“Future Week” brings e-sports and augmented reality to Bergen

“Future Week”, organized by the city’s NCE Media business cluster, took place in the Media City Bergen building from 11-14 June.

The event provided lots of fun for tech enthusiasts across the city, with a packed programme of talks, demonstrations and hands‑on workshops.

Guests were able to design an augmented reality app, build their own weather sensor, and play e‑sports against professional gamers.

Visitors even got to sample a beer that was brewed with artificial intelligence (we’re not kidding!).

Anne Jacobsen, CEO of NCE Media, says, “We’re thrilled to have been able to host this event, which showcased some of Bergen’s most exciting local media technology companies.”

“These businesses, and their innovations, are shaping the future for the media industry across the globe.”

Big names from across the city

Future Week included talks and demonstrations from the city’s biggest media companies, the majority of which were free and open to the public.

This included the broadcasters NRK and TV2, along with the newspaper Bergens Tidende and media technology firms such as Vizrt.

All of these companies are part of the NCE Media cluster, which also includes smaller tech start‑ups as well as the University of Bergen.

Over the course of the week, cluster members gave talks on topics such as the Cambridge Analytica scandal, the use of algorithms in the newsroom, and the rise of virtual reality.

Guests also took part in a live recording of Tinius Talks, the popular podcast from the Tinius Trust, in the Media City Bergen building’s spacious atrium.

Lastly, visitors had the chance to sample a very special tipple. “Patriot”, a New England Pale Ale, is the official beer of the Media City Bergen’s Media Lab.

Fittingly for such a high‑tech organization, it’s brewed with AI support from IBM’s Watson supercomputer.

An exciting hub for media technology

The event’s organizer, NCE Media, exists to support both large and small media companies in the Bergen region.

It encourages businesses and researchers to work together, and helps them to access funding from both Norway and the EU. It also runs the Media Lab, where companies can explore new technologies.

Overall, the cluster is made up of more than 100 members, with a total revenue of over $1 billion.

It is part of a national programme called Norwegian Innovation Clusters, which aims to drive innovation within different business clusters across the country.

The programme is supported by Innovation Norway, Siva (The Industrial Development Corporation of Norway) and the Norwegian Research Council.

Find out more about Greater Bergen’s media technology industry

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