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Serious Games Institute

The Serious Games Institute (SGI) partners with the Media Development Authority (MDA) in Singapore to develop of a new centre of excellence.

Smart context and background

The greater availability of mobile phones and penetration of internet broadband is driving consumer expectations for more sophisticated content and applications across various platforms. The use of serious games technologies outside of the world of entertainment is playing a growing role in responding to this demand with successful deployments in the Health, Education and Defence sectors for opinion shaping, e-learning and simulation purposes respectively.

The Company …

The UK-based Serious Games Institute (SGI) at Coventry University is a globally recognised centre of excellence for serious games, mobile applications, 3D animation and virtual worlds. In addition to Research & Development (R&D) support, the SGI provides a range of services – business incubation, digital media prototyping, business clustering and networking, training and development facilities to individuals and companies involved in the area – the output from which is used in clinical training and health awareness products, amongst others.

… & its Smart success stories

In early 2011, the SGI – with the support of UKTI – announced a £2.5 million deal with the Media Development Authority (MDA) of Singapore which includes the development of a Games Solution Centre on the island. The new facility, which is expected to support more than 500 game developers with getting their ideas off the ground and gaining access to the UK, Singaporean and broader European and Asian markets, is an indication of the growing demand for high value gaming capabilities. It hopes to build on the success of existing collaborations such as that between Digital 2.0, a leading serious games company from the UK, and Singapore’s Rockmoon which together recently developed a series of iPhone games on the subject of climate change.

Tip for doing business in Asia:

• Valuable assistance from UKTI together with support from the MDA demonstrates the importance of “doing your homework” and actively engaging with a strong local partner to successfully enter and access attractive new Asian markets. It is also key to make the effort to meet with Singaporean companies which are active in your sector in order to seek their input and advice.