As part of the process of opening up its new media production and development to independent producers, the BBC is collaborating with Creative London and Unexpected Media on a pilot series of “Innovation Labs” in February and March 2006. 

The Labs are creative workshops in which interdisciplinary teams of professional creative technologists, application designers, software developers and interactive media designers will have the opportunity develop prototypes for innovative applications and services which could be commissioned by the BBC.

What are the benefits for companies taking part in a Lab? 

• Participation in an intensive creative workshop with peers and expert mentors
• An opportunity to pitch a project of their choice to BBC New Media commissioners
• Access to business advice, mentoring and development finance from RDAs and NESTA
• Retention of any IP that they develop
• A £5,000 fee towards costs of developing a pitch through the Lab process

Who can apply to take part in the Labs? 

The London Innovation Lab is open to companies based in London. The labs in Yorkshire and the North West will be open to participants from those regions.

We anticipate that most applications will be from digital media agencies, games developers and independent producers.

Individual freelancers and researchers can take part if they are invited to participate as members of a company’s team.

Why are the Labs limited to participants in London, Yorkshire and the North West? 

The first series of Innovation Labs is jointly financed by the BBC and economic or media development agencies. The London Lab is supported by Creative London, The Yorkshire Lab by Yorkshire Forward, Screen Yorkshire and Objective 1, the North West Lab by Vision North West. This funding must benefit companies in those regions.

What kind of project is the BBC looking for? 

The BBC’s internet services provide a range of content, information and services that help answer public needs. The vast majority of these services are delivered through the web browser, but BBC New Media is increasingly experimenting with application-based services like the Internet Media Player (IMP) that exist outside of the browser.

We want to commission effective prototypes that explore how to deliver BBCservices within and beyond the browser. This could mean using the browser as a platform for a fully-functional application (e.g. Google’s GMail) or an application that pulls data and content from the internet, but uses a custom-built interface instead of the browser (like the BBC’s IMP).

Thinking beyond the browser means the BBC can tailor its services to specific contexts. How can the content already provided on BBC websites – news, listings, communities, sport, etc – be made it easier to use, to find or to share? How can  BBCcontent be linked with other public domain information (e.g. Flickr), how can users be enabled to personalise their experience by mixing it with their own content?

Projects chosen for the Labs will explore BBC New Media's three core challenges – how to make content available on-demand, how to help people navigate content, and how to help people engage with content.

For the full Innovation Labs brief go to: http://labs.bbc.co.uk

How many companies will participate in the Lab? 

Between six and eight.

How many people can there be in a company’s team and what skills should they have? 

There will normally be three people in each team.

There is no typical skills profile; the Lab will be made up of people with a range of technical, production and creative skills: writers, coders, producers, directors, interaction, interface and sound or game designers, information architects, musicians and artists.

You may choose to nominate an existing team from within your company or take the opportunity to experiment with a new collaboration and invite someone you’re interested in working with to join you for the Lab.

Since one requirement of the Lab process is the production of a visualisation or concept prototype, it will help if at least one member of your team has the skills to build it.

When and where will the Lab take place? 

The five-day Labs will be held in February and March 2006 at residential conference centres. Venues and dates have yet to be confirmed.

What will actually happen at the Lab? 

The Lab period will extend from preliminary meetings for successful applicants in early January to the end of the financial year. The main focus will be the five day residential workshop in February but there will be additional workshops and mentoring sessions offered on the creative, technical and business challenges facing each team.

The residential aspect of the Lab will be structured to meet the specific needs of the development teams and their projects, with time divided between individual and group sessions with the mentors, peer-to-peer collaboration between teams, and unstructured time for teams to develop treatments, pitch documents and visualisations. Teams will work towards a ten minute pitch of their projects on the final day. The pitch must include a visualisation or prototype of the project. This might be as simple as a wireframe model or a series of screens in Powerpoint; it may be a more complex presentation which demonstrates aspects of the functionality

Creative and technical mentors will have relevant, recent experience of production for interactive media with the BBC or other major developers, publishers or broadcasters in the UK and abroad.

What will happen after the Lab? 

The BBC will retain first option to commission projects developed at the Lab until June 1st 2006.

If the BBC decides to commission a project, it will negotiate a contract for a joint development arrangement with the company which brought it to the Lab.

If the BBC decides not to commission a project, any IPR will remain the property of the company which brought it to the Lab.

How can I find out more?

There will be introductory days for the London Labs held November 18^th and 21^st.

To reserve a place please contact BBC.Labs@unexpectedmedia.com (there is a problem with this email address - NMK are endeavouring to get the correct email address)

Places are limited to 50 companies per day, and will be allocated on a first come, first serve basis. We anticipate being oversubscribed, so please contact us early if you are interested in coming.

Alternatively visit: http://open.bbc.co.uk/labs/
(NB: the URL http://labs.bbc.co.uk does not work).