 million IPTV subscribers today to nearly 25 million by 2011.
“I see this collaboration as a great boost to intensify research and development for IPTV and to work hand-in-hand with industry players to harvest benefits from research findings in the future,” said Professor Lye Kin Mun, deputy executive director (Research), I2R. “I2R is truly pleased to forge new alliances with the future industry movers and shakers in this next phase of IPTV.”
