New initiative to promote media innovations

The EPF Lausanne, SRG SSR, Ringier and the "Triangle Azur" (an association of the universities of Geneva, Lausanne and Neuchâtel) are joining forces to launch the "Initiative for Media Innovation" (IMI). The aim of the initiative is to promote innovation in the field of media and information technology.The Federal Office of Communications (OFCOM) will also support projects within the framework of this initiative. The IMI is open to all private and public players from Switzerland and abroad who are active in this field and wish to join.

Creating an interface between media and universities

Compared internationally, Switzerland has a rich supply of print media, audiovisual media and digital media, as well as excellent universities. The founding members of IMI want to create an interface between these two worlds in order to promote and develop innovations in the media.The partners involved have set up a support fund for this purpose, endowed with 650,000 Swiss francs annually. The fund makes it possible to finance research projects that are to be realized primarily on the basis of the competencies of the partner universities. The first calls for projects will be issued this fall.

Interdisciplinarity as the key to innovation

The initiative aims to work on research projects on fake news, data journalism, findability and personalization of content, artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things (IoT), virtual reality, but also on new business models and monetization or on cultural and social aspects of the media.The partners thus want to build a bridge between creativity and technology and between the world of media practice and cutting-edge academic research. Behind this is the conviction that interdisciplinarity is one of the keys to innovation.

Mounir Krichane takes over operational management

The strategic management of the projects is carried out in close coordination by the partners involved. For the operational management of IMI, the "Media Centre" was established at the ETH Lausanne, which is located in the ETH Innovation Park. In March, Mounir Krichane was recruited as director of IMI.Mounir Krichane holds a degree in engineering from the EPF Lausanne and has several years of experience in the media industry. He is also a member of several networks in the field of innovation at Swiss and European level.