On Friday 21th of January, MediaFutures arranged an internal kick-off meeting for all partners as the first major event at the centre.
In a virutal event with over 65 participants, the partners of MediaFutures met to present themselves and their role in the research centre.
With people present from both, industry and research, the kick-off meeting was perceived as a great success. Representatives from the governance and advisory bodies of MediaFutures were also present to follow the discussions and provide their input to the centre’s activities.
Alongside the presentation of key people, the kick-off also led to engaging and rich discussions about the years to come. Through introductions and Q&A-sessions, the event invited people to talk about their expectations from the centre, as well as to share insights and thoughts about their exciting involvernenst in MediaFutures.
Collaboration is a key element in an SFI project
While discussions regarding research outputs were on the agenda through out the day, all participants acknowledged the importance of the collaboration between research and industry, and has proven to already pay off a lot.
The centre is a consortium of the most important media players in Norway. The University of Bergen’s Department of Information Science and Media Studies will lead and host the centre. User partners include NRK and TV 2, the two main TV broadcasters in Norway, Schibsted, including Bergens Tidende (BT), and Amedia, the two largest news media houses in Scandinavia/Norway, as well as the world-renowned Norwegian media tech companies Vizrt, Vimond, Highsoft, Fonn and the global tech and media player IBM. The centre will collaborate with renowned national research institutions including University of Oslo, the University of Stavanger and NORCE, and will work together with high-profile international research institutions.
MediaFutures solves major societal challenges
MediaFutures will in cooperation with industry partners from news media and media technology research topics like media experiences, recommender technology, content production and analysis, content interaction and accessibility, and Norwegian language technology. The goal is to develop responsible technological solutions to societal challenges like AI, fake news, echo chambers and political polarization. The result will be new digital tools, analytical methods and content types for the future of the media. The center will also perform research training within media technology and innovation. This will create outputs such as new patents, prototypes, research articles and software, as well as innovative start-up companies.
The next milestone for MediaFutures will be the formal opening of the centre, which will take place on Tuesday 2nd of February 2021. The opening will be digital and open to the public. (https://vimeo.com/event/605507)