The Catalan Audio-visual Cluster and the Tecnocampus of Mataró celebrated the World Television Day in Catalonia in a discussion series that brought together critics, journalists, media managers and producers.

The event consisted of three round-tables, gathering participants from different sectors that invited the audience to think about the evolution of the world of television, the changes in consumption patterns, and the transformations and new challenges that the sector has to face with the emergence of the internet and new technologies.

Fernando de Felipe (La Vanguardia), Manuel de Luna (El Periódico) and Paula Hernández (Vertele.com), who sat together in the first round-table, “What television we have. The critics talk”, all agreed that more innovation is required in the TV industry in order to attract new audiences, and especially the youth audience.

In the second round-table, “What kind of television can we do in Catalonia”, participants Antoni Pemán (CCMA), Oscar Nogueira (8TV), Ángel Casas (Barcelona TV) and Joan Foguet (XAL), highlighted the difficulties that the sector faces, with the reduction of Catalan audio-visual productions due to the decrease of public resources and the concentration of the advertisement market in the hands of only two large corporations.

The debate in the third round-table, “The coming TV”,focused on the challenges that stem from interactivity, the rise of the live broadcasting, new online content operators and business models that respond to new patterns of consumption. The participants were Xavier Fisa (Lavinia Interactiva), Ferran Clavell (CCMA), Xavier Redón (Abertis Telecom), Jaume Ripoll (Filmin) and Álex del Olmo (Tecnocampus).

In order to stimulate the exchange of knowledge between companies from the audio-visual, internet and design sectors, and to promote the (co)creation of  joint projects, the Catalan Audio-visual Cluster, together with the Barcelona Design Innovation Cluster, Cluster Ecommerce & Tech Barcelona and Barcelona Media, organized the session, “Collaborative Innovation. Speeding up innovation in the cultural and creative industries. Promotion of Inter-sectorial Collaboration.” at CosmoCaixa Barcelona.

The session was led by Josep Lluís Sánchez Brugola, an expert on innovation, creativity and strategy who presented the latest trends in innovation and gave some examples of new working methodologies based on collaboration between companies from different sectors.

This meeting is part of an ongoing series of sessions about innovation that began last June during the Digital&Media Summit of Sonar +D.

What is the role of Internet within the audio-visual sector, and what will this role be in the future? Which new business models will work best online? What online distribution strategies will emerge following the fall of analogue distribution? These are some of the questions that Juan Carlos Tous, founding partner of Filmin and Cameo, and Josep Monleón, content director of Wuaki TV, addressed during the session, organized at Foment’s headquarters by the Audio-visual Cluster of Catalonia.

Both Filmin and Wuaki TV are online distribution and content platforms, each of which has followed a distinct development model in the digital world. Wuaki TV, property of the Japanese group Rakuten, uses an international expansion model, offers content from major North American production houses, and has 1.5M registered users and more than 100 employees of over 10 different nationalities. In contrast, Filmin, with 9 employees, is a platform focussed on the local sphere which offers original version content, gives room to new creators, and participates in festivals and projects all over Spain.

Although both speakers presented different viewpoints, they agreed that the future of the audio-visual sector is connected to the Internet, a medium that will inevitably (re)define the consumption and distribution model practiced to date, and that the growth of this sector depends on an increase in the quantity and variety of devices, as well as on its capacity for interconnection.

Josep Monleón and Juan Carlos Tous also warned that the Internet presents certain challenges, as well as potential barriers to growth, such as the mistrust shown by some of the hegemonic sectors in the audio-visual sphere toward the digital world, the competition brought about by “piracy”, and the absence of institutional regulation.

The Catalan Audio-Visual Cluster has signed a collaboration framework agreement with the Balmes University Foundation, owner of the Teknós centre and the Vic-UCC University, aimed at encouraging collaboration in teaching, research, transfer, technology and innovation.

The agreement comes just a few months after last May’s inauguration, in the city of Vic, of the Teknós Training Centre in Technology and Communication and it formalizes the opening of new channels for cooperation between the university and businesses in the audio-visual sector.

Through the Faculty of Business and Communication and the Polytechnic School, the University of Vic-Central University of Catalonia joins the group of academic institutions connected to the Audio-Visual Cluster.

This agreement promotes the establishment of collaborative academic and research activities, the development of collaborative studies, and the execution of projects of mutual interest. Moreover, it strengthens the training of Vic-UCC University students by providing students with work experience, development of undergratuate and Master’s projects, and the profesional training of the Teknós students in companies that form part of the Cluster.

