Interview with MedienNetzwerk Bayern
MedienNetzwerk Bayern (Bavarian Media Network) is a business development initiative designed to foster the media industry in Bavaria. Stefan Sutor, head of the MedienNetzwerk, gave us an interview about their planned actions at the animago event and answered us some questions about the cg industry in Munich and Bayern,
Stefan Sutor, head of MedienNetzwerk
It represents the combined strengths of six partners: the federal state of Bavaria, the Bayerische Landeszentrale für neue Medien (Bavarian State Office for New Media), the Bayerischer Rundfunk broadcasting corporation, the funding body known as FilmFernsehFonds Bayern (FFF), the MedienCampus Bayern (media education) and the vbw Vereinigung der Bayerischen Wirtschaft (Bavarian Economic Association). MedienNetzwerk’s main tasks include encouraging networking both within the media industry as well as with other industries, but also tracking the most important developments in the Bavarian media sector.
What will MedienNetzwerk be doing at the animago event this year?
The MedienNetzwerk will join with the FFF to operate a stand at the animago Exhibition. We will be conducting video interviews with prize-winners and conference speakers on the subject of 3D animation, visual effects, current trends and new technologies. We will also be providing information about our activities and events and giving exhibition visitors the opportunity to establish contact with us.
What makes Munich and Bavaria so interesting for people working in the digital media industry?
A number of leading names in the digital media industry have their European offices in Bavaria. For example, Microsoft is located in the Munich neighbourhood of Schwabing, Google Germany has a development centre at the Arnulfpark, and IBM opened up its worldwide IoT headquarters for Watson IoT in Munich in 2017. The Alibaba Group also chose Munich as the site of its German headquarters. Bavaria has so much to offer in terms of young talent, especially thanks to our many leading universities, such as the LMU Munich and the TU Munich. In fact, the EU Commission named Bavaria one of the leading ICT regions in Europe. One important measure is our “Bavaria digital” initiative, which will see Bavaria invest several million euros to foster digitisation in the region in the next five years and to make Bavaria the leading area for digital advancement.
Which initiatives and events has MedienNetzwerk supported this year to advance the VFX and animation sector in Bavaria?
MedienNetzwerk Bayern actually had a hand in getting the animago AWARD to move from Babelsberg to Munich in 2016. We got the ball rolling after meeting Karin Lang at the MCBW. It just goes to show you how important it is to be in the right place at the right time. MedienNetzwerk Bayern also worked together with the Bavarian Film Center in 2015 and 2016 to organise Animation Day at the HFF Munich. In 2015, Transmedia Day, Mixed Reality Day and Animation Day were still separate events; in 2016, MedienNetzwerk joined with the Bavarian Film Center and Creative Europe Desk Munich to merge the individual events into a three-day symposium called i4c and focusing on innovation in the field of moving images. The symposium brought internationally successful animation and VFX artists to Munich. And we can’t forget our website, where we report about important companies in Bavaria but also about innovations and trends in the realms of animation and VFX.