NFC could soon replace your wallet. Photo: Tom Purves
Singapore may become one of the first nations in the world to see widespread adoption of near-field communication as a payment mode, if this report by Channel NewsAsia is accurate.
Up to 20,000 retail points and taxis may be NFC-enabled by middle of 2012, the result of a S$40 million (US$31 million) investment by the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore and seven other companies.
They are: Mobile operators M1, SingTel and StarHub, payment service providers Citibank, DBS and EZ-Link, as well as Gemalto, a digital security company. Read more
The Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) issued a second call-for-proposal for its iSTART:ACE program. Enterprises selected will have up to 50% of staffing costs for up to a year co-funded by the government agency. The maximum grant amount per company is capped at S$250,000 (US$207,000). Read more
Quid, a San Francisco-based data collection and visualization firm, has received a Series C funding of US$10 million from an international slate of investors, some well-known (see press release). Read more
Filed under Funding, Innovation & Technology, News Stop, Technology, Venture Capital & Private Equity, WebTags: Atomico, Charles Lho, endeavour vision, founder's fund, IDA, IIPL, Infocomm Investments, Microsoft, Niklas Zennstrom, PayPal, peter thiel, quid, ron conway, Skype
Winners for the AppVenture Challenge, a competition organized by the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore that recognized the best use of government data in a mobile app, were announced last week.
The Challenge, which aimed to get participants trained in mobile app development, also encouraged them to make use of some 5,000 datasets from 50 local government ministries and agencies, all available for developers on data.gov.sg. Read more
“Design can never be complete because design solves people’s problems, and people are constantly changing,” said Kevin Fox, a product designer of Mozilla Labs, in concluding the Rainmakers LIVE! 2011 mini-conference in Silicon Valley. Read more
Filed under Contributors Corner, Special CommentaryTags: AOL, Bagcheck, Garry Tan, IDA, inDinero, Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore, Jason Putorti, Jessica Mah, Kevin Fox, Luke Wroblewski, Mozilla Labs, Posterous, Rainmakers LIVE!, Rainmakers LIVE! 2011, Surveylicious, Votizen, Y Combinator
After Mobile Alliance concluded their Mobile Innovations eXchange on 9th June, now Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) follows up with a Mobility Solutions Call-for-Collaboration (CFC). By targeting only the Food & Beverage (F&B), Retail, Hotels and Attractions (Hospitality) Sectors, this CFC aims to spur the delivery and adoption of mobility solutions across these key customer-facing sectors. With the robust wireless and mobile network in Singapore and pervasive use of mobile devices, there are immense opportunities in leveraging mobility solutions to help enterprises improve their operational efficiency and better engage their customers. The submission of proposals is no later than 1700hrs, 22 August 2011. Read more
Filed under F&B, Mobile, News Stop, RetailTags: Attractions, CFC, F&B, Food and Beverages, hotels, IDA, Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore, Mobility Soultions Call-for-Collaboration, Retail
Pooling together buyers for bulk purchases is not new. Applying the same concept, Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) is conducting a pilot call to aggregate the demand of bandwidth of small volume purchasers. This programme will aggregate the demand for bandwidth from participating companies and enable volume discounts. IDA’s effort is to support digital and internet related businesses that rely much on bandwidth connectivity. Thus, this pilot programme will save some significant costs to this industry. Read more
After successfully concluding their iStart@Silicon Valley initiative early this year, the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) has taken entrepreneurs’ feedback into account and is launching another similar programme but this time targeted at an Asian country.
With iStart@Vietnam, ICT entrepreneurs can aim to increase their connections in the country for their technology businesses. In summary, iStart aims to (1) increase business viability and growth in overseas markets, (2) enhance entrepreneurial capabilities and (3) train developers, where it focuses on ICT start-ups. For a more detailed explanation of what iStart is, check this post.
During the programme of iStart@SV, 9 selected companies went to Silicon Valley over the 3 months programme, with a total of 4 weeks spent in there. Doors of opportunities were opened, mentors were introduced, and key industry partners were connected. One of the companies who joined iStart@SV was Little Lives, new social playground for kids. Read more
Organized by Infocomm Development Authority (IDA), Smart Mobility @ SG Seminar 2011 is a unique gathering of global device manufacturers, application developers, content publishers and enterprise users of mobile business solutions. Industry thought leaders will share about the latest trends and ideas that are shaping the local mobile landscape, and the opportunities these developments hold for enterprises in Singapore and beyond. It will be held on 23 Jun and there are 2 sessions, morning and afternoon, that can be joined in. Read more
Filed under EventsTags: Alfred Siew, Andrew Khaw, application developers, Aung Kyaw Moe, Bernard Leong, Catherine Chong, content publishers, device manufacturers, enterprise users, IDA, Meranda Chan, mobile business solutions, Nicholas Yap, Samantha Fok, Smart Mobility, Tan Guan Hong
Many in the web startup community are gearing up for Echelon 2011, due to take place this Thursday and Friday. While everyone’s having some snacks outside on day 2, I will be moderating a closed door invite-only, investor-only session. Here’s the list of investors from across the region that I will have the privilege of engaging. If you have any questions you think I should ask (and to which speaker(s)), please leave a comment on this post or drop us a note as I will try my best to incorporate as many relevant questions as possible, and post-event, SGE will post the insights gleaned from these cross-border investors. Read more
Filed under EventsTags: Amit Anand, Andrew Khaw, DJARUM, GDP Venture, IDA, Jungle Ventures, Martin Hartono, Meng Weng Wong, Seraph Group, Tan Swee Yeong, Tuff Yen, ViC
