UFA Lab NRW starts in the autumn
Supported by the Film- und Medienstiftung NRW, UFA opens an innovation platform for young talents
Supported by the Film- und Medienstiftung NRW, UFA is opening a branch of its UFA Lab in Cologne. This was announced today by Jens-Uwe Bornemann, Vice President Digital Ventures & Innovation of UFA, during the International Film Conference in Cologne.
The aim of the UFA Lab NRW will be to set up an open innovation platform for young talents and start-ups. The activities of the UFA Lab NRW will have close links with the state’s media industry and it will cooperate closely with the NRW start-up scene.
The UFA Lab NRW will not only provide a “plug & play” structure for selected talents and young companies, but also offer a network of industrial partners from established media companies and major technology concerns.
The directorship of the UFA Lab NRW will be in the hands of Jens-Uwe Bornemann, Vice President Digital Ventures & Innovation of UFA. Jens-Uwe Bornemann was the founder of the UFA Lab in Berlin, which he also directs. Besides experts from Grundy Light Entertainment and Grundy UFA, and other specialist project supervisors, a creative consultant and coach will collaborate with the young talents, helping them to further their projects.
Petra Müller, CEO of the Film- und Medienstiftung NRW, said: “The location of the UFA Lab here is another important step to promote and network young developers in NRW, in the field of new media as well. We look forward to the stimulus this new UFA Lab will provide for NRW as a media location.”
“For us, the UFA Lab in Berlin has developed into a highly efficient interface between film and TV production as well as new media and technologies. The launch of the UFA Lab NRW in Cologne, a location where we are very active in the fields of entertainment and daily drama, means that as a leading market provider of moving images we are continuing to realise our strategy of helping to implement the digital transformation of the media landscape,” to quote UFA Chef Wolf Bauer.
The International Film Conference of the Film- und Medienstiftung NRW took place in the context of Medienforum.NRW. Organisers are the Film- und Medienstiftung NRW and the LfM Nova. Under the motto “Brave New Media World: networked, open, mobile”, the 24th Medienforum.NRW in the Staatenhaus of Koelnmesse from 18. – 20.06. discussed the consequences of current media developments for society and the industry in the fields of communication, information, entertainment and marketing.
A photo suitable for printing can be found at www.filmkongress.com
Caption: Jens-Uwe Bornemann (Vice President Digital Ventures & Innovation of UFA), Petra Müller (CEO Film- und Medienstiftung NRW)
Photo credit: Film- und Medienstiftung NRW/Heike Herbertz