MFG European Reporter -

Applications for the European Seal of e-Excellence for 2011 are now open to recognize ICT and digital media companies worldwide which have an excellent track record in the marketing of innovation. The European Seal of e-Excellence is widely known for promoting digital companies which have:
• Innovative products and services
• Excellent marketing practices to promote them

How to Apply
Interested companies may apply online until 31 December 2010 at the Seal website.

Awarded Annually Since 2003
The Seal has been awarded annually since 2003 by the European Multimedia Forum (EMF) and its Partner Associations at an Award Ceremony at CeBIT, the European trade show for the ICT industry. Winners of the Seal of e-Excellence are entitled to:
• Publicly display the “Seal of e-Excellence” logo in their own marketing programmes
• Free membership in the European Multimedia Forum
• Receive preferential rates for all e-Accelerator services
• Other advantages in kind from various Seal Partners and Sponsors

For more information please visit http://www.seal-of-excellence.org/

Even though there are not too many new call for proposals published recently, the September issue of our Project Development Newsletter is worth a look. A lot of exciting events are coming up the next months – like the international conference “Creativity, the Energy of Success” in Košice, Slovakia or Europe’s forum for ICT research and innovation “ICT 2010: Digitally Driven” in Brussels, Belgium.

Download our Project Development Newsletter here and enjoy the read!

Cluster Managers will finally find a place where get inspired by fresh ideas, build new partnerships and linkages with others and further professionalize through specific break-out sessions. This place is the European Cluster Managers’ Club that will be launched on the 29^th of September in the framework of the European Cluster Conference 2010. This event will give participants a foretaste of the Club’s future activities, which aims to represent the interest of professional cluster managers, promote cluster management excellence and raise the recognition of cluster management as a real and attractive profession.

The European Cluster Managers’ Club will be established in the framework of Cluster-Excellence.eu. It will be open for individuals only – every Cluster Manager in Europe is free to join.

During the launch-event the idea behind the club will be presented. Several topics will be discussed, among them: practices and tools for cluster management excellence and sustaibable cluster financing.

To take part to the event you have to register for the European Cluster Conference 2010, an unique event that addresses the role of world-class clusters in renewing European industry in light of the Europe 2020 strategy. The conference will gather key policy-makers from the European Commission, European Parliament, Member States, regional authorities and high-level speakers from academia and industry to discuss how better policies can be formulated to make full use of the economic potential of excellent clusters.

The registration to the conference is free of charge.

Promoting creative industry in the Eastern part of Central Europe: this is the aim of the international conference “Shaping the future – Creativity and Innovation as an engine for growth in the cities and region of eastern Slovakia” that will be held in Košice on the 9^th and 10^th September 2010.

The conference wishes to introduce examples of projects and strategies in creative industries being developed throughout Europe, showing their impact on those cities and regions. This in order to demonstrate that there is a clear link between a creative economy and the development of a territory.

One of the main issues concerning the development of creative industry in Košice and, at the same time, the crucial investment made within the project Košice INTERFACE 2013, is the creation of a special space that will help enhance the building of innovative start-ups in this sector.

You can find the whole programme in this brochure. For further information on the conference as well as on Košice 2013, please visit http://www.kosice2013.sk/en

Motivating top talent, initiating cooperation and promoting successful entrepreneurship: MFG’s bilingual Annual Report 09/10 once again shows the well-rounded work of the Public Innovation Agency for ICT and Media.

The entrepreneurs, researchers and young talent that are introduced here act as representatives for all of MFG’s customers and partners. Projects and custom-tailored offers are well described as well as all the actions to promote talent and support the transfer of technology – showing the overall aim to strengthen the competitiveness of ICT, media and the creative industries in Baden-Württemberg.

Plus: Figure out the augmented reality application on the title page! You can win a ticket for this year’s DMMK and Create10 international conference: Just discover four animal sounds, which can be heard by turning the title page clockwise in front of your webcam (speakers switched on)!

You can either download the MFG Annual Report (pdf) or view it online on issuu.

Enjoy and good luck!

