Skip to main content
European Commission logo print header

Media Motor Europe

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - MediaMotorEurope (Media Motor Europe)

Reporting period: 2021-01-01 to 2022-04-30

The main challenge to be addressed stems from the fact the competitive position of SMEs and the entry position of small newcomers like startups/scaleups is weak. For them, building innovation to scale is more attractive when working together with the bigger international media companies, rather than with the national media houses. MediaMotorEurope aims at becoming the reference link (the meeting place) between the supply side (ICT tech and deep-tech startups, scaleups and SMEs) and the demand side (Creative & media corporates, SMEs and Media houses) and offer in this way the bridge, along with the opportunity, of SMEs and startups/scaleups to shape together with media houses & enterprises the industry models of tomorrow offering better, more functional, reliable, accessible and secure digital content to the ever increasing on-line. It's important for the media to beware of the technological evolutions and stay competitive with these big technology companies & they can only do that with deep-tech SME's. Deep technology is influencing the media sector, e.g. based on technology advances in-augmented reality, virtual reality, mixed reality, haptics, social media, artificial intelligence, machine learning, blockchain/distributed ledger, cybersecurity, future internet/IoT, future networks (5G, low-power wide-area
network), etc.

In order to realise its vision, MediaMotorEurope brings forward 5 concrete objectives. The progress towards each of the objectives will be measured by keeping track of its expected outcomes and different KPI’s associated to them. The objectives are:

1. Bring together 4 innovation hubs and achieve coordinated and seamless collaboration between the hubs and their pool of startups/scaleups/media SMEs by building in common an international programme to engage and boost at least 60 deep-tech startups (out of at least 250 applications) in the development of tomorrow’s media solutions.
2. Develop and deploy a complementary service pack taking the best of each hub in order to provide mentoring and opportunities for the at least 60 selected startups.
3. Establish bridges between the project and relevant activities in Europe and worldwide, with the objective to foster MediaMotorEurope awareness, and to offer improved services to the startups and scaleups within the network.
4. Through the extensive networks of media and related sectors, provide visibility of the startups and their innovations through a set of focused and concrete dissemination activities and pitching opportunities
5. Demonstrate sustainability of proposed actions beyond the life of the project. In order to become a sustainable entity beyond the lifetime of the project (e.g. income from sponsors, startups, equity, …), we must get something in return to keep this going.
Main Results: At the end of the project, M28. We were able to coach 61 startups for which we organised 355 client introductions and 181 pitching opportunities. 235 individual coaching sessions took place with dedicated coaches and 31 public procurement opportunities were promoted. We organized 3 successful project events for the ecosystem called Mediatech On Stage and attended 16 industry events with the presence of our startups. 25 extrernal media organisations enrolled in to program to follow the MME startups journeys and potentially collaborate with them. A total of 64 investor introductions and pitching opportunities were achieved for the OC1, OC2 and OC3 startups/scaleups and some of are startups were able to receive funding during the program.

In regards to dissemination : Our website registered more than 12,000 users from 122 different countries. This made us reach more than 40,000 pageviews. Our Youtube Channel with 38 video's reached over 2500 visualisations. On social media we were able to attract 1259 followers on twitter, 594 on LinkedIn and 120 instagram. This huge community on social media keeps on growing despite the end of the project. E.g today we have 619 followers on Linkedin - 25 more than when we submitted the technical report. We wrote 65 blog posts with the contributions from partners & startups. The content included startup interviews, programme announcements, success stories, etc. We also were able to publish 75 articles in external media platforms. And finally we produced 18 Newsletters with 189 subscribers & also shared them on our MME channels.

Exploitation: We informed all 61 that the MME platform will still be available until 1 year after the project so the startups, coaches and consortium partners can still be in touch and find the program resources such as workshop recordings & presentations.
All partners also have extended their startup network thanks to mediamotoreurope and will continue to stay in touch with the startups through events, pitching opportunities, newsletters and open calls. The MME partners intend to continue the collaboration and partnership to further implement the knowledge acquired. All 4 Hubs have the common goal of applying the methodology, knowledge and best practices developed in their own mentoring, coaching and incubating programmes.The methodologies, tools and best practices, together with the MME community and innovation ecosystem generated makes the programme’s Unique Selling Point. Partners continue to work on the identification of available public funds and funding opportunities to continue the activities initiated in MME. Our final goals is to collectively create and European media acceleration program, however, it was extremely challenging for the partners to implement such programme funded exclusively by its own revenues.
Based on Deliverable 4.3 Sustainability and Exploitation Plan v1 that is designed to be a draft version of the post-project exploitation and sustainability strategy, all partners intend to continue the relationship and collaboration after the project is finished, by developing new acceleration programmes and promoting the innovations resulting from the MME within the media sector. Specific exploitation measures are being discussed and analysed by all partners, as a joint and common effort. Additionally, all four Hubs demonstrated the common goal of applying the methodology, knowledge and best practices developed in MME in their own mentoring, coaching and incubating programmes. Special interest was demonstrated towards the best practices and methodologies developed to cope with the travel restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, in particular the online events, coaching/mentoring sessions and workshops and webinars. It is expected that these best practices will offer a Unique Selling Point of the MME programme.The Final version of the MME Sustainability and Exploitation Plan will be included in the Deliverable D4.6 expected for month 25 of the project.

Expected results until the end of the project and potential impacts:
1. Increased connectedness among members of deep-tech startup ecosystems and their companies (startups and scaleups) and to the larger European business ecosystem seeking maximum synergies;
2. Increased access to customers, private and public, better access to qualified employees, access to the right combination of finance and prospects for scaling up across border;
3. Stimulate European investments in deep-tech digital sectors through increasing the number of crossborder investments; demonstrate sustainability of proposed actions beyond the life of the project.
Logo