The Catalan Audio-visual Cluster and the Associated Scriptwriters of Catalonia (GAC) signed a collaboration agreement through which they commit to work together on the promotion, knowledge base, distribution and strengthening of the Catalan audio-visual sector.

This agreement, signed by Xavier Guitart, president of the Cluster, and Marçal Cebrián, president of GAC, seeks to create areas of collaboration points between scriptwriters and audio-visual companies, and to ensure the participation of both in activities and projects of mutual interest.

The Cluster and the Polytechnic University of Catalonia have signed a collaboration framework agreement aimed at working together in teaching, innovation and technology transfer in the audio-visual and information and communications technology field, as well as in activities related to the promotion and diffusion of the Catalan audio-visual sector.

The agreement, signed by UPC rector Enric Fossas and Catalan Audio-visual Cluster president Xavier Guitart, commits to establishing permanent collaboration channels, providing new opportunities in the field, and promoting the exchange of projects between the Cluster’s companies and the university, through the Barcelona School of Telecommunications Engineering (ETSETB), the Barcelona School of Informatics (FIB) and the Terrassa School of Engineering (EET).

This agreement allows the organization of conferences and round-tables, the adaptation of ideas and technological projects coming from the UPC students and researchers to business models, the collaboration in the design of academic programs, the participation of companies in teaching activities, as well as the organization of seminars and courses. It also allows the students to take on internship positions in the companies associated with the Cluster and gives the personnel of those companies access to additional training.

The representatives of different audio-visual clusters met today in the Mobile World Center of Barcelona, in a meeting organized by the Catalan Audio-visual Cluster. Clusters from Galicia, Basque Country, Madrid, Valencia, Balearic Islands, Canary Islands, Andalusia and Catalonia attended the meeting, as well as representatives of Twist Cluster of Wallonia, Barcelona Media, Audio-visual SGR, the British Council and the Spanish Ministry of Culture.

During the event, the possibility of collaborating in joint projects and of promoting the contact between audio-visual companies from the different regions was discussed. To that end, it is agreed to take on the recovery of the coordination mechanisms established for the Red Cave, a network of audio-visual Spanish clusters built up some years ago which is no longer in operation. It was also agreed to organize a meeting with the Walloon audio-visual companies during the World Mobile Congress, and to participate in the European Creative Hub Forum that will be celebrated next January in Lisbon

The Catalan Audio-visual Cluster, represented by its president, Xavier Guitart, and the University of Lleida (UdL), represented by its rector, Roberto Fernández, have signed a collaboration agreement in which both institutions commit to establish channels for the exchange of information, training, dissemination, innovation and research in the audio-visual, communication technologies and cultural fields.

Moreover, this agreement allows the University of Lleida to participate in the “Audio-visual Pitching” project promoted by the Cluster, which seeks to establish contact between students involved in quality audio-visual production projects and companies from the sector which could potentially be interested in them, and would also allow students from the Audio-visual Journalism and Communication and the Master of Audio-visual Business and Digital Convergence programs of the UdL to take on internship positions in the companies associated with the Cluster.

Through this agreement, the UdL joins those Catalan universities that already collaborate with the Cluster, such as the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), Pompeu Fabra University (UPF), the University of Vic (UVIC) and Ramon Llull University (URL). “Maintaining a close relationship with the universities is essential for the Cluster”, Guitart states, and stressed that the Audio-visual sector is the sector with the highest proportion of young, highly-trained workers.

In turn, Roberto Fernández stressed the importance that a collaboration with the Cluster will have for the Audio-visual Journalism and Communication program, as a Catalan institution aiming to have an international presence.

In order to debate the relationship between brands, advertising agencies, producers and channels, around 200 audio-visual and marketing professionals came together in a session about Collaborative Communication, organized by the Catalan Audio-visual Cluster at the Foment headquarters.

This event included the participation of Jaume Alemany, marketing director for Damm; Jordi Alavedra, CEO of the Ogilvy & Mather agency in Barcelona; Tinet Rubira, director of Gestmusic/Endemol;  Carles Manteca, sales and marketing director of the CCMA; and moderated by Enric Pujadas, vice-president of the Cluster.

The speakers all agreed that the classic advertising models, still predominant in the sector, no longer meet the increasingly diverse, changeable and demanding needs of the consumer-spectator, who has an increasing capacity for controlling his or her own consumption. Tinet Rubira warned: “The spectator always eludes us; s/he is always one step ahead”.

They also agreed on the necessity to join forces in finding an alternative or complementary advertising model based on collaborative communication which would integrate all parties involved in content creation and would be less aggressive for the spectator.

