TRENDS: Together, in animated dreams

A couple convert their passion for animation into a digital playground, writes Siti Syameen Md Khalili – New Straits Times
As far as Zeno Gabing can remember, he has always loved animation.

“My childhood were filled with comics and cartoons. I still remember my first comic book, which was one of the X-Men series,” he says. Even after graduating with a degree in chemical engineering, his interest in animation never waned.
As fate would have it, Zeno met fellow Sabahan Juhaidah Joemin, who shared the same passion, and who later became his wife. The marriage of creative minds later led to the creation of Giggle Garage, an animation studio, which specialises in full production of creative content.
The studio’s first product was Origanimals, a TV series targeting preschool children. The story follows four Origanimal characters known as the Awesome Four as they go on adventures to help other Origanimals in trouble.
“I had the idea for Origanimals for some time before we started Giggle Garage. I was previously attached to Multimedia Development Corporation for seven years, doing training, support and activity marketing for content creators. Then, I worked with the Al-Jazeera’s Children’s Channel where I was part of the team that evaluates content for co-production. So now I’m completing the circle by going into content creation,” says Juhaidah who was also involved in the production of the award-winning animation Saladin and the animation movie SeeFood.

Zeno who is Giggle Garage’s executive director recalls, “Our first studio was in Phileo Damansara, Petaling Jaya. I remember the first day we came to office. As I walked into the room where Juhaidah was supposed to be stationed, I saw a sign left by the previous tenant that has the word “origami” written on it. It felt strange because we’ve been toying with the name Origanimals for months before that.”

TESTING WATERS WITH ORIGANIMALS
“In the beginning, I only had the idea of origami as a way to introduce wildlife animals to kids in a colourful and creative way. From there, we proceed to develop the story and the visual concept for the show.
“We worked with a very talented scriptwriter Aniza Azizuddin for the initial show bible and for the actual script with a UK-based scriptwriter Dean Wilkinson to make sure that our content will travel globally. Our work with Wilkinson is more on fine-tuning. It’s not that we didn’t have a great storyline, it is just that at times the way we express a message is different from people in other regions. In terms of voice talent and music, we worked very closely with Wasp Studio, also a local outfit. All the talents involved were local too,” adds Juhaidah.

Once the development kit for Origanimals was completed, Giggle Garage took it to international exhibitions and conferences to gain feedback. “Unlike other Malaysian-based studios, we did not test our IP with local kids, as we wanted to tackle not just Malaysians, but also the global audience. So we took Origanimals to Children Media Conference to get feedback. While we did get positive feedback, we also received a lot of tips on how to fine tune our product.

So, we went back to the drawing board to redo the product. After that, we previewed the IP to several more international industry events and almost every time after each outing, we had to take Origanimals back to the drawing board. It is a tiresome process, especially for our designers,” she says.

“It is really hard to break the bad news to the team each time, but in a sense we’re really fortunate that everyone at Giggle Garage is very dedicated.

“The team members are young and talented, they’re in their 20s and 30s while the senior talents are in their mid-30s. Like a sponge, they absorb a lot, not just new skills but also new approaches to animation and storytelling. It’s really important to have this capability to make a production work.”

RAISING CONFIDENCE
“We completed the development stage of Origanimals and presented the concept at the inaugural Asian Animation Summit in Kuala Lumpur last December. The feedback from international broadcasters and distributors were encouraging. We are now looking at moving into pre-production and main production by mid of the year. We are hoping to complete and air the first season of 26 episodes x 11 minutes by mid of 2014.”
A proud moment for the couple was when the Origanimals TV series won Giggle Garage the Best Planning Award at last year’s Seoul Promotion Plan Project Competition. Held in conjunction with the 16th Seoul International Cartoon & Animation Festival 2012, the studio beat entries from 19 countries. It also bagged the Golden Prize at the 14th TBS DigiCon6 2012 Regional Award for Origanimals TV Series (Malaysia).
“The awards definitely helped us gain more confidence in our IP. It reassured us that we are doing something right.”

A TOUCH OF K-TOON
While in Seoul, Juhaidah and Zeno got to meet representatives from CrazyBird Studio, a Korean outfit known for its unique animation style.

