ideasforlife.tv will showcase innovative science based films from around the Birmingham Science City region, from a range of topics including transport, medicine and health, energy, materials science, and digital media. Films such as Fast Forward, a competition between three local schools to build an eco-racing car, have proved to be very successful at engaging young people with modern technologies.
As part of the digital media strand, ideasforlife.tv are currently following the progress of a team of 6 delegates sent from the West Midlands to attend this weeks South by Southwest Interactive Media Festival in Austin, Texas. Films of their time so far can be found on the homepage of the channel, and include reactions to the conference given by Mark Zuckerman, the 23 year old CEO of Facebook.
The website – which is the brainchild of the University of Warwick, the region’s foremost research university and Maverick Television, one of the UK’s leading edge independent TV and New Media producers - will encouraging people to become more involved with science and discover what the region has to offer.
As part of this initiative, the channel will also be hosting a conference featuring some of the country’s leading figures in the development and use of digital media, to highlight how small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in the West Midland’s can take advantage of digital media.
Anthony Lilley, Chief Creative Officer of Magic Lantern; Dr Jon Salkeld, Managing Director of QinetiQ’s Optronics Division and Dr Adam Rutherford, Editor, Web Publishing at Nature will be the keynote speakers at the ‘Using Digital Media in Marketing and Communications’ conference to be staged by ideasforlife.tv at Alton Towers on Tuesday 18th March. A range of interactive workshops, as well as a chance to enjoy the theme park for free after the conference has finished, will complement the speaker line up.
The project is also supported by the regional development agency, Advantage West Midlands (AWM). ideasforlife.tv is one of the major initiatives from Birmingham Science City, which aims to develop and use science and technology to improve the prosperity and quality of life of the city-region, the West Midlands and the UK.
Minister of State for Science and Innovation and Labour MP for Dudley South, Ian Pearson welcomed the new channel saying: “ideasforlife.tv is a great forum for communication and an innovative solution to the key issue of making science and technology accessible to all. The UK has long had an enviable reputation for leading the world in terms of innovation and the West Midlands has played a big part in that story. It is clearly continuing to do so!”
Jonnie Turpie, founder and digital media director at Maverick Television said: “It's an exciting time to be here - Birmingham has embraced digital media, not just in the city itself but across the West Midlands region. We're seeing lots of projects happening across the city region that are pilots and test beds for new sorts of commercial and public service content, that local and global markets are demanding. We hope that ideasforlife.tv and the conference will help to further this trend."
The conference will take place on Tuesday March 18 at Alton Towers, Staffordshire. The conference is free to attend with admission to the park afterwards also included. Each ticket is valued at £550, for businesses employing up to 250 people. To attend the conference, or for further information please email events@ideasforlife.tv or go to www.ideasforlife.tv