MEDEA’s neighbors: Malmö New Media

The Knowledge Foundation is obviously a key actor for the MEDEA KK-environment, but MEDEA also comprises co-production projects funded from other sources. One such example is the EU project Brand IT, where MEDEA collaborates with Swedish and Danish partners on creating knowledge about the ICT cluster in the Öresund Region. Similarly, a proposal has just been put to EU for the project Creative Bridges, where MEDEA is included in a consortium of more than 20 actors, dealing with creative industries in the Southwestern Baltic Region. A third project is Moving Media Southern Sweden 1, where MEDEA and actors in southern Sweden among other things carry out a mapping of the actors dealing with new media in the region.

However, the major co-production for MEDEA thus far is Malmö New Media. This three-year EU-supported project deals with how new media actors in Malmö (companies, the city of Malmö, Malmö University, etc.) can work together and create common strategies for how to develop new media in the city and the region. MEDEA is a major player in this project, having been granted almost 13 million Swedish kronor for its part in the project. And this part consists of the creation of three so-called Living Labs in Malmö.

Living Labs are currently seen as the most important engine to power user-driven innovation. The idea is to set up labs where people from companies, organizations, public institutions and universities team up with citizens in order to experiment and create new products, services and new knowledge in real-life environments. The work within different labs differs widely, depending on where they are, but the common idea is that the real life environment, and the mixture of competences, makes possible the creation of things no single partner could foresee in advance. Living Labs is taking off increasingly all over the world. The network Open Living Labs alone includes more than 130 Living Labs.