Oct 12 is a date for your diary. Innovate the leading networking, conference and exhibition takes place and we will have a strong presence. Innovate is the Technology Strategy Board’s showcase event with some exciting speakers lined up and cutting edge technology exhibits. It’s a great place to not only see what other innovators are up to but to meet people from business, academia and government.

There are two seminars specially for the creative industry sector. The first is an entrepreneur showcase and the second looking at how digital technology will drive growth in the creative sector.The first seminar will hear from some of the entrepreneurs who have received TSB funding about the technology they have developed and how it is being deployed.

At the second seminar we will be unveiling findings from our first three Beacon Reports and will hear from keynote speaker Raymond Le Gue, programme  director, at the Digital  Media  Initiative, BBC Future Media &  Technology. We will also be hearing from two of our Theme Champions, Simon Hopkins and Frank Boyd,  who will be talking about two of the hottest issues facing creative businesses, metadata and convergence.

Innovate will have more content and exhibitors this year with a great focus on the commercial exploitation of the digital economy, healthcare, energy and sustainability.It’s a great place to find out how innovation can add value to your business and also find out where the great new opportunities exist.

Innovate is held at the Business Design Centre, London, and you can register for updates about the event and see details of the full programme on the TSB web site.

“For me convergence is no longer about technology but about a converged media experience for the user, so for example when I watch the world cup or eurovision, I’m also tweeting, I might be using tweet deck on an iPad and that for me is all part of the same media experience even though it’s technologically on different platforms.”

“[The TSB] should focus on what convergence means for the user’s experience and less on the specific technology”

He then outlined three major challenges facing a broadcaster or publisher of content in convergence culture, quoting a discussion he’d had with Anthony Soohoo, Senior VP and General Manager for the Entertainment and Lifestyle Division at CBS Interactive:

“As a broadcaster there are three things [Soohoo] worries about when he thinks about his products working on different platforms and being consumed by the user in different ways.

“One is who is controlling the transaction model: is it iTunes controlling that or is it CBS or is it another third party; who is making money out of the content in the converged user experience, how much of it do you own and how much of it do other people own? The converged user experience may involve watching online,tweeting, using Facebook at the same time. Who owns which bits of that experience? So the money is one thing.”

“The second thing is the social graph. If users are having that converged experience with a other people who they already have relationships with, who’s mixing those relationships together? Is it Facebook? Is it Twitter? What are the issues involved if it’s not you doing that – which is probably isn’t?

“The third thing is the whole question of rights: other people being part of the media experience which they don’t have the rights to. Twitter is now the place where all the conversations go on about media brands but Twitter obviously has no licensing arrangements with them. Is that a problem? a good thing? A bad thing? Where’s the fat going to be for that?”

“So it’s about monetisation, it’s about the transaction layer – the social graph layer – and also about rights.”

Over the next few weeks I will post some views on the question: ‘what does convergence mean in the creative industries today, and what are the research and development challenges which should be addressed by the Technology Strategy Board.

A good place to start is the definition proposed by MIT’s Convergence Culture Consortium:

“The phrase describes an emerging pattern of relations bringing together entertainment, advertising, brands, and consumers in creative and often surprising ways. These new relations are underpinned by three key concepts: transmedia entertainment, participatory culture, and experiential marketing.

Transmedia Entertainment describes the flow of stories, images, characters, and information across various media platforms. The coordinated fashion in which this takes place deepens consumer experiences.

Participatory Culture describes new ways consumers interact with media content, media producers, and each other … across the media landscape. Consumers are active participants, shaping the creation, circulation, and interpretation of media content. Participation deepens emotional investment in media properties, expanding their awareness of both content and brand.

Experiential Marketing refers to key ways to capitalize on participatory culture and a transmediated media environment. Developing novel brand extensions and strategies that play out across multiple media channels enhances consumer identification with both products and brands.

Convergence describes a process rather than an endpoint. More than just technological consolidation, the process of convergence is distinguished by changing consumer flows through the media landscape. ….the nature of what counts as entertainment, advertising, and culture are rapidly changing. We are seeing the blurring of aesthetic and technological distinctions between media platforms, of ‘advertising’ and ‘content,’ and of ‘creator and ‘consumer.

Convergence culture calls for a re-negotiation of the expectations of media content producers, advertisers, and audiences.”

As businesses and organisations, we are often so keen to promote our products, services and brand messages that we do this far too much. We forget to listen or contribute to conversations that are already happening. Nobody wants to come to your party if they know that you’re just going to brag about yourself endlessly without giving them a chance to get a word in edgeways.

This is something I’ve learnt from Kathryn Corrick, Chris Brogan and others. It’s changed the way we do things. Sure we want to let you know about funding calls, our published reports and our events, though our website and social media profiles, but we are even more keen to know and share what is already happening in the innovative, tech driven areas of the UK’s creative industries.

As part of my work as Web Manager of the Creative Industries Knowledge Transfer Network (KTN) I was asked to share learning’s with the other KTN Web/Community managers. The result was a presentation on how we use social media plus a few maxims I’ve picked up (usually by making mistakes) on my travels.

I’ve shared the presentation below.

It contains tools, tips and tricks that I think would be useful for any business or organisation. Feel free to share it or add comments or feedback. We’re listening!

Digital Spark is being held at the University of Abertay, Dundee on Sept 1-2.

The conference is for SMEs from across the creative sector who want to understand IP, how to use it and how to protect their rights as well as open up new business opportunities.

