Global Digital Media Industry Support Initiatives Inventory
April 2000
Compiled by Multimediator Strategy Group Inc.
The Global Digital Media Industry Support Initiatives Inventory was compiled by MultiMediator Strategy Group Inc. (MMSG) for the Ministry of Energy, Science, and Technology over a period of approximately six weeks during March and April, 2000.
The inventory includes public and private financial incentives designed to support digital media content development and the digital media content development industry in four regions around the globe: Canada, the United States, Europe, and Asia/Pacific. Across the four regions, alternate terms for digital media predominated, "new media" and "multimedia" being among the most commonly used. Therefore, for the purposes of this report, multimedia should be understood as equivalent to "digital media" and to refer specifically to content that is interactive.
Support for multimedia content development varied in nature and scope dramatically across regions. Canada and Australia emerged as strong providers of public sources of assistance for content development, particularly at the federal level. By contrast, the United States provides relatively little support of a public nature, with the main multimedia hubs emphasizing venture capital and the implementation of tax incentives as the predominant means of assistance.
The research also revealed a surprising lack of identifiable support initiatives in some of the European jurisdictions. It would appear that several individual nations within the European Union limit funding to programs that are not at the forefront of the government's policy, such as those intended to support multimedia development, relying instead on alternate funds offered through the EU as whole. While there are no statistics available on the breakdown by country of the recipients of the European funds, these span all member states. In the interest of promoting a more unified Europe, European Commission funds often require fund applicants to be consortia of cross-border partnerships.
Included in each regional inventory is information concerning the scope of the support initiative, eligibility requirements, support/funds awarded, and time frame. Contact information is also provided for future inquiries.
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Click here to download the Funding Inventory Asia PDF.
Click here to download the Funding Inventory Canada PDF.
Click here to download the Funding Inventory Europe PDF.
Click here to download the Funding Inventory USA PDF.
