The push for mobile content development has reached institutions of higher learning

 

 

In the MyICMS886 national strategy, Content Development is one of the six growth areas that will take Malaysia into the next level of growth. Since the launch of the ICMS plan two years ago, content development has seen focussed attention.

The SKMM (Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission, MCMC) has taken on the role of becoming a key driver in this area. Working with various industry and government initiatives such as the Maxis Developer Programme and MDeC, it has launched various lines of actions to spur the development of more Malaysian made content. The Commission has also gone down to the ground in its efforts to spur content development in the country. It has allocated RM20 million as an initial fund for 2007 to help content developers start projects.

Now this push is reaching college students in a big way. Maxis, together with SKMM and KTAK (Kementerian Tenaga, Air, dan Telekomunikasi) have embarked on a project to expose students from institutions of higher learning to the world of content development. The Mobile Content Challenge 2007 (MCC 2007) programme was launched in May 2007 at the SKMM headquarters in Cyberjaya by the Minister of Energy, Water and Communications, Dato’ Seri Dr. Lim Keng Yaik.

The aim of the contest is to encourage students to develop mobile content and applications, identify and cultivate an innovative mindset among students and to nurture a community of young entrepreneurs who will develop Malaysian content.

At the launch, the Minister said that it was important that more local content be developed to take advantage of the high speed networks being set up in the country. These networks will not be of much use if there were no content to drive. The minister was hopeful that there would be a huge explosion in demand for content with the introduction of digital multimedia broadcasting.

The Head of Maxis Developer Programme, Rostam Hashim, said that this was a move in the right direction. “We are excited about MCC 2007 because it will introduce mobile content development to people from the right target group. Young people are major consumers of mobile content. It makes sense to get college students involved in developing content for them because they will find it easy to develop interesting and relevant content. Being young themselves, these college students share emotional empathy with them and will understand the psyche of their age group.”

The programme will take an interesting approach that is aimed at ensuring excellence. Each finalist will be assigned a mentor who will guide and lend their expertise to these young teams. The mentors have been selected from among leading members of the Maxis Developer Programme.

They include Metadome, K-channels, Infrasurf, LTT Global Communications, Orea Technologies, Forwen, Devcorptech, Integrit Sistem, Kasatria Technologies and Murasu Systems, who will guide the teams in the aspects of the technology, applications development, organizational management, marketing and commercial strategy, as well as business development.

The 10 finalists will be selected from among the entries by the panel of judges. Details of the finalists will be posted on the challenge website located at http://mdp.maxis.com.my on 2 July 2007. The challenge is positioned as a university level challenge. Each team must also have a member of the academic staff of their institution as their advisor.

The ten teams will then attend a 3D/2N getaway. This developer retreat is an important segment of MCC 2007. It can be likened to a content development camp to help prepare finalists for their actual development. The getaway will cover all angles such as technology, technical, business, application development etc. It will also cover industry updates, market updates, as well as experience sharing from successful Malaysian Mobile Content companies as well as industry champions.

The teams will then have 6 to 8 weeks to develop their content and present the finished product, together with relevant documentation and presentation slides on CD to the panel of judges in September, when the awards will be presented to the winning teams in a ceremony.

Finalist will be required to ‘sell’ their developed product to the panel of judges by giving a ‘sales’ pitch and/or demonstration in a short time frame, just like how businesses market their products.

Submissions will be judged based on but not restricted to their innovativeness, marketability, usability, technical viability and presentation.

The Mobile Content Challenge is open to institutions of higher learning from all over Malaysia. After the launch, a team comprising of officers from SKMM and Maxis have embarked on a road show to share the content industry updates and publicise this initiative to colleges and universities nation-wide.

Their roadshow has taken them to Sunway University, UUM in Sintok, Kedah; USM in Penang, Universiti Malaysia Pahang, Kuantan; Universiti Malaysia Terengganu; UNIMAS and Swinburne University of Technology in Kuching, Sarawak; Curtin University of Technology in Miri, Sarawak; and University Malaysia Sabah in Kota Kinabalu. This is only a part of the roadshow that will ultimately cover more than 70 universities and colleges in Malaysia.

Beyond creating interest, the Head of Maxis Academy, Suhaimi Sulong says that the programme will go a long way towards raising up a new generation of talents. “MCC 2007 is an excellent platform for challenging intelligence in creating new things. It is also in-line with our strive and commitment for educational excellence and the strategic programmes that we are already running such as the Young Achievers Awards, Maxis Scholarship of Excellence Awards, Academic Enrichment Programme, among others. The young people are developing the skills that they will need to for employment, or to become entrepreneurs,” he said. “The emphasis on excellence and real world solutions will be of tremendous future benefit to these students..” Suhaimi Sulong also added programmes such as these contribute towards the enhancement of the educational infostructure in institutions of higher learning.

The MCC will not end with the award presentation. There is already a plan for continuity that builds a total initiative to further contribute to industry development and capacity building. MDP Head, Rostam says that details will be shared in due course.

What is confirmed thus far is that the organisers plan to make MCC a regular feature in institutions of higher learning. If the response is encouraging and it results in high quality innovations, the next MCC could be even bigger.