A groundbreaking initiative was presented during the last day of Cannes’ NEXT conferences: Propellor Film Tech Hub, a one-of-a-kind innovation platform for the development of new business models for the production, distribution and experiencing of films. The project started out in December 2016, and all four founders of the hub were present at the presentation: Bero Beyer, director of the International Film Festival Rotterdam; Matthijs Wouter Knol, director of the Berlinale's European Film Market; Tine Fischer, director of CPH:DOX; and Erwin M Schmidt,director of Berlin-based innovation studio Cinemathon.

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Propellor is not trying to replace something that exists with something new, but rather allow new business models and older ones to coexist in harmony. The aim is to cope with the biggest challenges of the film industry, which go far beyond distribution, as production and experience should also be considered. As Fischer mentioned, “We have plenty of content, but still, the need for distribution and experience is the most important issue.”

Schmidt broke down the philosophy of the hub into two terms: #Filmtech and Innovation Strategy. The first term deals with all of the technological aspects of the business-like big databases, new technologies and new formats. Meanwhile, the strategy incorporates all of the business models that could create a new clientele and which have already proven successful: “We don’t need to invent those strategies; we need to adapt them to the film business. We have a steep learning curve ahead of us and a culture to be tested and even to fail; we need to explore everything.”

In its first pilot year, Propellor Film Tech Hub welcomed 80 participants from 14 countries, 24 mentors and 16 business ideas. Insight, inspiration and networking are the key elements for its future success. Some promising business ideas have been presented, too: Culture Cues is a Tinder-like application that allows users to share a trailer and, based on whether or not it receives likes, to send more information to the final customer, Amplifier is a database-sharing pool for documentarians, Film Pass is the equivalent of Booking.com for cinema tickets, and Moviefication is a prototype application that aims to extend the cinematic experience after the film has finished, through audiobooks that continue the story until the viewer gets back home.

The goal is to bridge the film and tech worlds by building an infrastructure and a powerful eco-system through a whole new group of incubators. All of these models have been created from scratch in just two days, and for that reason, next year, the hub will launch its Propellor | Incubator programme, which will allow the participants to evolve their business ideas during an extensive, eight-week summer residency in Berlin. In order to facilitate the rollout of the advanced 2018 edition, the Propellor Film Tech Hub will be supported by Creative Europe MEDIA, which will also allow it to include a series of international events in Berlin, Rotterdam and Copenhagen, besides the business incubator. The ultimate aim of the hub is to become a sustainable centre focused on the future marketplace of business innovation in the film industry.