因势 利 导 - “YÄ«n Shì Lì Dǎo” Creative Industries and the Financial Crisis Presentation at the 3rd International Creative and Cultural Industries Forum in Beijing December 17th 2008. Dajiahao! (‘Hello everybody’!) I want to tell you that I am very proud to be learning to speak Mandarin - slowly but surely. But I must say that it is still much more ‘slow’ than it is ‘sure’. So please accept my thanks...

I was asked to write a column for the excellent Digital Media magazine published in Australia about the possibilities of "export" markets ... here is what I wrote: Don’t think “Export”, think “Networks" X|Media|Lab began life as part of the Sydney Film Festival and is now held in seven digital media hotspots around the world: in Australia, Singapore, China, India, the Middle East, New Zealand, and Korea. I want to share some experiences that...

It’s been an honor to be in Beijing during the Olympic Games, and to experience the sheer pride and joy, the great success – and the wonderful hospitality. Even in these days afterwards, a great friendliness and happiness is wonderfully apparent. It’s been a slow motion eye-opener spending so much time in Beijing and Shanghai over the last couple of years … and especially learning the almost total disconnect between the China you experience while you...

There must be something about living on the edge of the world that motivates New Zealanders to push the boundaries when it comes to digital creativity. Surrounded by water, the flora and fauna of the country diverged into a natural ecology unlike anywhere else in the world; the unique human culture arose in a similar fashion. New Zealand has long been the beneficiary of sequential waves of migration. They came first in long canoes from the Pacific then in tall...

When I was discussing doing a Lab on animation in China with Sun Li Jun, the Dean of Animation at the Beijing Film Academy, he told me that best place to do such a Lab would not be Beijing, but rather Suzhou. In my ignorance, I had never heard of Suzhou then but now I know much better why Professor Sun so wisely pointed me in that direction. Located about 80 kms north-east of Shanghai, READ MORE

In an otherwise scintillating exposition of the emerging geo-political balance, Parag Khanna, senior research fellow at the New America Foundation, manages to leave out of his calculations almost entirely one giant powerhouse of development: the Middle East or, more exactly, the states that make up the Gulf Co-operation Council. The GCC comprises six states ...

The Importance of Friends. Spending some time in Korea is made much easier if you have a few wonderful friends to smooth the path for you.   So we were blessed that we already had a great friend to make some amazing connections for us, Ms. Soh Yeong Roh, the Founder of the internationally famous Nabi Art Center, who attended the Singapore Lab last August. READ MORE

2008 is going to be a magical year for X|Media|Lab. To give you some idea of how it has taken shape, here’s a review of the last couple of months ... Beijing In November we ran our first event in China. We were an official part of the International Creative and Cultural Industries Expo (ICCIE) in Beijing. Our four days consisted of a 1-day conference held at the...