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Welcome
NUS Sets Up Singapore's First Inter-Disciplinary Research
Institute for Cutting-Edge Research in Interactive & Digital Media
The National University of Singapore (NUS) is pleased to announce
the setting up of a new research institute to spur R&D in
Interactive & Digital Media (IDM). Housing research laboratories in
the areas of engineering, physical science and social sciences under
one roof, this is the first inter-disciplinary research institute in
IDM in Singapore. The new Interactive & Digital Media Institute (IDMI)
has been set up with a seed funding of S$11 million over three
years. The Institute is expected to receive additional funding from
external competitive grants.
IDM is poised for exponential growth and provide business
opportunities in entertainment, education, healthcare, tourism,
homeland security and arts & culture. The new IDMI will undertake
leading-edge, use-inspired basic research in emerging fields of IDM
relevant to the critical and future needs of Singapore's industry,
and attract and train talented graduate (PhD/Master) students from
Singapore and Asia so as to create a pool of highly competent
researchers to accelerate the development of the IDM industry in
Singapore. In addition, IDMI aims to transfer the intellectual and
human capital to national research institutes, industry R&D labs,
companies and spin-off companies. The establishment of the IDMI also
serves to significantly enhance the research reputation of NUS in
selective areas of IDM, enabling NUS and Singapore to continue
attracting top research talent and global research partners.
The timely establishment of the IDMI provides NUS with a strong
focus to develop upstream research excellence in the
multidisciplinary area of IDM. Professor Barry Halliwell, Deputy
President (Research and Technology) at NUS, said, "The convergence
of researchers from varied disciplines such as science, computer
science, engineering, arts and social sciences, performing arts,
medicine and architecture is a novel concept - the IDMI has
certainly redefined research conventions. The rich, creative and
interdisciplinary research environment at IDMI is set to bring
research excellence to the next level, capturing innovative
opportunities in IDM."
Professor Hang Chang Chieh, Chairman of the IDM Management Board,
said, "The IDMI aims to make Singapore one of the main global
cross-points and nuclei of new media and the exporter of new media
in the Asia Pacific region. To fully exploit IDM as a creative and
communication tool, we need to create human technology which
involves the development of new interfaces to make IDM more natural,
intuitive and easy to use."
Professor Ryohei Nakatsu joined IDMI on 1st March, 2008 as Director of IDMI,
said: "Interactive Digital Media (IDM) has high potential of changing our
way of communications, our way of life, and thus our society. IDMI is truly
an interdisciplinary research institute where we can carry out systematic
and holistic research on IDM. We want to make IDMI a place where experts
all over the world gather, discuss, and contribute to the creation of new IDM."
Comprising eight laboratories in areas of mixed reality, sociable
robotics, games, ambient intelligence, multimedia sensing, cognitive
and social studies, arts & creativity, and multimodal analysis, the
new IDMI expects to house about 160 researchers when in full
operation.
Serving as a focal point for IDM research in Singapore, the IDMI
aims to attract visiting scholars from top universities as well as
top graduate (PhD/Master) students from Singapore and the region.
The Institute will also be introducing an artists-in-residence
programme to host artists who will contribute significantly to the
creative dimension of IDM.
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