The Mixed Reality Lab(MXR) at the National University of Singapore aims to push the boundaries of research into interactive new media technologies through the combination of technology, art, and creativity.

The key objectives of the Mixed Reality Lab are to create a world centre of excellence for interactive media and entertainment technology, to provide multi-disciplinary project-based learning environment for students, to modify creative media technology to promote economic development of Singapore and to open new doors for creativity and artistic students.

In keeping with the above objectives, MXR Singapore has made technological advancements that have the potential to unlock the power of human intelligence, link minds globally, accelerate learning, and enhance creativity. The Lab hopes to supply Singapore with the technological knowledge that will be at the digital heart of many of Singapore's emerging sectors including Digital Exchange, Digital Entertainment and Digital Media, Digital Culture as well as adding value to Biomedical and Biotechnology initiatives.

The Need for Research in Entertainment Technology

The artist is the only person – his antennae pick up these messages before anybody. So he is always thought of as being way ahead of his time because he lives in the present. There are very many reasons why most people prefer to live in the age just behind them, It’s safer. To live right on the shooting line, right on the frontier of change, is terrifying” (Marshall McLuhan, Forward Through the Rear-View Mirror, 1970)

Artists offer creative solutions to industry in telematics, visualisation, imaging and sound, expanding commercial applications via web sites, video games, e-commerce and communication interfaces. Thus the fusion of art and creativity will allow the lab to expand even more its research and commercial impact.

We define entertainment media as entertainment products and services that rely upon digital technology. These include traditional media that now use digital production processes such as movies, TV, computer animation, and music, as well as emerging services for wireless and broadband, electronic toys, video games, edutainment, and location-based entertainment (ranging from PC game rooms to theme parks). 

Digital entertainment media is unique in that its products and services are intimately tied to digital technology, which has been in a continuous state of innovation since its inception.  Each new generation of integrated circuits has the potential to shake-up the landscape of market leaders, products and services that are possible, and boundaries between market segments. Arguably, digital technology innovation today is driven by entertainment applications. The need for faster, low-power processors, high bandwidth networks, and high-resolution displays are primarily for mass-entertainment applications. 

Although digital entertainment relies heavily upon technology, it is equally dependent upon creative art, content, and design. It has been demonstrated time and time again (from web portals to broadband networks to electronic toys to video game consoles to digital audio formats) that state-of-the-art products and services will fail in the marketplace without compelling content or creative intellectual property (CIP). 

Electronic gaming, a curiosity twenty years ago, is now one of the most popular forms of entertainment and a pervasive component of global culture. The ubiquity and growth of games requires that we understand them not just as commercial products, but that we appreciate them from many points of view. Games are aesthetic objects, learning contexts, technical constructs and cultural phenomena—among many other things.

 
Digital Entertainment Media Importance to Singapore

In order to highlight the importance of entertainment media to Singapore, we will first make a brief comparison to our regional neighbor Hong Kong. Already known as the “Entertainment Capital of Asia,” Hong Kong’s ability to create and market its content more than makes up for its relative lack of technology when compared to other regional players such as Singapore, Taiwan, and South Korea.  In addition to film, Hong Kong with its access to low-cost manufacturing in China is also considered by many to be the “Toy Capital of the World.”  Local Hong Kong companies such as Vtech, IDT, Group Sense, and Team Concepts defined the electronic toy genre. 

However, Singapore has the ability to far exceed Hong Kong in this huge global export market. Singapore has a leading edge in technology and manufacturing, as well as research and development. Furthermore, Singapore also has one of the best wireless and broadband infrastructures in the world.  The penetration of mobile and broadband per-capita exceeds the United States and many of the countries in Europe.  This infrastructure makes Singapore ideal for developing new entertainment products and services.  What is lacking, and what is required is the generation of creative intellectual property and Imagineering, which is the products that MXR Lab will help create and generate in Singapore. MXR Lab will act as a catalyst and permeate creative intellectual property to companies and industries in Singapore, as well as to start-up companies. This will allow the huge potential of the entertainment media industry to be catalyzed in Singapore as an export market.

Digital games open up vast opportunities for Singapore’s future growth. Video game sales last year exceeded US$40 billion worldwide exceeding box office ticket sales for film. Computer animation is a US$25 billion-dollar industry with more and more designs finding their ways into film, television, and multimedia. The market is expected to be bright due to the fact that according to the Interactive Digital Software Association, the average American gamer is 28. Older consumers tend to have more disposable income to spend on games than do teenagers. Increasing demand worldwide, high production costs in the US, Japan, and Europe, lack of content for the Chinese market, and the availability of new distribution channels (wireless, broadband, etc), can allow Singapore to be a major player in the US$45 billion world of digital entertainment.

The production of digital entertainment is extremely labor intensive. It provides high-paying jobs worldwide. It is very accessible (doesn’t require extensive sciences or language background). And the allure of digital entertainment makes it easy to motivate students, even those whom the education system has “written off”.

Western designers create intellectual property for worldwide audiences. Singapore has not been strong in this area. Most manufacturers here are reluctant to invest in activities that don’t provide immediate returns. Thus they lack the resources for creative development. MXR Lab will nurture this kind of creativity. Our international staff of digital entertainment experts will oversee teams of gifted students who produce original CIP for local industry. We will help companies transition from original equipment manufacturing (OEM), to brand-ownership.

Computer Entertainment is becoming a cutting-edge area for many renowned academic institutions in the world. Such activities can also contribute a great deal to the long-term goal of establishing Singapore as one of the leading players in the international Entertainment industry.

Furthermore as a research laboratory, we will not only affect today’s industry and economy, but tomorrow’s global economy. Entertainment touches every part of our lives, and is one of the key drivers digital technology. The research will cover cutting edge and as yet unknown technologies and impact on society such as entertainment robots and entertainment sensor networks.

Collaborations of Mixed Reality Lab , Singapore

DSTA and SAF

FLLAGE Game Company

MICA

Singapore Science Center

Hougang Primary School

Deajeon Municipal Museum of Art Korea

Singapore Art Museum

MIT Media Lab Hiroshi Ishii

Disney/USC Newton Lee

Kwansei Gakuin Ryohei Nakatsu

CNAM Paris (Game) Stephane Natkin

Kyoto University Naoko Tosa

USC Interactive Media Division

Uni British Columbia Sidney Fels

ISEA Joel Slayton

Zhejiang University

Peking University (Media Art Department)

China National Academy of Art

Ars Electronica (Austria)

University Hagenberg (Media Dept)

ICU Korea

HIT LAB Mark Billinghurst

University Valencia Faculty Fine Arts

Osaka University

Tokyo Electro-Communications

 
What MXR Lab can do for Singapore

Interactive Media and Digital Entertainment Research and Cutting Edge Creativity for Singapore

Carry out research and development projects and programmes for companies, government agencies and military industry

Provide a platform for interdisciplinary collaboration with technologist and artists from Asia Pacific Region

Consultancy works on hardware and software of interactive systems

Provide local industry with new multimedia applications to grow their businesses.

Innovative academic research projects for graduate and undergraduate study