MediaRoad project launch
The EBU has hosted the MediaRoad Project Launch in collaboration with VRT, called the “Creative Circle VI” event. This represents the first step on a journey that aims to reawaken the ‘start-up mentality’ in the media sector and bridge the gap between technological innovation and the creative and media sector.
This event gave participants a chance to learn about the MediaRoad project, which will be coordinated by the EBU and the VRT Sandbox, which matches startups to the public broadcaster VRT for a short-term collaboration on projects geared towards innovation and market deployment. The EBU’s new Director-General Noel Curran opened the event by reflecting on the increasingly important role of public service media as a standard-bearer for reliable news and in promoting common values. He highlighted the MediaRoad project as an important step along this path as it enhances cross-sectoral collaboration, allowing PSM to work hand-in-hand with commercial players, tech startups, academia, and content producers.
When presenting the MediaRoad project, Nicola Frank and Hans Hoffmann outlined the key objective to help innovative concepts mature for market deployment and formulate common recommendations for future media policies. Nicola Frank stressed that MediaRoad should play a key role in promoting a strong community and sustainable voice for the media industry. The project Hubs – Sandbox, Network, and Policy – were presented by Sarah Geeroms of VRT, who will lead the Sandbox Hub; Dr. Heritiana Ranaivoson, IMEC, who will run the Policy Hub; and Ralf Neudel, IRT, who is in charge of the Network Hub. The hub leaders presented the plans and objectives of the three interlinked hubs during a panel discussion and emphasized MediaRoad as a good starting point for increased collaboration between the creative and technological sectors.
Keynote speaker Paolo Cesarini, Head of Unit for Media Convergence and Social Media at the European Commission, emphasized that the MediaRoad project is coming at the right time to address some of the issues facing the media sector, including trust and reliability. The MediaRoad project, which is fully funded by the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 program, can be at the crossroads of the opportunities and challenges facing the sector, helping to take advantage of technological innovation while addressing issues such as fake news and filter bubbles. Professor Francoise Benhamou from Universite de Paris 13 then provided a keynote on the challenges and opportunities facing the media sectors within today’s highly competitive market, recognizing the need to balance innovation with the protection of users.
Peter De Paepe from VRT Sandbox kicked off the afternoon by giving an introduction to the VRT Sandbox work. The Sandbox concept allows selected innovators to test, scale, and develop their products with help from VRT. TheMediaRoad project aims to replicate the sandbox concept across Europe, exploiting the potential synergies between start-ups and SMEs on the one hand and broadcasters and larger media organizations on the other.
Attendees got a showcase of the exciting projects in the VRT Sandbox - Creative Circle VI, including:
- The world’s first 16k Virtual reality
- Live IP – a live production studio
- SteamBox – which helps educate on new technologies
- TinkerList the first unified platform for creative television makers
The day was wrapped up by speakers: Vincent Sneed, AER (Association of European commercial radios); Elena Lai, CEPI TV (European Coordination of Independent TV Producers); and Mick de Valck, VRT. In their closing remarks the speakers said that with the rapid pace of change in the technological media sectors, the collaboration between the media sector, technological innovators, and startups is more important than ever. In this framework, speakers highlighted that private-public partnerships across the media value chain are key to support sustainable innovation in Europe. The MediaRoad Project can not only enable this but also help to scale up and expand collaboration across Europe.
The event was attended by over 130 participants representing key stakeholders in the media field, including representatives from the European Commission, national TV and radio broadcasters, media organizations, producers, creators, and researchers as well as start-up communities.
Find more information about the event here.
