1/6/2023
Finance
The second edition of Next Lab Finance & Tech will open its doors in Pamplona on June 28th and 29th. This is an event about video games and animation, whose aim is to bring producers and creators closer to the world of financing and investment, in order to facilitate their collaboration and thus strengthen and make this industry more competitive in our country.
The event, of a professional nature, has the main support of the Government of Navarra, through the public company NICDO, and will bring together institutions, investors, funds, animation and virtual reality (VR) companies, video game developers, experts and national and international stakeholders in Baluarte, making the capital of Navarra the epicentre of this industry.
The programme, which will soon be available on the website: https://www.nxlb.org/finance/2023, includes workshops, round tables, conferences and success stories, which will focus on funding, Web3 projects and virtual reality, and will deal with fashionable topics such as soft skills applied to video games or new business models for startups, including the blockchain gaming industry.
In this regard, the participation of Gorka García Rodero and Ángela Bernardini, manager and head of innovation at Nair Center, respectively, has already been confirmed. They will explain the work and objectives of this Artificial Intelligence Research Centre in Navarra and the potential contribution of AI to the audiovisual sector.
José Manuel Arias, coordinator of the industry department of the San Sebastian Festival, will present some of the projects related to animation and video games that have passed through its innovative SSIF section: Spanish Screenings Financing & Tech.
Adrián Garelik, founder of Bluebits and one of the leading experts in blockchain and NFT for investment in audiovisual projects, will give an overview of the opportunities of this investment and financing channel. Flavio Escribano, research manager at Gecon, will talk to us about the European-funded project Megaskills. And, thanks to Lorena González, co-founder of Immersiva, Spain's extended reality association, we will have an updated overview of the VR/AR/XR and Web3 business.
DIRECT CONTACT WITH INVESTORS
A preview of the investors attending the event will be announced next week, but it is worth highlighting the Investors showcase, a showcase of investors where you can find out first-hand what they are looking for, how to work with them and, in general, gain a better understanding of the mechanisms that make an investment fund decide to back a project.
There will also be a presentation of the new IBERMEDIA NEXT line of aid from the Ibermedia Programme, with the collaboration of the Quirino Awards and the Ibero-American Animation League; and of the Ibermedia Next Plaza online matchmaking platform, created to boost collaboration between the different countries in the Ibero-American region.
During the event, B2B meetings between attendees will be encouraged through a meeting app and a networking area will be set up throughout the event. And this year, for the first time, the Euroregional Animation Award, organised by the New Aquitaine-Euskadi-Navarre Euroregion, will be presented. This is the third edition of this award, endowed with 6,000 euros, which aims to promote cooperation initiatives for audiovisual projects in development and which, from this year onwards, will focus on animation projects.
"Once again, this is one of the most necessary events and platforms for the audiovisual sector to have a promising future. Technology is shaking the foundations of our sector, not only in the way we create and produce, but also in financial and investment models. Next Lab Finance & Tech is the tool that allows us to be prepared for now and tomorrow, because the future is increasingly closer to the present," says José Luis Farias, the event's director.
Early Bird accreditations will be available at a reduced price through Eventbrite until June 5th.. After that date, general accreditations will be available until June 19th.
Next Lab Finance & Tech has the main support of the Government of Navarra through the public company NICDO; the sponsorship of ICEX and the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation; the participation of Cultural Industries, Intellectual Property and Cooperation of the Ministry of Culture and Sport and the ICAA; and the collaboration of CLAVNA, Diboos, DEV, AEVI, San Sebastian International Film Festival, Annecy Festival and UHY Fay & Co.