Jaume Alemany, for example, pointed out that Damm tries not only to sponsor artistic activities, but to build up long-term relationships with them. In turn, Carles Manteca (CCMA) announced that TV3 will assign part of its resources to creative R&D.

However, Jordi Alavedra warned that this new model may face some difficulties: the enormous complexity of collaborative communication projects, the large amount of agents involved, the difficulty of reconciling often conflicting interests, or the increased costs of the process, to give some examples.

The Catalan Audio-Visual Cluster has signed a collaboration framework agreement with the Balmes University Foundation, owner of the Teknós centre and the Vic-UCC University, aimed at encouraging collaboration in teaching, research, transfer, technology and innovation.

The agreement comes just a few months after last May’s inauguration, in the city of Vic, of the Teknós Training Centre in Technology and Communication and it formalizes the opening of new channels for cooperation between the university and businesses in the audio-visual sector.

Through the Faculty of Business and Communication and the Polytechnic School, the University of Vic-Central University of Catalonia joins the group of academic institutions connected to the Audio-Visual Cluster.

This agreement promotes the establishment of collaborative academic and research activities, the development of collaborative studies, and the execution of projects of mutual interest. Moreover, it strengthens the training of Vic-UCC University students by providing students with work experience, development of undergratuate and Master’s projects, and the profesional training of the Teknós students in companies that form part of the Cluster.

Present at the signing event were Josep Terradellas, the FUB general secretary, acting on behalf of general manager Joan Turró; Xavier Guitart, president of the Catalan Audio-Visual Cluster; Joan Rosés, Cluster manager, and Jordi Montaña, rector of  Uvic-UCC. Also present at the signing were Núria Barniol, manager of the Profesional Careers Service, Mercè Chacón, the Teknós coordinator, and Anna Paloma, coordinator of the FEC communication studies.

During the signing, rector Jordi Montaña urged Teknós, the Faculty of Business and Communication, and the Polytechnic School to work closely with the Cluster, since they offer academic programs related to the audio-visual and technological field. In turn, Xavier Guitart declared that “one of Cluster’s priorities is to strengthen contact with universities”, and added that “at this moment the audio-visual sector is undergoing spectacular growth, since it must provide the entire digital realm with new content and technology, and therefore the relationship with young, trained, and specialized university and pre-university students, is extremely strategic.”

On May 29^th in Barcelona the Catalan Audio-Visual Cluster, in collaboration with the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT University), organized the session “Strategy, innovation, and creativity in a rapidly changing digital world” in which Indy Saha, director of strategy of Google Creative Lab, participated as a speaker.

During his talk, Saha presented the Google Creative Lab, an interdisciplinary team based in London, but with several working groups scattered between different cities, such as New York, San Francisco and Sydney. Its main goal is to create pilots and prototypes for new products and services linked to the internet, as well as to promote the use of the Net for the development of new creative and educational projects.

For example, Saha presented “DEV.ART Art made with code”, a platform created by Google that hosts several artistic projects based on the use of data; the Google Science Fair, created as on online platform to encourage young people to improve their scientific and innovation skills; or the Hangout Comedy Club, which transforms YouTube into a platform for humor-based content.

He also referred to Spell Up for Google Chrome, which provides educational tools for English-learners; or the Science Museum/Web Lab and the Google Chrome Web Lab, two interconnected projects that allow the user to interact via the Internet with the contents of the Science Museum.

Lastly, Saha reflected on the need to produce new work dynamics based on collaboration between people and companies, research, multi-disciplinarity and trans-disciplinarity. He celebrated the existence of the Catalan Audio-Visual Cluster, while encouraging the companies involved in the Cluster to apply new ways of working that prioritize innovation and creativity, one of the keys to Google’s success.

The president of the Catalan Association of Telecommunication Engineers (Telecos.cat), Joan Solé, and the president of the Catalan Audio-visual Cluster, Xavier Guitart, signed a collaboration framework agreement by which both institutions commit to work together in support of the audio-visual sector.

Consequently, the Acoustic and Audio-visual working group of Telecos.cat include a Cluster representative who will contribute to the development of the activities of the collective, such as the organization of conferences, seminars, courses and sessions, that serve to disseminate subjects related to this sector.

Moreover, Telecos.cat commits to collaborate with the Cluster to facilitate and promote the cooperation between the agents of the audio-visual sector and the TIC sector, to ultimately strengthen innovation, creativity and talent, and to position Catalonia as a recognized worldwide audio-visual center.

Finally, the agreement promotes the organization of joint events in the aforementioned fields.

Jaume Codina, representative of the Committee of Telecos.cat in the Acoustic and Audio-visual working group was also present at the signing.