We want to extend a huge thank you to all the members of the media cluster that participated, held talks and keynotes, arranged debates, seminars, and workshops, and in other ways contributed to the Future Week success.
Future Week gathered 2000 participants from all over the world. Thirty international startups from our EU program STADIEM were in Bergen this week to pitch their great ideas for the media industry. We launched the brand new conference MCB Fact, and MCB Tech returned as a physical conference for the first time in three years.
Future Week had activities and programs in three cities, with brilliant sessions in Bergen, Oslo, and Stavanger. We set up three separate conferences: MCB Hack, the newborn MCB Fact, and the established MCB Tech conference.
We invited participants to several workshops, including Tendayi Viki on corporate innovation, IoT development, investigative journalism, and MediaFutures on responsible media technology and innovation. During the week, we brought world-class speakers on the stage to challenge our mindsets, including Tim Harford, Agnes Stenbom, Benedict Evans, Rebecca Skippage, Tendayi Viki, David Caswell, Sam Fullwood III, and Jenny Wiik. We also dived into technologies such as VR, AI, and 5G, and showcased new storytelling formats and ideas. And we spiced up the program with entertaining and engaging sessions – everything from live podcasts to several weird, quirky, and peculiar sessions.
To honour Anne Jacobsen's memory, Media City Bergen/NCE Media initiated the Anne Jacobsen's Memorial Award. It was awarded for the first time during the MCB Fact conference. The Spanish fact-checking organization Maldita.es received the first edition of the prize on behalf of #UkraineFacts.
Thank you so much for a week filled with expertise, enthusiasm, and exciting visions for the future. A special thanks to all the Media Cluster's members. See the photos below and relive the week.
Ketil Moland Olsen welcomed the audience to Future Week and MCB Hack Conference. Media City Bergen/NCE Media hosted the MCB Hack conference with contributions from The Norwegian Center for Investigative Journalism and the Rafto Foundation for Human Rights.
Maria Gargiulo is a statistician from the Human Rights Data Analysis Group (HRDAG). HRDAG received the Rafto Prize in 2021 for its human rights work.
Lasse Lambrechts and Anders Grimsrud Eriksen from Bergens Tidende explained, "How not to fall on your face while working with data."
Sergej Stoppel from Wolftech shared his ideas on how we can present data more clearly, and the importance of correct visualization.
Jenny Wiik from the University of Gothenburg invited journalists to work with AI and Big Data to share competence and innovate.
Vegard Vaage from Netsecurity spoke about using UK intelligence tools for "fun and profit." GCHQ is the UK's intelligence, security and cyber agency. Their tool CyberChef is free and open for everyone to use.
Sam Fulwood III from the American University School of Communication shared his experiences from projects where students worked together with The Washington Post on a joint effort.
The summer arrived in Bergen at the same time as Future Week this year.
Happiness and unity. EU advisor Kristoffer Hammer at the MCB organization serves beer (or maybe it's water?) to the people. Finally, our guests have arrived.
Kristoffer Egeberg from Faktisk.no explained how Norwegian news media work on verifying videos from Ukraine.
Mari Velsand, director general at The Norwegian Media Authority, editor Kristoffer Egeberg at Faktisk.no and Disinformation Editor Rebecca Skippage at BBC News, discussed freedom of speech and disinformation. Shirish Kulkarni hosted the panel.
Director-General Mari Velsand from The Norwegian Media Authority said there are fewer clear differences between real news and disinformation and propaganda now than before.
The truth is the first victim of the war, states the prize committee of Anne Jacobsen’s award. The Spanish fact-check organization Maldita receives the prize on behalf of #UkraineFacts. Clara Jiménez Cruz is co-founder and CEO of Maldita.
The truth is the first victim of the war, states the prize committee of Anne Jacobsen’s award. The Spanish fact-check organization Maldita receives the prize on behalf of the #UkraineFacts. Clara Jiménez Cruz is co-founder and CEO of Maldita.
Sofie Hvitved, Futurist and Senior Advisor and Head of Media at the Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies, talked about some of the newest trends affecting the future of how we live, work, interact, transact, and consume media.
Torgeir Waterhouse is a former director in IKT Norway, now founder and partner at Otte. With Per Thorsheim and host Siri Lill Mannes, he talked about how we can prepare for the future regarding cyber-attacks.
Tim Harford is a columnist at Financial Times and hosts the Cautionary Tales podcast. In the podcast, he tells true stories about mistakes and what we should learn from them. At the MCB Tech conference, he gave the talk "Can disruption make us more creative?" – We need to find a way to force ourselves into more obstacles and more challenging situations. From time to time, well all have to sit down and try to play the "unplayable piano," Harford said.
MCB Tech audience enjoying a presentation during the conference.
Host Siri Lill Mannes and innovation expert Viki Tendayi. Viki is an award-winning author and an expert on how to innovate within large corporations. In his books "The Corporate Startup" and "Pirates In the Navy," he outlines core principles and practices that established companies can use to build their innovation ecosystems.
Mingling in full bloom during MCB Tech .22
Benedict Evans on stage during MCB Tech.
– When was the last time you thought about the future? We are always thinking about the future – while planning our holiday and signing up our kids for activities. AI will be part of our lives. We have to think of the future with AI, says Agnes Stenbom, Head of Lab at Schibsted.