Speakers include experts from Google, Nokia, Sony and Realtime Worlds, as well as leading law firms and the European Commission.

Places are still available at the conference and you can register online.

As a first step we are linking to two “toolkits” which they have compiled, aimed at the Creative Industries and ICT sectors. The toolkits bring together key messages, facts and figures that can underpin and reinforce your own promotion, especially when putting together business plans or marketing materials.

We’ve all searched for the right type of facts and research to credibly reinforce and underpin arguments – these toolkits act as resources which capture that detail.

For example:

• Exports of services by the UK’s creative industries totalled £16.6 billion in 2007 – equating to 4.5 per cent of all goods and services exported

• As a percentage of GDP, the UK has the largest creative industries sector in the world.

• By 2012, £1 in every £5 of all new commerce in the UK will be spent online.

Find more detail on the Global Markets community page, along with links through to the UKTI Toolkit sites.

This is what the TSB said about the challenge of convergence:
“Technology convergence is blurring the boundaries between sub-sectors and creating both challenges and opportunities. The Technology Strategy Board has most to add by focusing on crosscutting areas.”

The two priorities related to convergence specifically identified in the paper as are:

“Improve interoperability and increasing convergence cross-platform”
“The goal here is to achieve increased technical and service interoperability between content, products and services, platforms, networks and devices. We anticipate significant benefit beyond the Creative Industries, in particular delivering broader societal value to public service sectors.”

“Promote knowledge sharing and multidisciplinary collaboration”
“With technology convergence blurring the boundaries between sub-sectors, there are benefits to be gained from transferring know-how between different Creative Industry sub-sectors. There are also opportunities to learn from industries outside of the sector. “

Against each of these priorities the TSB outlined some proposed actions. On interoperability and cross-platform convergence:

“The Technology Strategy Board will:
• stimulate the development of new skills and cross-media collaboration to aid the development of brand new product or experience concepts that exploit integrated, pervasive environments;
• ensure business models and transaction (including micro- transaction) systems are available to support commerce;
• encourage the development of interface technologies and standards, where required, to increase interoperability between networks, applications platforms and devices; and
• foster solutions to support the trading of digital assets between content creators and distribution platforms. “
And on knowledge sharing and collaboration:

“The Technology Strategy Board will:
• provide a trusted source of knowledge on technology and market developments and provide the mechanisms for creative businesses to explore potential impacts and opportunities;
• promote partnerships between business and academia through collaborative projects and Knowledge Transfer Partnerships;
• signpost creative businesses to other support-agencies within the broader innovation landscape and, where needed, develop the mutual understanding necessary to facilitate successful relationships;
• promote multidisciplinary cross- fertilisation between the Creative
• Industries sector and other technology and market application areas supported by the Technology Strategy Board;
• transfer creative industry know-how to other sectors, in particular to apply design thinking and creative industry solutions to societal and industry challenges.

It’s not unreasonable to assume, given that meta-data has now become the focus of a call for funding applications, that the TSB is likely to call for proposals against some of these proposed actions. But are they the right ones? Is investment in these areas the highest priority for companies doing business in the converged media ecology?

In a paper for NESTA (What’s App?) David Rowan, the editor of Wired magazine highlights the rapid increase in the potential customer base for mobile apps: “in Western Europe, 3G mobile penetration has risen from 17 per cent in 2007 to 29 per cent in 2009 and is forecast to reach 67 per cent in 2011; in Japan it is already 91 per cent.” In fact, total shipments of smartphones are forecast to be c230M in 2010, with Western Europe accounting for 20% of these.

A paper by Mediateque for the BBC, taking a broad view of the app economy, translates that device penetration into potential economic impacts: “There is large variation in revenue outputs among the various forecasts, although unsurprisingly the general consensus is one of significant market growth. These consensus forecasts suggest that total worldwide apps revenue will reach somewhere in the region of $15-20bn by 2013/14; this compares to total apps revenue of less than $5bn currently.” At the top end of that range Gartner estimates that total apps revenue will reach $30bn by 2013, with advertising revenues contributing $6.5bn of this amount.

Now in its third year Vodafone has launched Mobile Clicks 2010, a competition to identify and reward innovative mobile starts ups. Open to businesses across the Netherlands, UK and Portugal a total of €150,000 is available for investment into two projects – the call for applications closes August 22^nd.

Organised by UK Trade & Investment experts based in Japan the mission will provide a unique opportunity for UK-based games firms to understand the Japanese Games and Digital Media industry, attending networking events and visiting the Tokyo Games Show.

The Tokyo Games Show is Japan’s main annual computer games convention. Despite the global economic downturn, TGS 2009 had 185,000 visitors and over 180 exhibitors (including 92 from overseas). TGS 2010 is expected to have more visitors this year with an even more international focus.

Opportunities exist for advanced and innovative products, especially in the areas of software, hardware, peripherals, animation and 3D, and design services in new digital games.

The mission is being managed by Chinwag on behalf of UKTI – more info here or call them on +44 (0)20 7183 2923

We have taken all the posters and post-it notes from the live events and put them online in two communities, partners wanted and skills offered. Everyone can now get involved or launch their own search for partners to collaborate with or offer their skills by posting their own details on the site.

The competition is being run by the Technology Strategy Board and we have a video interview with Alex Stanhope of the TSB in which he gives more details about the competition. The competition is split into two categories, fast track for which the deadline for applications is July 22 and mainstream projects for which the deadline is August 19. All the details are in the competition briefing paper.