IMDA Opens Joint Innovation Centre With Amazon Web Services

The Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) has partnered with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to open a Joint Innovation Centre (JIC) to help startups and enterprises adopt innovative tech solutions.

The newly-launched facility is situated within IMDA's Innovation Hub, Pixel, which is one of the leading launch pads in the region, supporting budding startups under the statutory board's different programmes.

"Being the key business and financial hub in the region as well as a gateway to access the broader Southeast Asia, Singapore is often seen as a great test bed for new technologies," said Mr Justin Ang, IMDA Assistant Chief Executive.

"We are grateful to AWS for their strong partnership and how we jointly see the JIC as a strong platform that will support corporates and startups in Singapore and the region, as well as scale the growth of Singapore-based companies under IMDA’s Accreditation and Spark programmes."

To support that growth, the JIC provides exclusive access to tech showcases and demonstrations, innovation methodology for successful adoption and deployment, Pixel workshops for design thinking, specialised labs for augmented and virtual reality applications and usability testing facilities. The facility also houses over 200 fully-featured AWS tech available for experimentation, along with project-based consultation by IMDA and AWS’s experts.

One of the permanent exhibits, for example, is AWS DeepRacer Arcade: Get Rolling with Machine Learning, which features a self-driving 1/18th scale race car. The exhibit demonstrates how the miniature car leverages Reinforcement Learning (RL) models to race on a physical track. It uses computer vision to navigate and a reinforcement model to control steering, with racers only needing to control the speed of the car. The exhibit also shows how a model trained in a simulated environment can be transferred to the real world.

Other showcases focus on areas like smart cities, generative artificial intelligence, robotics and workplace safety, among others. Apart from the permanent exhibits, the showcases are expected to be refreshed every four to six months.

Corporates and startups are also encouraged to join innovation challenges via the Open Innovation Platform (OIP), where IMDA bridges corporates with tech solutions, matching demand with supply. These services are complimentary, with corporates only required to provide prize monies of between S$20,000 and S$50,000 when the prototype solution is completed. So far, OIP has facilitated over 300 challenges with a pool of more than 12,000 solution providers and more than S$13 million in prize monies.