CITIN News / January 2009

Creating industry-friendly researchers

/ December 2008

How do we help research students better understand the needs and processes of the creative industries so they can work more effectively with them? This is one of the challenges addressed by the EPSRC Doctoral Training Centre initiative (part of its Digital Economy programme), which will support 44 centres educating PhD students with £250m funding.

This challenge has been taken up by Professor Mark Sandler, who is co-director (with Pat Healey) of the Doctoral Training Centre in Digital Music and Media at Queen Mary, University of London. "We are trying to create the Renaissance Man and Woman here" he says. Beginning later this year, the Centre will take on 10 students who will graduate with a PhD in Media and Arts Technology. Their training will include developing an understanding of the technological side of the creative industries, the related creative processes and language, and the needs of people working in the these industries. It is hoped this understanding will enable them to create projects these industries really need.

Mark imagines students working with organisations in the creative industries, or the companies that support these industries, to help design the next audio compression technique, develop models for controlling lighting in theatres, or create 3D TV. After their first year, a Masters by research, students will be matched with an industry partner for six months, during which they will develop their research project. Industry partners might include BBC Future Media & Technology, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, Kodak, the Tate Gallery, and the British Film Institute.

Mark hopes that successful students will move to employment with such organisations, or create a startup business based on their research. (His students have already worked with the BBC on creating ontologies for the Corporation's programmes and music information services.) Mark also hopes that Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs) will grow out of the work of the Centres; and that in the longer term, based on outreach to schools, appropriate students can be helped to choose courses such that they are better prepared to work with industry. [More on the awards on the EPSRC Web site.]

Preparing for a post-broadcast world

/ October 2008

In a changing commissioning landscape, what techniques might media creators employ? This was the question addressed at the CITIN-supported Playing the Game event, an all-day workshop led by facilitator extraordinaire Frank Boyd during the London Games Festival. The key features of the new landscape are: broadcasters who are keen to address changing audiences with cross-platform 'shows', and content producers able to address audiences directly but commercially unsure.

Event participants formed teams representing fictional companies with different backgrounds and were given two hours to prepare 'Dragons' Den'-style pitches to industry luminaries. Illuminations chief John Wyver participated in and reported on the event and, despite some skepticism, considered the format to be a "strikingly successful way for my three colleagues and I to consider the challenges". One participant, Plot co-founder Gill Wildman, noted that the increase in the number of funding sources in the commissioning landscape "makes for a greater range of opportunities for innovation, and challenges in how the money is combined into a production, yet brings with it the complexities of managing a lot of stakeholders". The format was further developed at the Sheffield Documentary Festival in the DigiDocs 360: Digital Commissioner - Funding for New Platforms strand.

Fashioning new approaches to innovation

/ September 2008

Fashion and technology are two terms that rarely consort in public, though they are intimately related. Dr Sharon Baurley, a researcher in technical textiles and design at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, observes that the fashion industry is wary of technology as it 'wants everything now' and, more generally, notes that "putting technology on the body is quite a mental leap". Another Side of Fashion (ASF) seeks to address this by demonstrating the value that fashion and design can bring to the development and commercialisation of new products and materials.

In September CITIN supported the second in ASF's series of networking events, entitled The Fashion for Smart Materials, beginning with a Product and Materials Bazaar at the Dana Centre in London, which sought to inspire people with samples of new textile- and fashion-related technologies, products and demonstrators. This was followed by a public event, chaired by BBC Technology Correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones. Over 80 people took part, learning about new materials and technologies in the public domain, how they are being used by designers, and what possibilities the future holds. Breakout discussions raised ideas such as clothes that could tell you about your posture, and self-cleaning and non-iron materials. Critical feedback from this event was taken into workshops the following day.

Ideas from the workshops included an experimental lab in which designers could 'go and play' with kit to produce prototypes; co-designing with ordinary people; the need to turn over lots of 'quick and dirty' products to inspire designers and engage the public; and the importance of capturing emergent consumer behaviour to establish feasibility before seeking significant R&D investment. In the longer term Baurley hopes that ASF will work across industries to assist the development of short-run products that can be shown publicly, and investigate the role of smart materials in health and well-being.

In the area of fashion and technology, Hussein Chalayan: From fashion and back will be on show at the Design Museum in London until 17 May 2009.

TSB 'digital content call' for £5m funding

/ Spring 2009

The Technology Strategy Board (TSB) has announced the Accessing and Commercialising Content in a Digitally Networked World competition for funding. Recognising that the content industries account for three-quarters of the 'gross value added' (GVA) by the creative industries in the UK, the call addresses the new challenges around generating revenue from digital content, finding and establishing rights around content (including user-generated content), tools and systems that increase market visibility, interacting with digital platforms, and developing new business models.