Nowadays social media have a strong impact in many different fields. It seems the potential of social applications could be successfully exploited even in learning, but is this really happening in Europe?

Picture from www.andreassobing.de

In order to understand how the usage of web 2.0 could effect adult learning, the European project SVEA* run an analysis in five European regions involving 60 private and public training institutions. Through personal interviews and regional round tables, the analysis explored the current use of web 2.0 applications in VET delivery, the potential for its use in the future and the training needed by institutional staff to use web 2.0 tools effectively.

The results show that most of the training institutions are familiar with web 2.0, nonetheless its concrete adoption still encounters many institutional and cultural barriers. One of the biggest is the lack of acceptance as well from the trainers’ and the learners’ side: the low level of digital literacy and the resistance to use new techniques hinder the effective use of these tools for learning purposes.

Currently most of the interviewed training institutions use web 2.0 tools such Podcasts, Twitter and Social Networking Systems mainly for marketing reasons. Only few exploit social media applications within closed learning platforms. This is mainly due to the lack of knowledge and good practices on how to adopt and effectively use social media for learning purpose. Most of these institutions have no policy regarding the use of internet in teaching delivery and they often lack time and money to gain competences and infrastructures.

Even if most of the training institutions in Europe still have difficulties in the adoption of web 2.0, the analysis shows that managers and trainers are fully aware of the importance of social media in learning and are willing to broaden their adoption in the future. Among the benefits often associated with use of web 2.0 are the possibility to make lessons more interactive and an higher personalization in learning able to better respond to learners’ needs.

The report, which contains all the five regional analysis as well as the common trends connected to the use of web 2.0 in adult learning on an European level, can be download for free from the SVEA’s website.

*SVEA is a project co-financied by the European Commission

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It’s august, time to go on the beach or breathe some fresh air up in the mountain. Or, maybe, time to develop a new project for the next European calls of proposal! If  your plan for the summer is the last one, than you will for sure enjoy our August Project Development Newsletter. Here you will find all the latest published calls as well as some tipps on conferences and fundings coming in the next months.

And in case you have a good idea and you are looking for partners or suggestion, than you can contact us at any time. Even on August we don’t mind working on some new projects

Every month you can download the Project Development newsletter for free from this blog

The 2009 Vision Awards Annual Report Competition drew one of the largest numbers of submissions ever, representing a broad range of industries and organizational sizes. More than 4,000 entries representing upwards of twenty countries were received, so competition was exceptionally tough. 

MFG Review of 2009 got awarded Bronze in the category “Summary Annual Report“.

League of American Communications Professionals LLC (LACP) was established in order to create a forum within the PR industry that facilitates discussion of best-in-class practices within the profession while also recognizing those who demonstrate exemplary communications capabilities.

Under coordination of Steinbeis Transfer Centre East-West Joint-Ventures, Romania works towards a modernised and stronger IT industry in Romania. Cooperation between companies from Baden-Württemberg, Germany and Romania should be strengthened. Therefore a strategic partnership has been established, focussing also on the creative industries.

The signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) focuses on:
- Development of technology transfer opportunities
- Creation of an IT, Communication and Media Institute
- Creation of an international centre for the creative industries
- Support of start-ups
- Building up of further education for IT experts

The MoU has been signed by MFG Baden-Württemberg – Public Innovation Agency for ICT and Media and Steinbeis Transfer Centre East-West Joint-Ventures on the one hand, and Bucharest Innovation & Creative Industries Alliance, Romanian Association for Electronic and Software Industries and World Trade Institute Bucharest Foundation on the other hand.

This year’s German Multimedia Congress DMMK (Deutscher Multimedia Kongress) will share the stage with Create10 on November 10 and 11, 2010.

At Römerkastell, Stuttgart’s exciting creative centre, the creative scene will be linked to the digital economy.

Advertisers, designers, programmers, communication professionals and marketing experts will be get together with thought leaders in the European digital industry and forge direct contacts with industry representatives.

“By uniting DMMK 2010 with Create10, MFG will make an important contribution towards strengthening the international competitiveness of the region as a creative centre”, explains MFG CEO Klaus Haasis.

For more information read press release (pdf).