“We met at a business matchmaking event that MDEC organised for Malaysian animation studios. The CrazyBird Studio team saw Origanimals and loved the concept. They wanted us to produce a similar show using a set of new characters,” says Juhaidah.

With that, began the creation of Giggle Garage’s second IP titled Boing The Play Ranger. The animation series invites preschoolers and families into the village called Playville, a playground town inhabited by lovable characters who also transforms into playground rides.

“The concept, development and pre-production are done by CrazyBird Studio in Seoul. The main animation production and compositing are done by Giggle Garage at our studio in Cyberjaya. Another Korean outfit Synergy Media is our worldwide distributor. The project is currently in production and scheduled for completion in June,” explains Juhaidah.

Zeno adds: “The Koreans are known for their strength in animation and CrazyBirds is considered a pioneer in the industry. Not only they have the skills for animation and story telling, but they also have an established business model — we are learning a lot from them. What sweetened the deal is that Giggle Garage gets to own the IP for the Asean region, so we can open up new business avenues from there,” says Zeno, who notes that the opportunity also renewed the studio’s confidence in their own capabilities.

Juhaidah says: “Boing The Play Ranger was launched in MIPCOM 2012 and we received a number of inquiries from international broadcasters. The IP is ready for pre-sales. We are channelling most of our resources now to complete 26 episodes of the series and each episode will run for 11 minutes.

“ The show is scheduled to be first aired in Korea this year and we can’t wait to get feedback and ratings for the series. We are also in the midst of talking to local broadcasters, so hopefully we’ll see the series airing here too. In the future, we hope to see the IP evolve. As Boing is set in a playground, we got the idea to come up with an indoor theme park based on Playville and the characters. The indoor theme park is a huge concept in Korea and we believe it will work here too,” says Juhaidah showing off some prototype merchandise that the company had developed in preparation for the broadcast.

MAKING A MARK
Zeno and Juhaidah both feel that they are already living their dream. “I believe the country is on the right track as more creative companies are now focusing on creating original IPs for the global market. As for Giggle Garage, we hope to create more content that is unique ,which appeals to a global audience. Our target is to become the most admired creative company in Asia.”
A look at Origanimals characters and Boing The Play Ranger’s trailer on www.gigglegarage.com, no one would have guessed that it is a Malaysian-made product. There are no traces of a Malaysian landscape or icon.

Zeno who hails from Tambunan says: “It is not easy to push a certain Malaysian style or stamp, as Malaysians are naturally diverse. We can always incorporate icons such as Mount Kinabalu in our content, but what’s more important is a strong storyline. It needs to address people from not just one country or one region,” he explains.

Juhaidah believes that Giggle Garage’s way of stamping the Malaysian brand on their product is by setting a high benchmark on quality.

“If you notice, the strength of Korean content is in the way they tell their stories, that is why their content is very well accepted. Being multi-racial, we see inspiration all around us. We also have lots of talent in the country, so the challenge is to use the elements around you and make everything come together in a package so that people from different backgrounds can easily understand the story that you are telling them.
“So for me the best way to promote the Malaysian brand is to be recognised internationally. Being selected to produce for an international broadcaster, we believe we’ve made our mark as a Malaysian company,” she adds.

Juhaidah (left) and Zeno share the same creative passion. Picture by NSTP Photographer HALIMATON SAADIAH SULAIMAN

BOING The Play Ranger unveiled.

Cannes, France: Oct 8th 2012 – Giggle Garage Sdn Bhd unveils “BOING The Play Ranger”, a new 3D animation TV series during the Malaysia Networking Reception hosted by FINAS Malaysia in conjuction with MIPCOM 2012 in Cannes, France on the 8th October 2012.

The Series invites preschoolers and families into the village of Playville – a fun and colorful playground town filled with lovable characters that can transform into playground rides. Even in this world of happiness, unfortunate event happens time to time. But don’t you worry, our Play Rangers Boing (Lion), Bing Bing (Hippo) and Mongbar (Mongkey) are always here to keep the peace in the village so everyone can have fun.

