Eurovision 2020 may be a long way off, but Belgium, the United Kingdom and The Netherlands are already winners. That’s because creators from these countries have won €35,000 each to fund projects that will improve engagement between Eurovision viewers and the song contest.
Launched over the summer by NOS, AVROTROS and the Eurovision 2020 team, the competition received 209 entries from 39 countries. Martijn van Dam, the NPO director who is responsible for, among other things, innovation, expressed his enthusiasm about the entries exclusively to Wiwibloggs.
“The Eurovision Song Contest 2020 must become a calling card for Dutch creativity and media innovation. That is why this challenge fits in perfectly with our aim to find connections with innovative technology companies and smart startups. A large number of entries from all over the world made this a success.”
So who won the Eurovision Innovation Challenge?
Ten finalists pitched their concepts to a jury with representatives from NOS, AVROTROS and the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 project team at Vondel CS (which many of you will know from Eurovision in Concert press days). Here’s how NOS described each of the winners in a press release.
“Kiswe Mobile (Belgium): Traditionally, every country has one TV signal made for that specific country. With Kiswe Mobile, a large number of customized streams aimed at different target groups can be made, with the choice of different commentators, such as social media influencers, who seek interaction with the public and can show the results in the stream.”
“Sceenic (United Kingdom): Their concept, Watch Together, connects friends and family live through real-time video chat, perfectly synchronized with the live stream of the show so that they can share the essential moments together.”
“TNO (The Netherlands): TNO provides UltraWide Viewing. UWV records the show with special cameras and gives a very high definition view of the entire stage where the performances take place, which could be projected at full size on large screens, for example in cinemas and at other event locations so that the audience can experience the performance there as if it is there.”
Van Dam is happy with the result: “These three winners are a good example of innovative media companies that we would like to work with to stimulate innovation in media. Together with them, we will investigate how the Eurovision Song Contest can become more interactive and innovative. ”
The winners will try to realize their visions in the coming months. The organization will ultimately decide whether the developed application goes into production and is connected to the show.
Which concept is your favourite? Let us know in the comment section down below!
Photo by: Natalie Bouwens
are you going to mention that Karel Gott, Czech singer and Austria’s representative in 1968 died on Tuesday? I think you should mention it
The one from Belgium excites the most, but I don’t think I will have the ability to partake in any of these. Us American eurofans will just sit on the sidelines. Which is fine. I still have nightmares from the 2018 Eurovision on Logo. The commentators pronounced names wrong and didn’t know practically anything about the contest. Melovin was pronounced as Me-Lovin’
Well, now Netflix has the rights to stream the 2019 and 2020 contest so you don’t have to bear the awful commentary.