EU has awarded NOK 62 million to the project STADIEM - Startup Driven Innovation in European Media – aiming to build a unified ecosystem of media incubators and accelerators in Europe. The project will develop a strong community of tech and media stakeholders to stimulate, shape and foster the application of emerging technologies (such as Artificial Intelligence, 5G, cloud, the Internet of Things, Virtual/Augmented Reality, smart objects, wearables, data analytics etc) through the deployment of a dynamic and impactful incubation and acceleration program.
This is the second EU-project targeting startups and entrepreneurs awarded to the Norwegian Media Cluster the last six months.
STADIEM will boost the opportunities and success of media startups by developing and growing in close cooperation with corporate and venture partners, securing a sustainable growth to success.
– More important than ever
– This is yet another important recognition of the cluster capabilities and competence and will be key to build and grow a European startup community within media technology and emerging tech, says Haavard Myklebust (Photo), chair of the Media Cluster Board.
– As the European community recovers from the corona crisis, it is more important than ever to focus on innovation, new ideas and to foster growth and entrepreneurship. An incubator and accelerator program to boost the startup scene will be very important.
The Media Cluster has also been appointed one of four core environments for AI expertise in Europe, and together these two projects will strengthen each other and create a unique eco system for growth.
Startups accepted to the STADIEM program can secure up to 1,7 MNOK in funding.
Startups will be invited to partner with corporate partners for the further development leading up to testing and validation of their solutions, and hence be in a really strong position to commercialize their services. Startups that are not successful in securing a corporate partner after visiting the four European hubs in the project, will not quality to the later stages of the programme.
PartnersMedia City Bergen´s partners in the project are VRT, the Flemish language Belgian public broadcaster in Brussels, Next Media Accelerator (NMA) in Hamburg and Storytek, a media accelerator in Tallinn.
To help recruit and manage the startups through the program, F6S – the world´s largest network of startups and the Swiss consultancy Martell Innovate are also part of the team, as well as the Media Cluster Partner in Media City, Vis Innovation.
The European Broadcasting Union, the EBU, are also part of the consortium.
If you want more information on this, or other, EU-projects run by the Media Cluster, you are welcome to contact EU advisor Kristoffer Hammer.