BOING The Play Ranger is a co-production between Giggle Garage Sdn Bhd (Malaysia), CrazyBird Studio Inc (Korea) and Synergy Media Inc (Korea).

The TV Series first season will be of 26 episodes x 11’ 3D HD, and is aimed at 3-6 year olds. The main animation production is being produced by Giggle Garage Sdn Bhd from its animation studio in Cyberjaya, Malaysia; while pre-production and post-production works are done by CrazyBird Studio in Seoul, Korea. Synergy Media is the worldwide distributor for the series.

The series is currently in production and the first season of 26 episodes will be ready for broadcast in August 2013. Pre-sale of the series is available for interested broadcasters and buyers.

Juhaidah Joemin, Managing Director of Giggle Garage and one of the Executive Producers of the series: “We are excited about this series. We are bringing the Malaysian animation talent to produce a very high quality 3D animation for the global market in a co-production setting.” She added “The show have a good mix of adventure and humour while infusing positive value such as friendship and teamwork; while the characters ability to transform into various playground rides adding more excitement to the show”.

Sun Hur, CEO of Crazybird Studio and Executive Producer of the series pointed out that “BOING The Play Ranger” is special because the characters are really unique and the story is all about playground which is common and shared by many children around the world”. He added “I strongly believe that the Series will appeal greatly to both boys and girls even in the upper ages.”

Zeno Gabing, Executive Director of Giggle Garage commented “The concept of playground in the Series would be one of the key factors of success for BOING The Play Ranger. The opportunities to extend the series to real playgrounds for kids as well as to other digital media platforms are vast. Of course, we are aiming for the global audience and it is imperative that the series is produced in a very high quality with compelling story-telling and engaging characters.”

About BOING The Play Ranger

Welcome to the Playville! Playville is a village filled with lovable characters that can transform into playground rides. Even the buildings in the village are built in a concept of fun rides.

A fun and colorful town, Playville is just full of daily excitement! However, disaster can still happen in this wonderful world of happiness. But don’t you worry – the Play Rangers will always be there to solve the problems by working as a team and use their amazing transforming skills to create gentle and fun solutions. Follow the playful adventures of the rangers as they take on any challenge and bring a smile to everyone’s face.

Boing (spring rider)
Boing the lion is the enthusiastic leader of the Play Rangers. He literally springs into action whenever there is trouble that needs fixing. He’s wonderfully athletic and creative in maneuvering any physical barrier or situation. He can even transform into a spring rider!

Bing Bing (carousel)
Bing Bing is a goofy but fun hippo that can transform into a spinning carousel or mixer. Whenever the rangers are tired and sick, you can count on him to whip together some fresh and healthy meal to cheer them up. It’s almost magical!

Mongbar (monkey bar)
Mongbar the monkey can extend his arms and legs, creating all kinds of bridges to overcome obstacles. He can transform into a monkey bar.

Elloo (slide)
Senior ranger Elloo, is a wise and experienced elephant who places the safety of others above all else. She often invents gadgets and offers advice to help the rangers in their mission. She can also transform into a slide!

I-ee (swing)
Sure, he’s a sloth, so he moves a little slow. But his movements always have a purpose, and that’s to learn how to be great Ranger and help the good folks of Playville. He transforms into a swing.

Tory (seesaw)
She’s a rabbit who can transform into a seesaw. Unfortunately, sometimes her moods are just like a seesaw as well!

ORIGANIMALS is off to Tokyo

Cyberjaya, Malaysia – Origanimals won the Malaysian leg for the 14th TBS Digicon6 2012. The annual TBS DigiCon6 Awards is a competition which recognises and rewards talented digital content creators throughout Asia. For this year’s competition, entries were received from Japan, China, Hong Kong, India, Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Philippines, Singapore and Malaysia.

The grand prize winner of the Malaysian Leg TBS DigiCon6 Awards will be fully sponsored by TBS to attend the 14th TBS DigiCon6 Awards ceremony, scheduled to be held on November 16, 2012 in Tokyo.

ORIGANIMALS is off to Tokyo!

