NCE Media is one of only five Norwegian innovation clusters qualified for Innovation Norway's "Mature Cluster" program, the Norwegian Innovation Clusters' highest attainable level.
The new program will commence in 2021 and it replaces the previous GCE (Global Center of Expertise) level, a program for world-leading clusters within their field. As we advance, the Media Clusters' activities will solve industry-wide challenges within our two main pillars; a sustainable democracy and a world-leading technology hub.
A sustainable democracy
The Media Cluster is already a well-working ecosystem that fuels editorial innovation, promotes media diversity and fights filter bubbles and false information, which future activities and initiatives will elevate. NCE Media will continue its work on being a fundamental force to empower important stories, ensure an informed population, and strengthen democracy. We will work on preserving democracy by driving the development of technology for utilizing user information, improving digital storytelling and digital journalism, and deploying artificial intelligence in the fight against misinformation and fake news.
Hence, in the years to come, the Media Cluster will run several projects in these fields, fueling editorial innovation and sharing knowledge. A broad part of our members will actively participate. There will be several projects on Digital Storytelling and finding the right way to communicate with audiences, using the best insight and tools. We are setting up a major project on data and dataflow, putting data to the core of understanding users, context, and platforms. There will be a new forum for data journalists in all member companies, with meetings to connect resources in our News Media Outlets in Bergen, Oslo, and Stavanger.
And finally, working in close collaboration with the SFI - MediaFutures, run by the University of Bergen, we will work on developing new technology to fight disinformation and fake news. Several of our members work in this field and will contribute with their tools, knowledge, and competence.
A world-leading technology hub
Media City Bergen is a leading, international hub for media and technology innovation. You cannot use any digital media any place on the earth and not see our tools. The future starts here, connecting ideas and people.
As a part of the new Cluster program, we will work on new business models with a cloud-based and modular value chain. This project aims to investigate how an integration of the Cluster's already cloud-based solutions can become part of a value chain – as modules in the cloud –, with IP-based signal flow that connects remote locations and uses the same protocols on site as in the cloud. In this way, several of the Cluster's tools and solutions can be developed towards becoming service modules that everyone can run on-site and virtualized, with a seamless transition between locations, and in a seamless sharing of resources on a site.
A subscription model for virtualized services provides a very cost-effective and fast solution for scaling capacity and will both open up for new markets – when eliminating the need for heavy AV investments – and to new and more cost-effective solutions within existing markets. From an entrepreneurial perspective, we are also talking about common goods in an ecosystem that enables piloting, testing, development, and innovation in a new and more cost-effective way. To study areas of use and areas of expansion for the value chain itself will therefore be an essential task in the project.
Other Projects
The projects that are already up and running in the Media Cluster will also continue and be further developed, like MCB Jornalism Lab, Norwegian Cognitive Center, Innovators Circle, Nordic 5G Consortium and our EU-projects MME and Stadiem, in addition to several other ongoing projects.
Upcoming activities
We are looking forward to hosting upcoming activities in the Media Cluster to fuel innovation, facilitate collaboration and competence development, and strengthen democracy and the Cluster as a world-leading technology hub. Some of the activities you can look forward to are; an NDI seminar and workshop, workshop and breakfast seminars with international thought leaders in social media and online journalism, Henk van Ess, seminars on Skattefunn, Mcb tech. 20, Editorial Tech Talks, and a seminar and workshop with one of Norway's leading experts within AI, Morten Goodwin.
Stay tuned for the complete list of activities in the Media Cluster in 2020!
Follow us on Facebook and sign up to our newsletter to stay in the loop: http://bit.ly/NCEmedianyhetsbrev