Events: BBC commissions for CBBC and CBeebies, Crossover Labs and Creative Networks

A few more events coming up this month.

Firstly, The BBC is seeking new relationships with companies to fulfill at least 4 commissions for CBBC and CBeebies in 2010/2011. @North is a pilot programme for TV independents or digital creatives and companies interested in working with children's commissioners and the Future Media department, to develop new interactive content. There will be two events held in the region, where you'll have the opportunity to meet the BBC and ask questions about the project.

8th January, 10.00 am - 12.00pm: Leeds, Round Foundry Media Centre
11th January, 10.00 am - 12.00pm: Sheffield, Electric Works

Register to attend

Find out more about @North

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Secondly, Crossover Business Labs - Introduction Seminars: 11th - 14th January

Crossover Labs has been designed to assist companies position themselves for creative and commercial growth in the converging digital economy. The objectives of the programme are:

- to work with business leaders to share an understanding of the characteristics of the market and the opportunities available;
- to help companies develop the skills, capabilities and assets required to do business effectively in the converging digital marketplace;
- to foster collaboration between companies within and across the regions.

Each workshop will take place at 6:00pm in two venues simultaneously, connected using NorthernNet's video conferencing infrastructure. The seminar programme will be on the following dates, each one linking two venues.

Event details and registration

Find out more about Crossover

The Crossover Business Labs programme is supported by the Channel 4, BBC, North West Vision and Media, Screen North East, Screen Yorkshire, Skillset and NorthernNet.

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Finally, Creative Networks is on 28th January this month.

Creative Networks is proud to announce that its first speaker for 2010 is the internationally acclaimed, Martin Parr.

Martin Parr is probably one of the most influential living British Photographers still working today. With over fifty books and countless exhibitions, Parr is known for his lurid and sometimes shocking use of colour in photography and his satirical witty approach to documentary photography leaves the viewer not sure whether to laugh or cry.

His three recurrent themes are leisure activities, consumption and communication, which he uses to denounce consumer society, wastefulness, vulgarity, mass tourism, fashion and the often worrying narrowness of everyday life. He captures the laughable, the grotesque, and the unacceptable. We laugh, we giggle, we howl with laughter - the image of society that the artist holds up to us puts our moral failings and the absurdity of our everyday lives into sharp relief.

In true Parr humour, the audience will be invited on the evening to vote on which presentation they would most like to hear; 'Parrworld', or 'Martin Parr - the story so far'.

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Leeds College of Art
Blenheim Walk, Leeds, LS2 9AQ
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18.00 - 19.00 Hot Food and Registration
19.00 - 19.30 Welcome and opening pitches
19.30 - 20.30 Martin Parr
20.30 till late Networking in the Mosaic Bar

This event is free to creative, digital and cultural industry professionals.
If you would like to join us, please contact Creative Networks on 01422 399444 or email Bridget March at bridgetm@leeds-art.ac.uk.

IT Business Network - techmesh: Launch Event 27th January, Leeds

techmesh is a brand new business network for IT and Telecoms organisations and professionals in the Yorkshire and Humberside region.

They are holding a launch event where you can find out more about the network and how they can help you.

Who should attend: IT & Telecoms organisations, professionals and partners.

Date: Wednesday 27th January 2010
Time: 18.00-21.00hrs
Venue: The Loft, Cross York Street, Leeds. LS2 7EE

Guest Speakers:
Lee Strafford, former CEO of PlusNet
Conrad Poulson, Head of Startup Business Development of Orange

Includes:
Live music, Fizz Reception and Nibbles

More Info: To book your place, register online or call Dawn on 0113 384 5641.

It's free to attend and will be the first of many events that should be of interest to the IT industry, the sooner you get involved the sooner you can shape the networks future!

UKTI offering 50% matched funding for Yorkshire companies to attend Mobile World Congress 2010, Barcelona

UK Trade & Investment are running an Overseas Mission to Mobile World Congress for companies in the Digital Sector within Yorkshire & the Humber. The focus of this will be around the exhibition with opportunities to participate in the UKTI briefings, use the UK Pavilion facilities and access reduced price entry tickets.

In addition to the Mobile World Congress there will be an opportunity to work with our Nordic team and Turkish team to identify potential fruitful markets in these countries following on from the Exhibition

As part of the mission UKTI will be combining the funding for the event with the UKTI offering via Trade Fair Support which includes the following:

* 2 exhibitor passes
* Entry into the UK Group Directory
* Company profile included on the Interactive touch screen on the UKTI Promotional Avenida stand allowing visitors to the stand to search by key word, product or company name. Visitor information will be sent to UK companies to follow up.
* Access to UK Group hospitality area in Hall 1

The Cost of the visitor package is £895
Funding for successful and eligible companies will be 50:50 matched funding up to £1,625 per company (split £525 for travel and accommodation and £1,100 event/conference entry).

How to be involved

A high demand for this visit is expected so please register interest as soon as possible. If you have any questions about the visit or would like more details please contact:
Nigel Goddard, UK Trade & Investment
Mob: 07816 911091
E‐Mail: nigel.goddard@project‐box.co.uk

Note: Closing Date: 8th January 2010

UK's e-learning sector set to grow by up to 8% next year, according to Learning Light's report

Learning Light's definitive report into the UK e-learning sector in 2009 not only highlights Sheffield as the UK's 'e-learning capital' but also states that the sector is 'flowering'.