ORIGANIMALS wins Best Planning Award at SPP 2012

http://www.onscreenasia.com/article/giggle-garage-s-origanimals-wins-best-planning-award-at-spp-2012/10307
Posted on 26 July 2012 by Stephen Las Marias

Malaysian 3D animated TV series ORIGANIMALS, being developed by Giggle Garage Sdn Bhd, an MSC Malaysia Status Company, has won the Best Planning Award at the Seoul Promotion Plan (SPP 2012) Project Competition, held in conjunction with the 16th Seoul International Cartoon & Animation Festival (SICAF) 2012.

The competition saw a total of 109 entries from 19 countries, of which 20—ranging from animated short films, animated TV series to animated feature movies—were selected as finalists for the final pitching conducted on July 19 – 20.

ORIGANIMALS is aimed at 4–8 year olds and created as an original production (52 x 11′ 3D HD) by Giggle Garage. The series is about the Awesome Four (A4), four Origanimal (origami-animal) friends who live, play and go on adventures together, with the mission to help other Origanimals in trouble.

The series is currently in pre-production, and the first season of 26 episodes will be ready for broadcast in December 2013. An interactive version for the web platform is currently under planning.

“We wanted to create and produce a children’s content that is entertaining at the same time contribute to positive development of children’s minds. ORIGANIMALS combines both crafts and early science learning components, packed with fun adventures and captivating stories,” said Juhaidah Joemin, Managing Director of Giggle Garage and Executive Producer of the series.

Soo Jun Ning, Creative Director at Giggle Garage, pointed out that the characters are really unique and original. “For a preschool project, the technicalities behind the series are demanding high level of creativity. The paper folds have to be creative,” said Ning.

“The key factors for success for ORIGANIMALS would be its high quality, creativity, compelling story-telling and engaging characters. We believe the show concept of wildlife animal discovery through the use of colorful paper folding art of origami will be globally appealing,” noted Zeno Gabing, Executive Director of Giggle Garage.

IP-Based Financing

MyIPO, MDeC To Boost IP-Based Financing
05-01-2012 | By Samantha Tan Chiew Ting

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 17 (Bernama) — Intellectual Property Corp of Malaysia (MyIPO) and Multimedia Development Corp (MDeC) are taking firmer steps to promote intellectual property (IP)-based financing in Malaysia.

A tea talk, ‘IP System and Valuation’, was jointly organised by MyIPO, MDeC and the Association of Islamic Banking Institutions Malaysia (AIBIM), gathering bankers to share and exchange ideas in promoting IP-based financing.

The talk focuses on financial institutions in a bid to enhance IP knowledge among the bankers and expose them to the long-term benefits of IP-based financing. It attracted AmIslamic Bank, Alkhair International Islamic Bank, Bank Islam, Bank Muamalat, Bank Kerjasama Rakyat, Bank Simpanan Nasional, CIMB Islamic Bank, HSBC Amanah, Hong Leong Islamic Bank, Maybank Islamic, OCBC Al-Amin, Public Islamic, RHB Islamic, as well as other key government agencies.

MyIPO’s director-general, Datuk Azizan Mohamad Sidin, said it was crucial for the financial industry to gain exposure in IP as it was considered an important intangible asset in any organisations.

“Banks focus on significant tangible assets. However, over the past decade, trade mark, patent and copyright have become more important as key assets,” he said.

Azizan said banks should recognise IP as tangible assets to enable businesses, especially the small and medium enterprises, to raise funds and expand operations.

“It is timely for Malaysia (to promote IP-based financing) as the country strives to become a developed and knowledge-based economy by 2020,”
he said.

AIBIM’s executive director, Mohamed Rithuan Datuk Mohamed Shamsudin, said the Economic Transformation Programme defined opportunities for IP in at least seven sectors of the 12 National Key Economic Areas, including agriculture and business services. He said the syariah-compliant Commercialisation Innovation Fund (CIF) by the Malaysian Islamic banks with the government subsidising two per cent of the financing rate, highlights the commercialisation of IP as a criteria to be eligible for financing. MyIPO and AIBIM are confident the CIF would be the benchmark for Islamic financial institutions to start IP-based financing and make IP as one of the criteria in order to obtain financing rather than focusing on cash flows.

