lreland’s Digital Dilemma It is estimated that by 2006, the digital media sector in ireland will be worth about €625 million. Even so, very few venture capitalists or investors understand the sector, or the difficulties that face the bright young companies who hope to reap the rewards of the nascent industry. by Kieran O’Hea acpi media nicl kn, Te balk the Slovelog: | ogy ard cntene Sean Boeke” ta Te Teer | femtoe ail anaed See TeeSaly ae gesmed coud ely | nha igh mei scr para the chase ode BW wmtesctrin | Siowng tek ote vedened The Govemment has decided tide he Spnighee gncant| S's ile mow ta has indeoig’a oatey ita investment. the digital media blurred the distinction with the TP sector is more bike a child fn need of eanefil grooming ‘of 130 million to the te ae Digal Media, Distriee thas The gat mata eer da fl } dpe tie Oo ie He oe ea ibe mares poorer’ te | stay wer Faring Orb poor Fiacy tha ef a sop CCovernment seers 9 think itis 1f | defintion does not helfy Nether tril he worth 625" nillin. by the Digital Media Diriet becomes. Goes the apparent juxtaposition of J 200m. Te Dig eda Dai the gh hub shedigiol tio “Digial Mea secon The MOQ will evenly anor. the Sector within the next few years, | Blockbuster” and. “Dighal Media Liberties and. has already been then the ish cles ie tends to Sector: "The. Understudy", The refered was the only large-scale target have a lot of homework to Blockbuster is. the muination do before they take to the world appreach whereby internation hensive vision ina deca stage. nedis giants such as Bemelsmann is litle doubt that the Digital fe digital media sector defi. will be lured to Ireland by a pac Mecia Distric is 2 major project ritely has neentives not unlike those and that it is being planned in a bulent. offered to IT multinationals in the major way, Legislation, real economic project of rel, potential, but ie ill age of defined, unproven and ihe 6 aor unique @ lelond; D6 cod 905: he idem & fete adic te i the rst ofthe word wil tet the cof namunag of he indige nifant elements The stale Bren slow ro emerge Irs willy tebe by sil catty and eh together with. the ambiious implementation “pian right apy tt «digi edd at Gn be cid 1p ee ie Bi Leg, rather han groomed om sei the owl wp. Ts may have wwosked for the IT sector, but dig media is mor organic and ‘car Special Ofte more unpredictable, The Digital ea Media District could also turn out Hlecatid Co be more of a Meeza-project Celebration Bond 2002 from Hibernian Excellent 1" No entry charge 100% investin A unitised With Profit investment than project. Positioning fuer esrmion su itself as the focal point of a fledg. Conor Copley at our Direct Tavestment Desk ling industry while still. some T7770 O1 NSIS years from completion, it may give indigenous digital media companies the impression that 1 209. mn em ves my fal they have found the Promised tisk insirance agent of Land. ere the ibemisn Gro Compenies expecting an a Branch instant fix may be disappointed sella. Hibernian Financ Seri Callus 64 our Benker om all ito your Hal Hidehowever, They may have 10 look elsewhere for the type of assis tance that will help them sustain their businesses inthe interim. The development of an indige- nous digital media sector needs a grassros approzch to leverage the talents of entrepreneurs, experimentalists and established players. In this respees, the inau gural National Digital Media Conference on I May's belng organised by Perfect World on Dehuif of me digital media sector in order to explore what types of support are needed, Independent digital media éom: panies in Ireland, that is, compa hiesestablished exelusively far the purpose of creating, managing or delivering digital medin are often characterised by their size, Some fare very sinall, in fact so sinall &s to be olf the radar in some cases, To help give these companies some sense of collective: identity the term Creative — Micro: Enterprises (CMES) can be used. Ireland hes a culture of SMEs sup: porting bigger industry ae home and abroad. When the localisation industry sprung up to support the software industry, it was a typical SMIViarger cient relationship. With the growth of e-business and electronic publishing, indications are that lange corporations outs the entertainment industry going to havea major requirement for digital media services, whi could he outsourved ta CMs ‘Apart from their size, CMEs also have other unique characteristics As rigorous early adopters of new technology, dey are well qualified {o at as catalysts in the develop: ‘ment of tools, software and stam darts that will enable oew forms ‘ot expression and Interaction, They also need a particular form advice. Recent analysis of the needs af a cross-section of CMEs revealed five matin areas in which advice is needed. Investigation of what NEW CONTENT, particularly types. of content which will work on new platforms and technologies, specifically cresting original made for the medium’ content — not “versioned” from other sources PLATFORMS / TECHNOLOGY lunderstanding the platforms and tools, the systems, and the skills needed te develop for them in the most creative way. Costs involved are often prohibitive for small new companies, INTERNATIONALISATION- The MAGILL MARCI “Right now we have talent withoutinfre- structure, buildings but no bandwidth, ideas without business models...” hneed to work with systems and technologies that work across national boundaries. Issues to be investigated include language ver- sioning, the intemationalising of product, the consistency of tech. nology standards from region 10 region, testing iseucs, differeat rypes of system and content for different audiences. NEW BUSINESS AREAS in terms of funcing, markets and dis- tribution. All the way from finding ‘out how to get funded/comms sioned (0 suggesting business models and helping potential onimissioners to anderstand pes: sibilities. Also understanding their Perspectives, markers and strate gies both domestically, transna- tionally acress Europe and the world, Alaspects of DEAL-MAKING Existing print/TV/film people lunderstand this in terms of their own media (which fs not necessar ily conducive to production of original interactive! content) and because they are big and estab: lished, creative micro-enterprises are having to learn theit lan Mercedes-Benz guages and adapt them in order to deal. Ih conclusion, the digital media secir in Ireland can have the est of both worlds as long as the development of the infrastructure and the talent takes place in paral lel. Right now we have talent without infrastructure, buildings bur no bandividth, ideas without business models. 8y grooming the talent and developing the business models while others build the hhubs and the linkages, within a Few years the to sides — the talent and the infrastructure ~ can merge into o global showease for digital media. IF we get it right, ic could be an environment in whieh local fims work hand in hand ‘wich multinationals who have the autonomy to roll our Irish innova tons acioss the world. Kieran Oiea is « digital media consultant who ea be contacted at mkjohee@eirom.net He will be speoking at the National Digits Media Conference htip://wwin mncinfo we O'Reilly Hell, UCD on Ist May 2002 Are your company cars driving you around the bend? Let us help straighten things out Motor Services Limited offers quality vehicles vith a comprehersive corporate motaring servies ‘We can take cao of every aspect ofear and commercial vehicle purchase and maintenance Nomatter how small or specif your requirements, We can meet your reeds Our range of services inlude demanctrations finance, oF contract mainterance for long-term aftersales service We willsave you tine and meney, with peace of min. 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