The report, 'The UK e-learning market 2009', reveals that despite the current recession the UK e-learning and learning technology industry is flourishing.

The report's principle finding is that the UK e-learning industry remains robustly positive in its view of the market and the prospect for continuing growth. Using financial modelling and third party research, the report suggests that the annual size of the UK e-learning industry is currently between £300m and £450m; with growth rates forecast of between 6.7% and 8%.

The report is available online.

Isn't it great to hear some good news and just in time for the New Year!

Upcoming Events - Accidental Leaders and Managers & Creative Networks

Accidental Leaders and Managers

Hyper Island, widely regarded as the 'Oxbridge of Digital Media Training', has teamed up with Inspiral to bring their unique brand of management training programmes to yorkshire in early 2010. The Accidental Leaders is for company CEOs and founders, whilst the Accidental Managers is aimed at rising stars that are now or soon to be in management roles.

Inspiral will be hosting three events this week to launch the programmes. The first will be at Round Foundry in Leeds on 9th December, York Science City on 10th and Electric Works in Sheffield on 11th. Places are free but limited. You can register online.

Full details about the training programmes and launch events can be found on Inspiral's website or get in touch with kath@inspiral.biz.

The Accidental Leaders development programme and Accidental Managers training programme are run by Hyper Island and Inspiral with funding from Train to Gain's Enhancement Fund and supported by Skillset and Screen Yorkshire.

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Creative Networks End of Year Festive Party
Thursday 17th December 2009

Creative Networks has gone all festive and is throwing an end of year party. There will be drinks, food and live music, with entertainment provided by Manasamitra and Tim Moon plus others.

This event is free to creative, digital and cultural industry professionals.

18.00 - 19.00 Hot Food and Registration
19.00 - 21.00 Entertainment and Networking

Leeds College of Art
Blenheim Walk, Leeds, LS2 9AQ

If you want to join contact the team on 01422 399444 or email Bridget March at bridgetm@leeds-art.ac.uk

Future Technologies November - Web caching, electronic packaging and acoustic-based inputs

Following the disgraceful lack of a 'future technologies' article in October due to illness i've decided to do a random article this month with a few cool but unrelated things i've come across recently.

First up is a project called HashCache and is a great idea at getting web caching to work effectively for a higher purpose. I know lots of people don't like caching for various reasons and I assume it will mean certain sites won't work as well, especially social networking sites, but for countries struggling to overcome network issues this seems like a great solution:

http://www.technologyreview.com/read_article.aspx?ch=specialsections&sc=tr10&id=22119

It's such a simple idea that just looked at the way something had been done for years and then streamlined it. I'm sure there are lots of examples of how background applications for the Internet have been untouched for decades but could be improved. I have certainly seen lots of discussion related to this around SMTP.

A one-terabyte hard-disk cache could give students in a poor country much faster access to online content, but operating such a cache can be expensive. HashCache offers a way to cut costs. You can't dispute the figures below:

This next link came my way via @jonmoss. Electroluminescent Liquor Packaging - you can tell by the title it's gonna be good! So this is basically packaging that is being used on bottles which includes light effects to better advertise the bottle:

I'm assuming this is using printed electronics technology which I blogged about in April and it is great to see it being used in an obviously commercial setting. It's also true that it's not just the technology that is interesting but the effect that this will have on package design and the new types of skills and thought processes that will be required from the designers.

This next project is called Scratch Input, an acoustic-based input technique that relies on the unique sound produced when a fingernail is dragged over the surface of a textured material, such as wood, fabric, or wall paint:

It's a simple sensor that can be easily coupled with existing surfaces, such as walls and tables, turning them into large, unpowered and ad hoc finger input surfaces, and I love it! How cool would it be to control your stereo by tapping on the wall or controlling your mobile by touching your desk or even your jacket - very cool!!

The project concludes with a study that shows users can perform six Scratch Input gestures at about 90% accuracy with less than five minutes of training and on a wide variety of surfaces. So already pretty user friendly with absolutely loads of potential applications.

Creative Networks event: T-Shirts & Suits - International Creative Industries Consultant, 26th November

Creative Networks keynote speaker for November is David Parrish, international creative industries business adviser, trainer and consultant.

Author of the acclaimed book, ‘T-Shirts and Suits’, David has directly helped hundreds of creative, cultural and digital enterprises to become even more successful through his own particular approach to integrating creativity and business.

With over twenty year’s experience, David’s talk will inspire creative professionals by transferring great ideas and effective techniques that transcend across national and cultural boundaries.

A hugely entertaining speaker, this event will be of interest to anyone working within or across the creative, cultural and digital industry sectors of Yorkshire (and beyond!).

THIS EVENT IS FREE TO CREATIVE, CULTURAL AND DIGITAL INDUSTRY PROFESSIONALS

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Leeds College of Art

Blenheim Walk, Leeds, LS2 9AQ

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18.00 – 19.00 Hot Food and Registration

19.00 – 19.30 Welcome and opening pitches

19.30 – 20.30 T-Shirts & Suits

20.30 till late Networking in the Mosaic Bar

If you would like to attend, please contact Creative Networks on 01422 399444 or e-mail Bridget March at bridgetm@leeds-art.ac.uk