Meanwhile, Wong Jin Nee, a partner in Messrs Wong Jin Nee and Teo specialising in IP and technology, said IP-based financing was rare but not new as it was introduced as early as 1884 in Western countries. She said Lewis Waterman got a US$5,000 loan in 1884 to start pen manufacturing business secured by Waterman patent and Calvin Klein raised US$58 million in 1993 with royalties on use of CK brands on existing and future products. Other success stories are Michael Jackson, who borrowed US$200 million from Sony with Beatles’ catalogues and Disney raised US$725 million against future earnings of Tokyo Disneyland based on the use of its brand.

Wong said most bankers see IP-based financing as more risky and worried about the non-performing loans as well as difficulty in liquidating in event of default.

“Lack of IP asset recognition on balance sheets and no established standardised valuation methodology are also among the blocking factors to this untapped gold mine industry,” she said.

However, she said, IP-based financing was indirectly happening as some banks gave loans to franchise businesses, adding, as a franchise was valueless if the IP was taken out from the operations.

Both MyIPO and MDeC hope banks could start accepting IP as collateral together with other tangible assets, adding, putting a ratio between intangible including IP and tangible assets in approving loans should be the starting point for the banks.

- BERNAMA

We are MSC-Status!

Giggle Garage Sdn Bhd is now an MSC-Status company!

The recognition of being an MSC Status company from the Government of Malaysia under Creative Multimedia Clusters, cements our passion and commitment in the production of Malaysian’s animation content for the world. Very proud of this!

IP Valuation Model

CYBERJAYA, Nov 18 (Bernama) – The Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC) is striving for Intellectual Property (IP) rights to be accepted as assets or collateral through the IP valuation model which is set to be introduced in the first quarter of next year.

MDeC chief operating officer Ng Wan Peng said currently there is no collectively acceptable IP valuation framework which financial institutions can adhere to when processing applications for financial assistance.

She said financial institutions are reluctant to accept IP as assets or collateral because of the difficulty in determining the value of Intellectual Property.

Ng said the introduction of the IP valuation model is the first step taken in assisting financial institutions to refer to a specific methodology in valuing IP rights.

MDeC, the driver of MSC Malaysia’s National ICT Initiative, is working very closely with Intellectual Property Corporation of Malaysia (MyIPO) in getting the necessary approvals for the IP valuation model.

At the 22nd MSC Malaysia Implementation Council Meeting (ICM), organised by MDeC last year and chaired by the Prime Minister, it was decided that MyIPO should formulate an IP valuation model in accordance with the National IP Policy, she said.

Since then MDeC and MyIPO, together with other stakeholders, have been collaborating in preparing an introductory IP valuation framework that looks into the different types of IP rights. MDeC and MyIPO are confident that the framework would be ready and be tested with a few IP owners soon.

“More needs to be done as it is a new area and not many have experience in this. We must start getting the financial institutions to value IP rights as something of high value. Educating and increasing the level of awareness is necessary in order to ensure more people understand and appreciate IP,” Ng told Bernama in an interview.

Ng revealed that hundreds of MSC Malaysia-status small-and-medium enterprises (SMEs) that possess IP rights such as patents, copyrights and trademarks are facing difficulties in getting financial assistance to commercialise their products.

“More than 1,000 SMEs with MSC Malaysia status have IP rights which range from patents to trademarks, copyrights and industrial designs. Not all need financial assistance to commercialise their products but most of them will be happy to have some kind of recognition that the IP created by them actually has value,” she said.

According to Ng, the IP valuation model could serve as a guide for the financial institutions as well as stakeholders in conducting valuation or use it as a basis to get third party valuators to undertake the valuation process.

Ng said IP owners, financial institutions and Bank Negara have provided input for the valuation initiative for the IP. MyIPO together with MDeC had conducted feedback sessions with some financial institutions, industry players as well as IP owners to make them understand this area better as well as share their concerns in the valuation of IP rights.

“We are happy with the cooperation provided by the parties involved in this IP valuation initiative. MyIPO has been working hard in driving this initiative including looking at the amendments of the IP laws to allow the adoption of IP rights as security,” she said.

