The Future Media Lab. is collaborating with media start-ups for upcoming conference on media diversity

The Future Media Lab. is collaborating with a variety of media start-ups from the European Union and United States in developing the programme of its annual conference, “Media Diversity in the Digital Age”, taking place on 20 January 2015 in Brussels. The start-ups represent the enormous innovation going on in the media sector today, covering such topics as the monetization of digital content, the improvement of mobile readability, implementation of data strategies and more.

“We’re very excited to welcome such interesting and innovative companies to this event,” said Max von Abendroth, founder of the Future Media Lab. and Executive Director of the European Magazine Media Association, the host of the think-tank initiative. “These start-ups are perfect examples of how the media landscape is constantly changing and adapting to consumer demands, and we believe they will be able to share some unique insights into what the future media landscape holds.”

Representatives from the start-ups will either be presenting their company to the audience as part of the conference’s new “innovation moments” or they will be represented on panel discussions.

The start-ups present at the conference include:

• Blendle (NL) operates a digital kiosk (blendle.nl) selling individual articles from newspapers and magazines to internet users.
• Clipkit (DE) is a technology-driven specialist for online video marketing. They connect video owners and publishers with video producers, website editors, as well as advertisers.
• Ecuiti, LLC (USA) helps companies that depend on technology close the iterative innovation gap by simplifying their complicated data.
• Marfeel (ES) partners with online publishers to improve the experience of reading content on tablets and smartphones and increase monetization.
• MobileReporter (BE) is a collaborative journalism platform where ordinary citizens can promote original content produced by journalists/creators who seek financial support through crowdsourcing.
• Permission Machine (BE) helps photographers and photo buys come to an agreement that is legal and fast.
• Skimlinks (UK) is a content monetization platform that rewards publishers for the role their content plays in creating purchase intent via smart links and in-text affiliate monetization.
• Wibbitz (USA) is an innovative startup company creating a unique technology that automatically turns long text articles into informative video summaries based on algorithms and artificial intelligence.

This event is the fifth Future Media Lab. conference (click here for past events) and will feature such speakers as MEP Ramon Tremosa, Executive Vice President of Bonnier Publications Jens Henneberg, University of Amsterdam Professor Natali Helberger, Executive Vice President of Axel Springer SE Christoph Keese, Chief Operating Officer of clipkit Michaela Kammerbauer and Head of Cabinet for Commissioner Ansip Jörgen Gren. The conference is sponsored by Microsoft and Agfa Graphics.

The Future Media Lab. was founded in 2012 and aims to build a bridge between the fast-paced innovations in the media sector with long-lasting legislative procedures. In this sense, it is meeting point of media innovation and public policy, regularly bringing together media entrepreneurs, technology start-ups, journalists, academics, European policy makers, and other key stakeholders to debate the future media landscape in Europe. More information about the Future Media Lab. can be found here. To learn more about the conference, click here.

Press Contact:

Karin Fleming
Communications and Administration Officer 
European Magazine Media Association

+32 2 536 06 07 
Karin.fleming@magazinemedia.eu