SMU, StarHub Aid Digital R&D

Singapore -  StarHub, SMU and the National Research Foundation have launched a SG$50 million fund to aid research and development for the local digital media landscape.As part of the collaboration, two platforms- LiveLabs and SmartHub- have been created to primarily measure consumers' likes, dislikes and their spending and travelling patterns. It will also gather information on consumer media habits such as video viewing.StarHub, in a statement said, it believes its network usage data when converted to big data can give other businesses and research institutions analytical insights on consumer trends and preferences, "thereby sharpening their business focus."For SMU, the move aims to achieve its goal of building a large-scale research test bed at various key venues in Singapore, including the SMU campus, major shopping malls and Sentosa Island.With the launch, both hope to increase the quality and quantity of innovations for retailers and other firms targeting a range of customers.StarHub will research on the use of big data for business use, collecting data from its mobile, pay TV, broadband and fixed phone line customers. SMU will focus on efficiently collecting and analysing data from 30,000 people from next year. The partners said they will only cover relevant data without the personal information of customers.LiveLabs has since partnered with CapitaMalls Asia, the Sentosa Leisure Group, Changi Airport and SMU to generate customer insights through mobile and other sensor data.SmartHub has linked up with Orchard Road Business Association, IBM Singapore, Nanyang Polytechnic, Quantum Inventions and the National University of Singapore to explore data analytic projects across various industries.Professor Arnoud De Meyer, president of SMU, said the platforms will also benefit consumers with enhanced service and product offerings."Providing such enhanced capabilities in analytics will help Singapore attract more international consumer and lifestyle industry players to establish their presence here," he said.