The people behind CLICKNL: Freek van 't Ooster
Who are the people that commit themselves every day enthusiastically to strengthening the creative industry and boost meaningful innovations? What do they see as the big challenges for the creative industry and what are their motives on a personal level? In this episode: Freek van 't Ooster, program manager at Media Perspectives. In the past, Freek was involved in the establishment of CLINKNL. He coordinates the fieldlab Spectacular Arena eXperiences (SAX) in the Johan Cruijff Arena, that currently holds the Change the Game Challenge. "My dream is an innovation that makes it seem like you are really on the field and play along in the competition."
Why was the fieldlab Spectacular Arena eXperience established two years ago?
"The world of media is moving enormously and worldwide there's a lot of competition. A lot of things are thought up and tried out, but what always stays relevant is the ability to experience live-events through social media, sports competitions or concerts with a large audience for example. People are willing to pay and travel for that to be a part of it. That's why such events are also very interesting for a broad audience and with that, also for media companies. This is and remains an important fact on which the world of media is based, together with news and actuality. The SAX fieldlab is aimed at large events, the visitors and their physical experiences before, during and after the event. How can you strengthen the experience of the visitor and in what way can people experience that from a distance? For example, think of the services that put you in place of the player, making you almost stand on the field. Or augmented reality-like services that give you during the event information through a kind of extra layer over the reality. But it can also go towards more practical services, like: where's still place in the parking lot and how do I find the way to my seat?"
The Change the Game Challenge. What does it mean, exactly?
"Within the SAX fieldlab, we so far have worked with a select group of companies and partners, now we make the programme available worldwide to a much broader group of companies. Each company can submit within five themes (Challenges). Through Change the Game, the selected companies will have the opportunity to implement their service in the Johan Cruijff Arena, but more importantly, to further develop and test the service in the SAX fieldlab, together with the Johan Cruijff Arena, Ajax, KNVB and other partners of the Amsterdam Innovation Arena. And of course, with our knowledge providers TNO, the University of Amsterdam and Media Perspectives. A great opportunity! It's very important that a concept is viable, that it has business opportunities in it. When it comes to selecting, that's what Ajax and the KNVB are paying attention to. It's also of great importance that Change the Game doesn't have to be seen as a competition. It's no "winner takes it all" concept", because the programme makes it possible to support twenty or thirty services."
What kind of solutions do you hope for?
"I hope for a lot of diversity and for surprising concepts, appropriate the Challenges. Personally, I find it very interesting how you can become a part of a big event in a very different way through innovative solutions. My dream is an innovation that makes it look like you are really on the field, playing along with the competition. As if you are watching over the shoulder of the referee, keeper or your favourite player. And that you can see in real images what he experiences, not it animated avatars. For now, I see quite a few concepts in this area, but often they're just not good enough. That's why further development and innovation is necessary. Also nice to tell is that the first proposal has already been selected: Snaptivity. This company makes use of technologies such as the Internet of Things and Artificial Intelligence. In that way, they can photograph the audience during crucial moments in the competition, which you can find by entering the number of your seat. In this way, you can see your own reaction at high or low points during the competition, and of course, you can share that too. These kinds of ideas have already been invented, but now it's further developed and refined what makes it really promising to be successful. Because it's an open innovation platform, you can view all the ideas that have been submitted so far on the website of the Change the Game Challenge. Everyone can create an account and follow the discussions. Here, you can also view the feedback from the Challenge teams on the submitted plans."
As you've been working in the world of media for years, what fascinates you about it?
"I find it very interesting to see that TV traditionally happens to be the window of the world, now that has been completely broken. From origin, I'm a business guy. At some point, I switched from KPN to the facility company for television, where we worked on "new media services" such as "Uitzending Gemist". After that, we set up a network of media-innovation-professionals out of the iMMovator foundation (now Media Perspectives). That's why I'm always focused on the fact that research and government policy out of the creative industry also produce results that are helpful for companies. Doing research is of course very important, but often, companies aren't able to do something with these results. Moreover, companies in our sector work in their own way, with a different "heartbeat" and commitment, then is followed by scientific research. We are used to quick testing, agile working and cyclical innovation. Our innovative services are built with platforms and technologies that develop with the speed of light. Incentive schemes such as the MIT, which are especially aimed at middle-sized businesses, are therefore of great importance. The same goes the ability to test, experiment and innovate as that can be done in the CLICKNL fieldlabs. And of course, the Change the Game Challenge as a way to bring worldwide innovations to the Netherlands!"
Visit the website to submit your innovative service or view the ideas that have already been submitted!