Although the government has been promoting an innovation and knowledge-based economy, support from financial institutions is not forthcoming as they find it very difficult to accept IP rights as a collateralisable asset.

“I think they are more comfortable in giving out the loan based on business plans on tangible assets or proven business rather than looking at IP as collateral. It’s not that they don’t want to value the IP, the problem is that they don’t know how to value IP rights,” she said.

“We do not see financial institutions keen in readily accepting IP as collateral at this moment. We were told by some companies, most of them SMEs, that they have difficulties in getting banks to recognise their IP rights,” she added.

Ng said the ultimate goal of the IP valuation initiative is for IP rights to be recognised by financial institutions as an asset that can be put up as collateral.

“These are also opportunities for the banks. Financial institutions have to start developing capability in these areas as more and more companies will have less and less tangible assets. In becoming more competitive, financial institutions would need to know how to value intangible assets and put a defensible value that can mitigate the perceived risk attached to assets such as IP.

“Eventually, we hope that local companies will continue to create IP which will be accepted as an asset that can be transacted and thus help increase our competitiveness as a nation,” she said.

(Source: Bernama)

Saladin up for Emmy

Oct 6 2011 – PETALING JAYA: Animated action-adventure Saladin has put Malaysia on the world map with its nomination for an award at the 39th International Emmy Awards.

Saladin is co-produced by the Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC), caretaker of the country’s MSC Malaysia initiative, and Qatar’s Al-Jazeera Children’s Channel (JCC).

The nominations were announced on Monday at the MIPCOM content event in Cannes.

IPCC 2011 Starts

Our own Executive Producer is one of the judges and mentor (yet again!) for this year’s IPCC 2011. Day 1 of pitching is today!

Good luck to all participants.

It’s an exciting playground.

The creative industries in the region and especially in Malaysia are really exciting grounds to be in. We are delighted to be part of the creative production engines to build digital entertainment for many people and provide educational, compelling and exciting animated stories for  kids too.

We are now online in a redesigned webpage. The new website is sleek(ier) and cleaner — we tried to stay away from cluttered site and not to overwhelm visitors with too much information that may not be relevant to all. Our intention is to be able to communicate directly with you instead, and focus on your real needs: so please use the “Call Us” menu above to reach out to us for any queries that you may have.

This blog area will be continuously updated to inform our clients, the public and all visitors of what are we up to! So do visit us often.

Cheers and let’s ANIMATE!

Meet us @MIPCOM 2011

Join the Fold,  Join the Fun!
Giggle Garage will be at MIPCOM 2011, Palais des Festivals, Cannes on the 3rd to 6th October 2011.
Meet us at Stand 03.20, 05.19

MAC3 needs to expand

KUALA LUMPUR: The Multimedia Development Corp (MDeC) hopes to further improve the infrastructure at the Malaysia Animation and Creative Content Centre (MAC3) to meet growing demand. The custodian of the MSC Malaysia initiative said there are 50 registered users from the content development industry, as well as animation students, using the facility regularly for rendering tasks.
Also, MDeC said, the MAC3 supports an average of three rendering projects running simultaneously at any given time, but this number fluctuates according to seasons and phases. About three new users sign-up monthly.

Based on the current demand for the facility, MDeC expects that it will need to increase the number of servers there to 300 by the second quarter of 2013 to keep up.

“We are preparing to present MAC3′s results to management. Hopefully with such numbers, we’ll qualify for allocations to expand the facility,” said Shazril Rahman, a senior executive at the facility.
MAC3, built in partnership with multinational technology company IBM Corp, is equipped with 128 high-performance servers coupled to IBM’s rendering software. It also has 80 terabytes of storage, and high-speed broadband connectivity. It was built so that local animation companies could have access to huge computing power without having to build their own rendering centres, which also cost a lot, or turn to overseas facilities.

MAC3 went operational in June, last year.