Present at the signing event were Josep Terradellas, the FUB general secretary, acting on behalf of general manager Joan Turró; Xavier Guitart, president of the Catalan Audio-Visual Cluster; Joan Rosés, Cluster manager, and Jordi Montaña, rector of  Uvic-UCC. Also present at the signing were Núria Barniol, manager of the Profesional Careers Service, Mercè Chacón, the Teknós coordinator, and Anna Paloma, coordinator of the FEC communication studies.

During the signing, rector Jordi Montaña urged Teknós, the Faculty of Business and Communication, and the Polytechnic School to work closely with the Cluster, since they offer academic programs related to the audio-visual and technological field. In turn, Xavier Guitart declared that “one of Cluster’s priorities is to strengthen contact with universities”, and added that “at this moment the audio-visual sector is undergoing spectacular growth, since it must provide the entire digital realm with new content and technology, and therefore the relationship with young, trained, and specialized university and pre-university students, is extremely strategic.”

On May 29^th in Barcelona the Catalan Audio-Visual Cluster, in collaboration with the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT University), organized the session “Strategy, innovation, and creativity in a rapidly changing digital world” in which Indy Saha, director of strategy of Google Creative Lab, participated as a speaker.

During his talk, Saha presented the Google Creative Lab, an interdisciplinary team based in London, but with several working groups scattered between different cities, such as New York, San Francisco and Sydney. Its main goal is to create pilots and prototypes for new products and services linked to the internet, as well as to promote the use of the Net for the development of new creative and educational projects.

For example, Saha presented “DEV.ART Art made with code”, a platform created by Google that hosts several artistic projects based on the use of data; the Google Science Fair, created as on online platform to encourage young people to improve their scientific and innovation skills; or the Hangout Comedy Club, which transforms YouTube into a platform for humor-based content.

He also referred to Spell Up for Google Chrome, which provides educational tools for English-learners; or the Science Museum/Web Lab and the Google Chrome Web Lab, two interconnected projects that allow the user to interact via the Internet with the contents of the Science Museum.

Lastly, Saha reflected on the need to produce new work dynamics based on collaboration between people and companies, research, multi-disciplinarity and trans-disciplinarity. He celebrated the existence of the Catalan Audio-Visual Cluster, while encouraging the companies involved in the Cluster to apply new ways of working that prioritize innovation and creativity, one of the keys to Google’s success.

The viability of establishing cooperation pathways with Barcelona and the possibility of exploring new business opportunities related to its audio-visual content were one of the ideas exposed by the president of the National Association of Television Program Executives (NATPE), Rod Perth, during his lecture organized by the Catalan Audio-visual Cluster in the headquarters of Barcelona Activa. Barcelona’s capacity and prestige and its commitment to the digital world, mobility and new business, ensured Perth, are the keys elements of the future collaboration.

NATPE, held in Miami each January, is one of the world’s most important events around the issue of content markets. As Rod Perth explained, the goal of NATPE is to maintain a business model based on personal and direct contacts, bringing together the major actors of the audio-visual industry, and that stresses transformation and adaptation to changes in the market and consumer habits.

The industry, concluded Perth, is changing due to digital technologies, and content forms the transversal basis for this transformation. “For this reason, the audio-visual world needs to find new, fresher and more innovative ways to open up new markets and to establish new relationships between buyers and sellers”.

Rod Perth’s visit to Barcelona also included meeting with Fira de Barcelona, Turisme de Barcelona, and a meeting at Foment del Treball with the representatives of the Catalan business world.

The president of the Catalan Audio-visual Council (CAC), Roger Loppacher, and the president of the Catalan Audio-visual Cluster, Xavier Guitart, have signed a collaboration framework agreement between these two institutions. The signing event was held at the CAC’s headquarters.

The framework agreement stimulates the collaboration between both parties to increase the promotion, knowledge, dissemination, and strength of the Catalan audio-visual sector, as well as the promotion of mechanisms to guarantee the rights of users and the protection of minors.

Specifically, this agreement states that both organizations will cooperate in order to create and strengthen dialogue and commonalities between public and private DTT and FM communications service providers, telecommunication operators, providers of new communication services, audio-visual content production companies, technology companies and companies developing mobile applications.

Moreover, this agreement stipulates that both the CAC and the Cluster will work together on projects, research and vitalization activities related to the audio-visual sector. Especially, it will promote research and awareness of new audio-visual communication services, new screens and new business models.

The CAC will also invite the Cluster members to participate in the Forum of Communication of Catalonia and in roundtable discussions hosted by the CAC to debate about subjects concerning the audio-visual field and sector regulation.