The Eurecat technology centre is taking part in the European MediaFutures project, which has announced a call for start-ups, SMEs and artists to present new ideas addressing the challenges posed by misinformation and disinformation through innovative data use.
The call will remain open until 27 January. It offers up to €40,000 in free funding to artists and up to €80,000 to businesses to identify data solutions while also providing them with advice and training.
Eurecat is to furnish participants with “its expertise in data use, offering advice on essential skills for creating new products and services and also for tackling challenges such as misinformation and disinformation quantification and dispersion in today’s world,” says Lali Soler, director of the Big Data & Data Science Unit at Eurecat.
Three thematic programmes
The second call looks at misinformation and disinformation’s impact on society and has three funding streams. They are a six-month residency scheme for artists with an innovative concept to explore data and technology and their impact on people and society; a six-month accelerator programme for start-ups to craft a product or service which fosters innovative ways of interacting with media content; and a six-month artist residency and accelerator for start-ups that collaboratively develop new ideas in data technology and the arts.
MediaFutures is a three-year project funded by the European Commission under the Horizon 2020 framework, Big Data Innovation Hubs programme, to build innovative solutions which enhance quality journalism, science communication and democratic processes. Over three years, MediaFutures will support 51 start-ups and SMEs and 43 artists in three calls for applications with a total budget coming to €2.5 million.
“At MediaFutures we foster and train entrepreneurs and artists to critically explore data and develop new products, services and artworks related to the role of media in our society with a focus on misinformation and disinformation,” says Alexandra Garatzogianni, MediaFutures coordinator and Head of Technology Transfer at the Leibniz Information Centre for Science and Technology (TIB).
MediaFutures is part of the S+T+ARTS ecosystem and its partners come from six European countries. Alongside the Eurecat technology centre, other members are Leibniz University Hannover (Germany), which is coordinating the project; King’s College London (United Kingdom); the Institute for Research and Coordination in Acoustics/Music (IRCAM) Centre Pompidou (France); LUISS University (Italy); ZABALA Innovation Consulting (Spain); Next Media Accelerator (Germany); Open Data Institute (United Kingdom); DEN Institute (Belgium) and KU Leuven (Belgium).
