The second meeting of the Eurovision Digital Storytelling Network took place in Brussels between 16 -17 September, at the kind invitation of VRT and in cooperation with RTBF.  The programme aims to connect digital labs across the EBU community to facilitate the exchange of knowledge, as well as to find opportunities to collaborate on the creation of digital products and formats.

During a presentation to participants, Head of VRT Start-Up Ezra Eeman explained the team’s next step and challenges:

1. Handing over innovation;

2. Innovate beyond the early adopters;

3. Spread the word;

4. Grow a community;

5. Build a team.

VRT Start-Up colleagues also gave a presentation on their audience insights sessions, designed to test their products closely with their target audience before launching to the market.

Sophie Berque from RTBF Web-Creation (RTBF Interactive) also presented some of her team’s recent projects: “Histoires de Cabines” and “L’Homme au Harpon”, two examples of how public service broadcasters can experiment with new ways of storytelling to be more relevant to digital audiences.

In the afternoon session, all labs worked in teams to find common challenges and opportunities to pool resources together to innovate with ways of storytelling and by highlighting the values and identity of public service media.

Participants at the Brussels meeting included representatives from VRT Start-Up, DW Innovation, RTS Digital Lab, SWR E-Lab, SR Digital Innovation, the RTBF Interactivity Department, RTE Digital and RTVE Lab.  

The event was the second in a planned series of visits, workshops and hackathons focusing on digital storytelling, innovative transmedia and interactive projects. The launch of the Digital Storytelling Network programme by the Eurovision Media Online team took place in Madrid, hosted by EBU Member and Spanish broadcaster RTVE.