Infocomm technology continues to thrive in Singapore, both in terms of helping organisations to drive innovation and to harness the technology to enhance corporate performance and processes. This was evident from the strong showing by winners of the fourth National Infocomm Awards (NIA), which saw 110 submissions for Singapore’s highest accolade for infocomm innovation.

RADM(NS) Lui addressing the audience at the NIA 2008 Gala Dinner.

Awards for the Most Innovative Infocomm Product/Service went to Advanced Network Technology Laboratories (ANTlabs) and BuzzCity. YCH Group and Land Transport Authority (LTA) won for Most Innovative Use of Infocomm Technology, which recognises private and public organisations that adopt infocomm technologies to enhance effectiveness and efficiency.

A new category was introduced this year, for Most Innovative Use of Infocomm Technology by Small and Medium Enterprises. The inaugural award was presented to Pictureworks.

The biennial awards, jointly organised by the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) and the Singapore Infocomm Technology Federation (SiTF), were presented at the NIA 2008 Gala Dinner on 14 October 2008, by RADM(NS) Lui Tuck Yew, Senior Minister of State for Education and Information, Communications and the Arts.

Winners of this year’s National Infocomm Awards take to the stage together with RADM(NS) Lui (centre), RADM(NS) Ronnie Tay, Chief Executive Officer of IDA (extreme left), Ms Tan Yen Yen, Chairman of SiTF (second from left), and Mr Pek Yew Chai, immediate past chairman of SiTF (extreme right).

Nominees for the awards were judged on the innovative harnessing of infocomm technologies, or development of infocomm products and services, as well as business strategy, business impact, and regional or international presence.

The awards this year saw a wide range of impressive submissions from both the infocomm industry and user organisations from sectors such as real estate, retail, transportation and even Traditional Chinese Medicine or TCM.  Even a philanthropic organisation showed how infocomm transformed its operations and processes. Also making a strong showing were young, promising entrepreneurs harnessing innovation to develop products and services which are ready to go-to-market worldwide.

The submissions drew high praise from the judges, who were drawn from infocomm professionals, users, and past NIA winners. They admired the diversity of the companies and organisations that took part, the varied areas of infocomm that they worked with, as well as the enthusiasm of the presentations.

“I’m very impressed with the diversity of the solutions and I hope it will continue that way. It’s not just everyone going into digital security because it’s the hot topic,” noted Mr Eddie Chau, who chaired the evaluation committee responsible for judging the Most Innovative Infocomm Product Technology. Mr Chau, who is also Chief Executive Officer of Brandtology, observed that judging being a close thing, because of the high quality of all the entries. “We kept debating,” he smiled. “The discussion became quite heated sometimes. All of them were very good.”

Mr Robert Chew, Chairman of the Information Technology Standards Committee, Singapore Standards Council, who chaired the evaluation committee for the Most Innovative Use of Infocomm Technology, admitted to having doubts before the judges started work. “Prior to judging, I was wondering if such a competition could produce innovative submissions year after year,” he confessed. “I must say, post judging, that the answer is a clear ‘yes’. This certainly speaks volumes about the innovativeness and capabilities of our infocomm industry.”

Click here for the complete listing of the NIA 2008 Winners and Merit Recipients.