“This is a very ambitious, game-changing project that is being developed,” said Max von Abendroth, Executive Director of EMMA and Founder of the Future Media Lab. think tank. “The aim of AEMII is to enable Europe’s media companies break down the barriers that exist between the media sector and the disruptive technological advances that are radically changing the media landscape. By collaborating with different players in these fields, we are able to address such challenges in an innovative and scalable way.”

 

As of today, AEMII consists of a coalition of ten publishing houses, eight innovative start-ups, and three universities** across Europe. It is being spearheaded by Max von Abendroth representing EMMA, in close cooperation with Paul Lee, Founder of Ecuiti (US/UK), a provider of advanced technologies that generate “Clear Insight for the Connected World” and Daniel Knapp, Senior Director, Advertising Research at IHS (UK), a global information company.

 

“Europe’s media sector is under pressure,” said Lee. “Technology advances drive ever-quickening reconfiguration of the new media value chain. Europe’s media sector needs innovative ways to assess and adapt to these new industry dynamics, and AEMII offers a collaborative Pan European solution to these growing challenges.”

 

“Changes in media consumption and advances in technology have radically transformed the economics of content distribution and monetization in the digital domain”, said Knapp. “Navigating this new world is instrumental for ensuring a vibrant and diverse European media ecosystem. AEMII supports this process through de-risking and accelerating innovation in the media sector.”

 

By bringing together providers of innovative technologies with publishers, media companies, academics and policy advisors, the AEMII project puts a premium on collaboration.

 

“The media sector in Europe needs both deeper transformation and faster cooperation,” said Christophe Leclercq, founder of the EurActiv media network (BE), one of the partners of the project. “AEMII is a logical step after the Future Media Lab initiated by EMMA: moving from trends and visioning to exchanging data and projects. EurActiv has much to learn, and also something to offer, notably regarding data journalism and 'Translated Syndication'. Hence we are delighted to participate in AEMII, right from the start.”

 

The need for cooperation was echoed by Marek Kowal, Group Data Officer at Ringier Axel Springer Media AG (PL), also a partner of the AEMII project.

 

“We are excited to take part in the project which can help set the architecture standards in the digital publishing industry,” said Kowal. “As the attention of the market moves into the application of Big Data in monetization and audience driven personalized publishing, the subject matter becomes much more complicated and we need to cooperate much closer in order to come up with innovative and scalable solutions.”

 

The official launch of AEMII took place on Monday, 14 December at the AEMII Summit in Brussels, which brought together the different publishers, innovation partners and academics involved in the project in order to learn about the current state-of-play in their companies to develop collaborative solutions so that the AEMII programme can be tailored to best address the challenges they are facing. The outcome from the Summit included a unanimous call for collaboration.

 

"We are happy to be part of the core Innovation Partners Team and work together with the industry in the AEMII initiative," said Andy Grant, Head of Software at Agfa Graphics, which is one of the innovation partners for the project. “The programme allows for interaction with the media sector, and lets us share new technologies while learning about the challenges and new criteria for the magazines of tomorrow. It is great to participate, for all of us.”

 

Bengt Simonsson, CEO of TechMarket in Sweden concluded, “The AEMII program is a timely initiative for Europe. It will provide a necessary base for business development in the European media sector. It will also support the ambition to strengthen a connected Digital Single Market.”

 

** Publishing Partners include: EurActiv (BE), Roularta Media (BE), Lagardère Active Media (FR), Hubert Burda Media (DE), Klambt Verlag GmbH & Co. KG (DE), Gruppo Editoriale L’Espresso SpA (IT), Mondadori (IT), Sanoma Media (NL), Weekbladpers (NL), Ringier Axel Springer (PL). Innovation Partners include: adssets (SE), Newscase (DE), Plenigo (DE), Cxense (NO), Agfa Graphics Eversify (BE), Ecuiti (US/UK), Sugestio (BE) and Onet (PL). Academic partners include: the University of Amsterdam (NL), the University of Gent (BE) and the University of Leuven (BE).