According to IBM, the facility is able to perform rendering jobs 8x faster than if a single workstation was used. Shazril was speaking at a media roundable on the sidelines of IBM Malaysia’s symposium on cloud computing here. He said MAC3 has helped local animation players save up to RM500,000 yearly in total in rendering costs, and has cut down rendering time from days to just hours. Abdul Jalil Rahman, an executive at the facility, said that before MAC3 was built, content developers had to look for high-speed computers in order to render their works, or use rendering facilities in other countries. This process time was consuming, costly and those facilities could not promise proper confidentiality of intellectual property to their clients.

“The onus was on the right owners to protect their works by signing NDAs (non-disclosure agreements) with the facilities to protect their works.

“But here at MAC3, our users can manage their own intellectual properties, which they can also access from any device,” Abdul Jalil added.

The MSC Malaysia initiative is aimed at leapfrogging the nation into a knowledge-based economy.

Target: Global Film Sector (Cannes 2011)

The government is launching a new initiative to bring Malaysian TV and film projects to the rest of the world.

MDeC set Standards

By: Jo Timbuong
Source: The Star
Custodian of the MSC Malaysia initiative, the Multimedia Development Corp (MDeC) will create its own standards certification to help ensure products developed by MSC Malaysia-status companies maintain a high quality. This is being done to supplement its efforts to transform Malaysia into an ICT (information and communications technology) hub. MDeC has tentatively labelled its certification standard as the MSC Solution Certified.

MDeC chief executive officer Datuk Badlisham Ghazali said MSC Malaysia-status companies have been wanting a common standard to which the quality of their products and services can adhere to and be recognised for.

“This will bring an assurance to both buyers and sellers that the commercialised product is of a high quality,” he said.

According to him, existing standards do not necessarily take into consideration some factors that may be just as important, such as the usability of a particular product.

“Usability means different things to different people. With our certification standard, we hope to make it so clear to buyers that they’ll know immediately how the product or service can be usable to them,” he said.

Badlisham said the MSC certification will also give manufacturers of IT solutions and software a huge boost when marketing their products. He said MDeC has noticed that the companies whose products bear a standards certification tend to do well in the marketplace.

MDeC is drafting its standards certification and has roped in Germany-based international certification body – TUV Rheinland – to help ensure that MSC Solution Certified includes the best practices and elements of other internationally-recognised standards, like ISO and CMMI.

“We want to make sure that what we are developing is on par with global standards,” Badlisham said.

Targets identified

This is also being done with the aim that MDeC’s standards certification will eventually be accepted internationally.

Under MSC Solution Certified, Badlisham said, products will be evaluated based on 12 major criteria, as well as more than 400 sub-criteria. The products will also be rated on an 80-20 rule, where 80% of the score is for the product and 20% is for the development process.

MDeC will apply for its standards certification to be accepted as a Malaysian standard by year end, and then it will push for global recognition. “We’ll leave it to Sirim, the Malaysian standards body, to decide on this. All the proper steps have been taken,” he said.

Badlisham was speaking at press conference to announce the MDeC’s goals as the MSC Malaysia initiative enters its third phase this year. The initiative was kicked off in 1996 to leapfrog the country into the Information Age, and to develop its knowledge economy. The third phase, which ends in 2015, will see the MSC Malaysia move to increase its contribution to the national Gross Domestic Income by 21%, which is from RM34.6bil to RM42bil. There are now 2,088 MSC Malaysia-status companies.

MDeC is also working to create 160,000 new jobs in the ICT sector; increase the export of locally developed and manufactured ICT products and services by 75%, which translates to RM58bil in sales, compared to RM33bil now.

MDeC confident

KUALA LUMPUR: Multimedia Development Corp (MDeC) expects to sees further growth in the third phase of the development of the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) that is set to run from this year to 2020.

Chief executive officer Datuk Badlisham Ghazali said during this critical phase, MDeC would help the MSC to develop Malaysia’s high-value economy by continuing to drive the uptake of information and communication technology (ICT).

He said the first four years of the MSC Malaysia Phase 3 plan aimed to see MSC companies achieve a 21% increase in gross domestic product (GDP sum of good and services produced) contribution to RM42bil. This compares with the RM34.57bil it recorded in Phase 2 which ran from 2004 to 2010.

