Digital door opens wider for NZ entrepreneurs

Two more internationally acclaimed entrepreneurs will be adding their mentoring skills to the X|Media|Lab being held in Auckland later this month.

Juliette Powell, whose company Powell International Entertainment works with newsmakers like Nelson Mandela, Prince Charles, Sir Richard Branson, Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise, will be joining the international team of mentors at the event that runs for three days from Friday May 22.

Also joining the presentation and mentoring team is Susan Bonds, President and Chief Executive of 42 Entertainment.

Bonds has more than 20 years experience as a producer in the entertainment and gaming industries, with highlights including the Webby award-winning ilovebees campaign for the launch of Microsoft’s Halo and Vanishing Point, the first global puzzle game with clues to online puzzles embedded in events held in a dozen cities around the world to celebrate the launch of Window’s Vista.

Powell and Bonds join the 17 other high-level mentors and speakers who will be participating in X|Media|Lab, which is designed to help local digital media companies get their ideas to market.
The think tank and workshops place the world-leading digital media practitioners, power-brokers, and innovators alongside Kiwi companies and project teams wanting to commercialise their ideas, says X|Media|Lab director Megan Elliott.

“This event allows people to work one-on-one with the world’s best-informed experts, venture capitalists and business analysts to assist with their creative thinking and business models. It also exposes them to potential investors,” she says.

“It’s a fantastic opportunity for those looking to develop their ideas and explore new ways of getting their products to market.”

“Already we have identified eleven New Zealand projects that will be participating in the mentoring program and we expect to have another four taking part.

“The involved project teams include Rockstar Recipes of Christchurch whose Jamorama is a web community teaching guitar online, Tentacle of Wellington, who have developed a collaborative online media environment called Campus Channel where users can share, educate and inspire and MiniMonos, which is a virtual world for children based on sustainability, generosity and fun.

“Others include Ignite Studios of Auckland, which is using cross-media technologies to bring tales of the Pacific to the screen and BrightMind Labs of Tutukaka, which is revolutionising the delivery of mental health services to children by fusing cognitive behavioural therapy with immersive gaming principles."

Also involved is Unlimited Realities of Palmerston North with its Fingertapps software framework for multi-touch user interface development and HIT Lab, who will present two separate projects; their mobile marketing "augmented reality" technology, and  a collaborative health information solution in partnership with the Canterbury DHB and Otago School of Medicine." 

X|Media|Lab also holds events in China, India, Australia, Hollywood, Korea, Singapore, Malaysia and the Middle East.

First run as part of the 2003 Sydney Film Festival, the X|Media|Lab think tank puts world-leading digital media practitioners, power-brokers, and innovators alongside local companies and project teams to assist them bring their digital media ideas to market.

New Zealand Trade and Enterprise is X|Media|Lab’s strategic partner in New Zealand, as part of NZTE’s work to help grow New Zealand’s digital content and technology industries and build its international competitiveness.