MINDS: European news agencies create a new generation of mobile information services
Bern (ots)
More media diversity for mobile handsets in Europe - Project is funded by the EC - dpa is leading consortium
Five leading European news agencies have founded a consortium to create a new generation of information and new services for mobile communication. The project MINDS (Mobile Information and News Data Services for 3G) is funded by the EC through its eContent programme.
MINDS is aiming to present innovative information services for mobile phones and to define technical and commercial standards. The consortium will work together with the European media and telecommunications industry in order to accelerate the market penetration of mobile media services. The MINDS partners are planning to develop at least a dozen mobile information offers for European consumers, enterprises or public authorities. Until summer 2005 they will be presented live in the UMTS testbed at Fraunhofer Fokus institute in Berlin.
The consortium consists of the coordinator Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa) through its information service subsidiary dpa-infocom (Hamburg), and the news agencies of Austria (APA), the Netherlands (ANP), Switzerland (sda-ats) and Hungary (MTI). Complementary partners are the German software company CoreMedia AG, the world publishing association Ifra, the German IT service company arvato systems and the Fraunhofer FOKUS Institute.
It is the intention of the MINDS partners to further remove the barriers that still restrain mobile media services from turning into a mass market. Still a broad diversity of incompatible technical standards, complex and often one-sided business models, or the lack of usability from the consumers perspective prevent the breakthrough of mobile data services in all European countries.
The national news agencies are serving both the media and telecommunications industry. The MINDS partners will therefore cooperate closely with mobile operators, publishers and broadcasters in order to integrate all players of the mobile media business and to mediate a process of standardization.
The EC is funding MINDS through "eContent". The European Commission has set up this programme to support the production, use and distribution of European digital content.
Contact:
Schweizerische Depeschenagentur (sda)
Roderick von Kauffungen
Customer Relation Services
Tel. +41/31/309'35'35
E-Mail: rv@sda-ats.ch
Internet: www.minds-project.net - the next generation of news
Partners of the MINDS project:
- eContent is a market-oriented programme which aims to support the production, use and
distribution of European digital content and to promote linguistic and cultural diversity on the global
networks. (www.cordis.lu/econtent/) - The B.V. Algemeen Nederlands Persbureau (ANP, Den Haag) is the
central national news provider of publishers and broadcasters in the Netherlands. With tailored
business lines ANP is serving the needs of the diversifying information markets. (www.anp.nl). - The
Austria Presse Agentur reg. Gen. m. b. H (APA, Wien) is the national news agency and the leading
information service provider in Austria. APA covers the sectors news agency, information management, and
information technology. (www.apa.at) - arvato systems GmbH (Gütersloh) is a subdivision of arvato AG, the
global networked media service provider of Bertelsmann AG. At more than 10 locations worldwide the
company plans, develops, operates and maintains complex IT systems. (www.arvato-systems.de) -
CoreMedia AG (Hamburg) develops and provides modern standard software for content management, DRM
(Digital Rights Management) and multi-channel delivery technology for prestigious enterprises and
portals. (www.coremedia.com) - dpa-infocom GmbH is the information service subdivision of dpa
Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH (Hamburg), the leading national news agency in Germany and one of the
major news organisations in the world. dpa-infocom develops and produces multimedia news products
for the web, mobile portals and print purposes. (www.dpa-info.com) - The Fraunhofer Institute
for Open Communication Systems FOKUS (Berlin) pursues a clear vision for the future information
society: Information at any time, at any place, in any form, and according to personal preferences. The
FOKUS infrastructure allows the development of multimedia management and mobility applications
utilizing distributed object technology over global wired and wireless communication links.
(www.fokus.fraunhofer.de) - Ifra (Darmstadt), the world's leading association for media publishing, is a service
organisation dedicated to the publishing industry worldwide. More than 2.000 publishing companies and
suppliers are currently Ifra members. (www.ifra.com) - Magyar Tavirati Iroda (MIT, Budapest) was
founded 1881 as the national news agency in Hungary. Since then MTI serves as the backbone of the
Hungarian media with its news, reports pictures and services. (www.mti.hu). - Schweizerische
Depeschenagentur AG (sda, Bern) is the national news agency of Switzerland. sda provides news for the Swiss media
in the three national languages German, French and Italian, and for mobile portals and web
customers. (www.sda.ch)