A joint University and iMovo Ltd project entitled ‘Digital Gaming Clouds for Mobile Users’ has recently been awarded a research and innovation grant by the Malta Council of Science and Technology (MCST).
The project aims to provide a platform enabling well-known personal computer games to be available to mobile users on smartphones. It has attracted interest from Vodafone UK, which has offered to provide technology support, including access to a node on its prototype 4G network in Europe.
The project is led by project co-ordinator Saviour Zammit and technical co-ordinator Adrian Muscat.
Pierre Mallia, managing director of iMovo, a customer relationship management and business intelligence company, commented that the successful award reflected the excellent relationship and interaction that has developed between the University and iMovo over the past several months, almost since iMovo’s inception.
“This collaboration is a natural step for us as a company and is in line with our vision,” he said.
“We believe the creativity of a university and the dynamics of a young energetic company form a great melting pot for ideas and innovation.
“We also believe that both parties have a lot to learn from each other – both in terms of technical expertise and research techniques, as well as commercialisation of concepts which might be new to the market.”
University rector Juanito Camilleri said the University was commited to collaborating with companies and supports innovative start-up ventures in various spheres of technology.
He said the MCST research and innovation grant programme has over the years enabled a number of local companies to partner with the University on very interesting joint research projects, all of which have a practical or commercial slant.
“I am delighted to see this collaboration between the University and iMovo take off. Given iMovo’s focus and approach we are confident this collaboration will be very successful for both organisations,” he said.