SHARPEST DIGITAL MEDIA MINDS CONVERGE ON MELBOURNE

Melbourne’s digital media companies will have access to some of the sharpest industry minds in the world when the X|Media|Lab holds the “Digital Worlds: Social, Virtual, Mobile” conference at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) in August.

[ClickPress, Wed Jul 18 2007] The Minister for Innovation, John Brumby, said X|Media|Lab was instrumental in promoting Melbourne as Australia’s digital media hotspot, and the ACMI as one of the world’s leading centres of digital media innovation.

Mr Brumby said speakers at the conference would include Shekhar Kapur, world-renowned filmmaker (director of Elizabeth) and co-founder of Virgin Comics and Virgin Animation with Richard Branson. Shekhar Kapur will show never-before-seen footage from the soon to be released The Golden Age, the sequel to Elizabeth.

Also attending is a delegation from the Cyber Recreation District in Beijing, which includes the President and CEO, the Chairman, and VP of Technology.

The CRD is the biggest digital media industry development project in China and consists of eight dedicated technology centres: Mobile Game Centre, Online Game Centre, Animation Production Centre, Cyber Information Centre, Cyber Finance Centre, IP Exchange Centre, Cyber Sports Centre, and the Talent Training Centre. It also has a Games Theme Park open to the public.

Mr Brumby said that the CRD delegation would explore commercial relationships and joint ventures with Australian digital media companies, and invite a reciprocal delegation to participate in X|Media|Lab Beijing in December 2007.

“This is a tremendous opportunity for Victoria’s digital media companies to expand their networks with China, and to work one-on-one with a range of the world’s digital media power-brokers,” he said.

The Professional Day Conference will be held at the ACMI on Friday, 10 August. The two-day Lab where selected projects work one-on-one with the international mentors will be held on Saturday, 11 August and Sunday 12 August.

Among the international mentors converging on Melbourne for X|Media|Lab are:

• Shekhar Kapur - the internationally acclaimed film director of Elizabeth (starring Cate Blanchett), and the Co-founder of Virgin Comics and Virgin Animation with Richard Branson (London/Mumbai).

• Kay Grunwoldt – Global Manager of Developer Programs, Nokia (Vancouver/Helsinki).

• Dr David Liu – CEO, Cyber Recreation Development Corporation, which is building a virtual universe able to handle 7 million concurrent users, the most ambitious project of its kind in the world (Beijing).

• Dale Herigstad – 4-times Emmy Award winner for Interaction Design, Schematic (Los Angeles).

• Marcelino Ford-Livene – Head of Interactive Advertising, Digital Home Group, Intel (Los Angeles).

• Kevin Anderson – Head of Blogging and Interaction, The Guardian (London).

• Liz Heller – CEO and Co-founder of Buzztone Inc. (Los Angeles).

• Francisco Cordero – General Manager, Bebo, the UK’s largest and fastest growing social networking site (Sydney/London).

• Martha Ladly – Director, Mobile Experience Design, Mobile Experience Lab (Toronto).

• Brian Gruber – Founder and CEO, Fora.tv (Los Angeles).

• Lizbeth Goodman – Director, SMARTlab (London).

• Paul Strickland – Director of Media Investments, a US$300 million media fund, Crusader Financial Group (Beijing).

• Tom Kennedy –Director of Digital, Belong; Australian Film Commissioner (Sydney).

• Bruce Joy – Founder, VastPark, Australia’s own virtual world’s platform (Melbourne).

• Jason Romney – Director of Strategy, Bigpond (Sydney).


The X|Media|Lab Professional Day Conference is open for General Admission. Bookings can be made at www.xmedialab.com

X|Media|Lab is looking for 10 projects on the general theme of “Digital Worlds: Social, Virtual, Mobile – to be part of the Melbourne Lab. To apply, visit: www.xmedialab.com

About X|Media|Lab

X|Media|Lab is the internationally acclaimed think-tank and creative workshop for digital media professionals across the emerging digital media disciplines in computer games, animation, digital cinema, interactive content and entertainment, and mobile applications.

X|Media|Lab brings together the world’s leading digital media practitioners, power-brokers, and innovators in a unique creative environment that helps companies and project teams improve their own digital media ideas, get their products to market, and achieve commercial success.

In 2007 X|Media|Lab will be held n Mumbai, Melbourne, Singapore and Beijing.