The International Conference and Workshop on validation of good practices will be hosted by one of the Boo Games partner’s Temi Zammit Foundation on the 22nd and 23rd of January 2014 in Malta. The International conference will be organised in order to present the preliminary results to stakeholders coming from all Europe. Participants will include regional policy makers, sectorial experts and representatives of the games industry. The conference will address a range of different topics and especially the access of the EU games industry to the global market. During the conference a workshop will be organized to validate the good practices identified that will later on merge in the good practice guide. The Conference will be organised under the patronage of:
INTERREG IVC Operational Programme
Malta Enterprise
The Ministry for the Economy, Investment and Small Business
WHY VIDEO GAMING
The last decade has seen a progressive convergence of information, communication, media and mobile technologies that has changed the shape of many more or less traditional application markets. The constant march towards an even more profound and complete digitalization on mobile platforms of every aspect of life, from work to entertainment, seems unstoppable.
The digital gaming sector is an important and rapidly growing part of the creative industries. As such, it is important that this industry is aggressively supported at the European level. Zackariasson and Wilson (2012) indicate that some policy options for the provision of such support include: taking steps towards the development of a single digital market; easier access to funding; standardisation of middleware; the development of skills; the collection and standardisation of statistical information.[1]
Gaming, in its widest meaning, makes no exception – even if the full deployment of Video Gaming is far from being complete. This international event would combine a conference which will bring experts in the field of gaming and good practices validation workshop. The aims of this interactive workshop are to present the good practice guide and more precisely identify the specific needs per region.
The workshop will focus on the nine practices chosen from Sofia and Malta. The approach is meant to be pragmatic and interactive and follows presentations of best practices from regions under the themes: access to finance, business support and cluster and events and networking. Both Sofia and Malta have preselected their preferences concerning the good practices.
WHY MALTA
Malta, with its leading position in the EU for gaming, together with its traditional geo-political situation as the Euro-Mediterranean network hub, is in the ideal location for such an event. “What Singapore has become for Media Fusion in Asia-Pacific region, that may Malta become for Gaming in the Euro-Mediterranean one!” the organizers augur paraphrasing Sir John Raffles, founder of Singapore, who explicitly used Malta’s role in the West as a model for his endeavour.
TARGETED AUDIENCE
The three most important regions of the world for Gaming are Europe, Asia Pacific and North America. While Europe and North America are established and relatively consolidated markets, Asia is the one showing the most explosive growth, both in terms of demand and offer. The Boo Games project has already established a working relationship with many European digital media clusters in Europe and is actively promoting the event with them all, with the objective of boosting the Games industry. Our target is to raise at least 40 participants from Malta and 30 from Europe.
FORMAT OF THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
The first evening of Wednesday 22nd January is planned to be a pre-event day, offering the official opening of the event where in evening all delegates will be invited to a networking reception.
The second day, Thursday 23rd of January will be dedicated to a conference and a good practice workshop. In the morning, the Maltese government and EC officials will deliver the opening address, followed by a keynote speech and debates. In the afternoon, the participants will have the possibility to be part of an interactive workshop which aims to introduce the good practice guide and more specifically pinpoint the specific needs per region. The approach is meant to be pragmatic and interactive and follows presentations of best practices from regions under the following themes: access to finance, business support and clusters and events and networking. Sofia and Malta have preselected their preferences concerning the good practices.
The third day is the business visits day, the morning of which will be devoted to giving participants an insight of games industry in Malta.
Anyone who is interested to register for this event can contact: Katina Mladenova via e-mail: katina.mladenova@ftz.org
[1] Zackariasson, P. Wilson, T. (2012). (Eds). The Video Game Industry: Formation, Present State, and Future. Routledge. UK.