Badlisham said at the end of the four years (end-2015), MSC companies’ revenues were expected to increase to RM142bil from the RM103.8bil recorded in Phase 2. A 75% increase in exports to RM58bil from RM33bil and a 47% increase in job creation to 160,000 from the 111,367 in the previous phase are expected.

“We want ICT to be more pervasive with a wider economic footprint. Our strategies in the three main clusters of creative multimedia, shared services outsourcing and InfoTech have been realigned to put stronger emphasis on wealth creation and high-value investments,” he said.

Badlisham added that MDeC was very confident going forward into the MSC Malaysia Phase 3 as it had gained above its target in Phase 2.

“Phase 2 is about creating economies of scale while Phase 3 is focused on empowering the rakyat, further enabling the Government and enhancing the ICT sector towards achieving the goal of an innovative, high-income and developed nation by 2020 in line with the New Economic Model,” he said.

Other core initiatives under Phase 3 include the establishment of two new cybercities each year and completing the Innovative Digital Economy framework by the second half of this year.

MDeC is an organisation that directs and oversees MSC Malaysia, the national ICT development initiative, by advising the Government on legislation and policies, developing industry-specific practices and setting the standards for multimedia and digital operations. The group is also responsible for promoting MSC locally and globally, while providing strategic support to MSC Malaysia’s status companies.

Focus on new creativity

By Farrah Naz Karim
farrah@nst.com.my

PUTRAJAYA: The country’s animation and creative content future is hinged on new creative growth drivers and a more market-friendly environment that is conducive to innovation and investment. Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said digital entrepreneurs must from now adopt a more focused and coordinated effort to identify their comparative advantage in the global animation industry. He said creative content providers needed to carve a niche globally by identifying appropriate opportunities in the industry’s value chain.

“Truth be told, Malaysia cannot compete with its emerging regional competitors purely on basis of cost.

“One way of moving up the value chain is to capitalise on our rich heritage and cultural diversity to create full-fledged homegrown intellectual properties.

“This will allow our companies to gain multiple revenue streams from different sources from television, publishing, licensing and merchandising,” he said when launching the Multimedia Super Corridor’s Malaysia Animation and Creative Content Centre’s (MaC3) rendering facility yesterday.

The rendering facility is basically a computer server cluster that is used to generate CGI (computer generated imagery for animation, film and television). This technology allows local creative content companies to have the technological edge as well as lowering their costs of rendering and production.

“Malaysian-based animators can just focus on what they do best, that is developing contents rather than being sidetracked with the financial and technical platform concerns.”

Muhyiddin also said industry players required integrated skill sets developed beyond mere animation and expanding into story boarding and telling. In creating full-fledged home grown intellectual properties, animators, he said needed to continuously learn outside their niche areas and develop themselves into more complete content providers.

“To succeed, Malaysian animators have to build an ecosystem that nurtures innovation and foster creativity as well as incentives novelty. It is paramount for our creative content providers to push beyond their comfort zone, encourage productive dissent and incentivise contributors of unconventional ideas,” he said.

Muhyiddin also pointed out that while the global animation market was estimated to grow at 16.5 per cent to US$79.7 billion (RM259 billion) this year from US$68.4 billion in 2008, the animation market size in Malaysia was merely US$50 million. The government strongly recognised the potential of the creative industry with the 10th Malaysia Plan having identified Information and Communications Technology as one of the 12 National Key Economic Areas (NKEAs) for the country to become a high-income nation. The emphasis, he said would partly be on creative multimedia, particularly animation for simulation, advertising and entertainment as well as games development.

He said with fresh focus on the sector, the 10MP was expected to provide additional funding to MSCMalaysia and MaC3 to help them move forward.

With the allocation, Muhyiddin said MaC3 could continue providing funding opportunities to local content creators to commercialise their content for the global market. This, he added would also enable MSC Malaysia to help develop intellectual properties by providing grants and financing to secure global opportunities in the creative content market. Earlier, at another function Muhyiddin, who is also education minister, launched the Second Asean School Games 2010′s logo and mascot — “Juara” the tiger.

The games will be held from July 12 to 21.