This afternoon a number of media parties in the presence of Neelie Kroes, Special Envoy for startups in Netherlands and Ambassador of StartupDelta, signed a Covenant in which they stress the importance of innovation in the media. As media sector they endorse the cooperation with startups to remain relevant and future-proof.

The media parties see an important role for MediaMatters, an innovation accelerator program that is intended to facilitate cooperation between media companies and startups. The signing took place during a meeting which was organized with the support of StartupUtrecht.

 

Neelie Kroes: "I am very happy with this initiative. Startups and corporates can learn much from each other. Corporates can't do everything themselves. However cooperation requires effort: rapid decision making is crucial to work successfully with startups."

 

Mediamatters is a accelerator that facilitates cooperation between startups and media organizations to strengthen the innovation ecosystem in the media. "Startups and scale-ups have a different way of thinking. They are often more innovative and more flexible. At the same time they miss experience that larger organizations have. We want to bring them together. So the two can take advantage of each other's strength", says Rick van Dijk, initiator of MediaMatters.

The following partners have decided to participate in MediaMatters: NPO, NOS, United Broadcast Facilities, Ericsson, the Dutch Institute for Sound and Vision, Endemol Shine and the Dutch news agency ANP. They will have a role as co-sponsor, mentor, customer, developer or technology expert and will have the opportunity early to hook up with interesting new companies. Media companies who are interested, can still connect as a partner.