By Juergen Boos
Juergen Boos, Director of the Frankfurt Book Fair (Photo: Peter Hirth / Frankfurter Buchmesse)
This year, we launched The Frankfurt Book Fair Business Club in response to feedback from our customers around the world who wanted more effective networking with new business partners, more inspiration, more practical tips for doing business, and more discussions about new business models.
The Business Club provides members a comprehensive range of valuable programming and services through the featured conferences—CONTEC, The International Rights Directors Meeting, and StoryDrive—which will allow for more interaction with attendees. Plus, throughout the week, there are networking opportunities, master classes and workshops, interviews and presentations, as well as one-on-one consulting sessions to answer those needs. The Business Club lounge is located in Hall 4.0 and offers members a quiet place to meet and conduct their business.
In this column, each day of the Book Fair, I will highlight some of the Business Club events that I am most interested in. Today, the Business Club features the CONTEC conference, which helps define the intersection of content and technology, and the annual International Rights Directors Meeting.
Wake-up Call: Stop Calling it Content!
10:15 am, CONTEC, Hall 4.0, Europa
Estonian-born composer Kristjan Järvi is recognized internationally as a unique musical personality, curating and directing original projects that fuse musical styles and cut across geographical borders. He currently holds four principle engagements: Music Director of MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra, Chief Conductor of Gstaad Festival Orchestra, Founder and Music Director of New York-based Absolute Ensemble, and Founding Conductor of Baltic Sea Youth Philharmonic (BYP). In this wake-up call, he is going to talk about how “content” has become a bad word.
Rebels of Publishing
12:15 pm, CONTEC, Hall 4.0, Europa
In a Pecha Kucha-style presentation, Joseph Bregeiro, CTO and Co-Founder of Widbook, and John Pettigrew, CEO and Founder of Cambridge Publishing Solutions, will share how they have diverged from traditional publishing paths and have gone to extremes to solve the problems facing our industry today.
Big Data’s Crystal Ball: Industry Predictions from a Data Guru
1:30 pm, CONTEC, Hall 4.0, Europa
Viktor Mayer-Schönberger, Professor of Internet Governance and Regulation at the Oxford Internet Institute at Oxford University, will share his findings and give predictions for the future of publishing.
Getting Beyond the Book: Creating a New Digital Reading Experience with Innovative Mobile Technology
2:00 pm, CONTEC, Hall 4.0, Europa
Porter Anderson, Associate Editor of FutureBook, sits down with publishing research and communications consultant Michael K. Norris and Rory O’Neill, Marketing Director for the European Telecommunication Operations (ETO), Samsung Electronics to discuss how new devices can enhance the reading experience for consumers.
Keynote: The Future of Rights in a Globalized World
2:10 pm, International Rights Directors Meeting, Hall 4.2, Dimension
Richard Charkin, Executive Director of Bloomsbury Publishing, Ltd, shares his vision of the future of the rights business, followed by a Q&A.
Digital Publishing Creative Ideas Competition Presentation and Winner Announced
3:25 pm, CONTEC, Hall 4.0, Europa
As part of the “Hug the Alien” start-up program we launched this year, The Digital Publishing Creative Ideas Competition (#dpc14) brings the best international innovations in publishing together in an exciting Lightning Round of presentations. From a longlist of 15 submissions (from 13 countries) five startup finalists will perform live on stage. The winner will be announced at the end of the session.
Why Innovation isn’t (Necessarily) Synonymous with Digital
3:35 pm, CONTEC, Hall 4.0, Europa
When we think of innovation, we often think of technology. That isn’t always the case. Sometimes it is simply a creative mind. Ken Suritte, Founder and CEO of WATERisLIFE and Marga Kleinenberg, Librarian and team manager for communication, events and marketing for De Nieuwe Bibliotheek provide two case studies for how they brought innovation without technology.
Customer 3.0
4.30 pm, CONTEC, Hall 4.0, Europa
Launched in Japan, Rakuten has emerged as one of the world’s fastest growing and successful e-commerce platforms. This interview with Adrian Diaconu, Managing Director, Rakuten Europe and Kobo Europe, Luxembourg will highlight ways to empower the individuals who keep us in business—our customers.