8/14/2019 Content Driving Competitiveness
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Content Driving Competitiveness
http://cordis.europa.eu/ist/99helsinki/programme/cv/content_cv.html
Kieran OHEA, Tel: +352 4924292321
Seagrange Ltd., Fax: +352 49242921009 rue Schiller, E-mail:
[email protected]
L-2519 Luxembourg www.seagrange.c
Summary
The sense of novelty as Internet penetration skyrocketed in the
90s has been replaced by a sense of realityas businesses begin to
ask themselves, How can we make money out of this? Clearly this
will be the
motivation in the 00s (if that is what the early years of the 21
st century will be called). The Internet hasspawned an interest in
all things digital, setting off a chain reaction from world wide
web to webcasting, to
digital broadcasting and so on. All of these media must become
profitable over the next few years if they are
to justify the huge investment in time, research and technology.
They will only become profitable if the
content they deliver is useful and attractive and if the way
that this content is delivered adds value to current
user experiences. The next step therefore is investment in
content and in the skills that can develop thiscontent. There is
little doubt that content will drive the growth and profitability
of Internet and digitalventures, and will encourage e-commerce.
What is less clear is where the business models will come from
and who will be the driving forces.
Content Driving Competitiveness will investigate these issues by
looking at emerging standards and
business models for digital content and the impact of new
content technologies on the Information Societyand beyond.
Realising the Information Society and empowering the citizen will
have profound implications
for all concerned, presenting particular challenges and
opportunities for culture, science and the economy.The session will
examine the issues through the eyes of an artist, a scientist and a
businessman. They will
help us come to terms with and understand the societal and
cultural changes and the technological and
economic developments we can expect. There are many issues that
need to be addressed if Euro pe is to meet
its potential. If the mature media industries such as
broadcasting and publishing are going to bring theirpower and
influence to bear on the digital world, not forgetting those new
content kids-on-the-block, the
telcos, they will need to acquire new skills and forge
relationships with new digital enterprises. At thesame time, the
new digital enterprises, often start-ups with no track record in
traditional business, need to
supplement their skills with knowledge about marketing, finance
and intellectual property. These new digital
enterprises have up to now been drastically under-valued but are
now emerging as the creative drivers of the
digital economy. How to provide them with the rounded set of
skills they need and how to integrate them
into the mainstream without dulling their creative edge are two
of the major challenges facing the digital
content industry.
We must also recognise the social impetus that is building.
Digital publishing gives every citizen the
capability not only to consume but also to produce content. As
hardware prices fall and marketing efforts
accelerate, people are exposed to technology more and more and
from a younger and younger age. Most of
this technology comes in the form of devices for communicating,
creating or accessing content: computersto surf the Internet,
consoles to play interactive games, mobile phones to call your
friends. With this
exposure comes a technical maturity and a critical eye for good
content. Consumers are becoming moresophisticated and less passive
and their influence on the commercial fate of new content services
will be
crucial. Another contributor who has not been duly recognised up
to now is the digital artist. They haveexposed the public to
digital technology for many years and can provide important
feedback about
interfaces, software and user experiences to content and
technology developers. In fact, there are a multitude
of relationships to be played out in the digital content chain
with almost everyone in the chain consumer,
artist, content creator, technology developer, publisher,
broadcaster and so on participating as both usersand providers. It
is this intricate network that will serve as the basis of the
societal, technological and
economic convergence that we are about to witness.
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