The competition is aimed at businesses and practitioners in computer games, content creation, digital content distribution, digital/new media, film and video, ICT and comms technologies, music, rights holding, publishing, TV and radio and related sectors. Proposals need to be collaborative, ideally including a content provider, and focus on the creation of a pre-commercial prototype that can be delivered within two to three years of the project being completed. The TSB will pay up to 50% of project costs. It also notes that responses to the call need only be three pages, and applicants should present a business case focusing on markets, benefits, and who might be interested, rather than technology and features. If successful, applications will receive an offer letter asking them to prepare a project plan with milestones.

To apply, interested parties should submit a basic three page expression of interest (EOI) by 23 April, and a full application by 25 June. Decisions and feedback to applicants will be given by 24 July. Part of the fund has been set aside for projects of around £100,000 in scope led by small and medium enterprises (SME) in the creative industries, for which there is a more basic application process.

Commenting on his successful experience of applying for TSB funding, Bristol-based Tom Bennett of Interactive Places has some advice for potential applicants: "Read the criteria and make a tick list, literally" he says. "Check the things that need to be dealt with in each section, [but also have someone look at the] language and expression as well as the content and criteria". And he strongly encourages others to apply: "There is money available for the benefit of the creative industries and it is there to be spent" he says. In the run-up to the application dates CITIN will be hosting a number of briefing and partnership building events around the UK in which interested parties are welcome to take part (see Forthcoming events).

Get ready for the TSB 'digital content call'!

/ February/March 2009 (London/Bristol/Birmingham/Liverpool/Scotland)

For businesses and practitioners interested in taking advantage of the TSB digital content call (see TSB digital content competition for £5m funding in Funding calls) CITIN is pleased to announce its Partnering For Innovation programme of one-day events, taking place across the UK - in London, Bristol, Birmingham, Liverpool and Scotland - during February and March this year.

There is no cost to attend these events. They will provide a practical insight into the Technology Strategy Board's £5m collaborative research and development fund, and facilitate the development of new industry and academic collaborations and projects. You can now register for the first event in Bristol on 17th February which will take place at the Watershed.

CITIN is pleased that the Partnering for Innovation events are being delivered in partnership with the Digital Communications KTN, the South East Media Network, 3C Research, Screen West Midlands, FACT and Scottish Enterprise.

• 17th February, Watershed, Bristol | register
• 26th February, Central Saint Martins: Innovation Centre, London | register
• 3rd March, Birmingham, venue TBD | register
• 10th March, FACT, Liverpool | register
• 19th March, Digital Media Quarter at Pacific Quay, Glasgow | register

Artists as technology explorers

/ 24 February 2009 (RIBA, London) Add to your calendar (via Upcoming.org).

How can we investigate the texture of new technologies and the forms they might take? And what new ways of working might benefit artists? In February, Artquest (one of the UK's leading artists' advisory and information services) is hosting Ex Machina: Exploring digital manufacturing in fine art, crafts and design practice, a one-day conference in London, supported by CITIN, to develop 'critical awareness, knowledge and understanding of the scope and potential of current technologies available'. Stephen Beddoe, programme manager at Artquest, notes the potential in the way artists work "without an outcome in mind", which enables them to "mess with this technology... and use it for purposes for which it might not have been used ".

Such uses will be demonstrated by artists, craftspeople and designers. Ex Machina will also investigate innovative technologies for producing and distributing new art works. Speakers include UCL Bartlett's Martin Watmough, Professor Jane Prophet of Goldsmiths and Studio*Mrmann principal Geoffrey Mann. The day will conclude with a visit to Metropolitan Works, in London's East End, to view a forthcoming exhibition on rapid prototyping technologies.

Emerging innovation themes that CITIN will focus on in the near term include 3D visualisation and rendering technologies, fashion, new technologies and healthcare, knowledge transfer partnerships, and the commercialisation of digital content. Please stay tuned to the CITIN Web site for information on opportunities to engage with these themes.

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The Creative Industries Technology and Innovation Network mission is to accelerate innovation in the Creative Industries in the UK. CITIN is home to innovators from all sectors of the Creative Industries from advertising to fashion and design, from architecture to new media, TV, games and beyond. Funded by the Technology Strategy Board and led by University of the Arts London, the CITIN consortium includes the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), Imperial College London, and Tiga, the trade association for games developers.