‘Ideathon’ brings an idea whose time has come!
WAN-IFRA (World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers) has
kicked off a series of innovation initiatives with its first ‘Ideathon’ which lays the foundation for upcoming Hackathons in Berlin, Singapore and India. This series
will offer participants an opportunity to create platforms for tomorrow’s needs, changing the way media are created, configured, serviced and consumed.
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Innovative ideas to be developed through ‘Ideathon’ are garnering by pooling talents from WAN-IFRA’s network of international members and open-tech community. Part of the recent Tech Open Air Festival held in Berlin, ‘Ideathon’ assembled tech-minded journalists and media professionals to brainstorm ideas for a WAN-IFRA Hackathon to be organised in Berlin on October 05-06, 2013. Being a part of World Publishing Expo 2013, Hackathon will call on the expertise of developers, designers and journalists to solve a specific challenge facing in the contemporary news industry. Previous Hackathons have resulted in the development of many quick apps and software now expansively used by journalists and newsrooms.
Global connections
Vincent Peyrègne, chief executive officer of WAN-IFRA conveyed, “I’m proud to launch this initiative in some of the most inspiring and innovative cities in Europe and Asia.” He added that the fundamental mission of WAN-IFRA is to connect innovators and media professionals, supporting the transformation of the news industry.
These Hackathons, together with the Innovation Days organised at World Publishing Expo and other initiatives to be announced at Berlin in October this year, help establish a renewed international network of multidisciplinary experts, a group of visionary practitioners, open innovators. “There is the need for our industry to take the lead on innovation, encourage the development of user-driven solutions that make optimal use of news media, adapt to new consumer behaviours and address an increased competition,” conveyed Vincent.
Main objective of this series of international Hackathons launched in Berlin is to help companies partner, identify funding opportunities, fuel new projects and evaluate potential. In this respect, Vincent remarked, “Our aim is to stimulate innovation in the media sector, foster human capital, attract new talents, develop skills through knowledge sharing and finally, to encourage technology transfer by facilitating the emergence of new technology providers in the media environment.”
Announcement of winners
WAN-IFRA will announce the winners of Berlin Hackathon on October 07, 2013 at the opening session of World Publishing Expo, which is a platform where world leaders and decision makers of the industry gather together. And the subsequent Hackathons will also taking place at Bengaluru on September 13, 2013 as a part of Publish Asia Conference and in Singapore on October 12, 2013 as part of the final day of Newsplex Asia’s News App Challenge. The winners will be announced at WAN-IFRA’s Digital Media Asia Conference to be held on October 14, 2013 in Singapore.
WAN-IFRA, based in Paris (France) and Darmstadt (Germany) with subsidiaries in Singapore and India, is the global organisation of the world’s newspapers and news publishers. It represents more than 18,000 publications, 15,000 online sites and over 3,000 companies in more than 120 countries. For further inquiries, e-mail at: larry.kilman@wan-ifra.org
