Role of the centre:
EPIC will act as a hub for production and communications excellence and innovation in the region, offering support to start-up and established businesses, training opportunities, the chance to share best practice and access to the latest technology. Eight SMEs have already taken space at EPIC and are making use of the technical facilities.
NCC’s East of England Production and Innovation Centre (EPIC) has become a successful hub of industry excellence, providing a source of inspiration for the creative talents of the future. Based at the studios of the former Anglia TV in the heart of the city of Norwich, the £2.5million regional centre is already exceeding customer expectations, even though it has only been fully up and running since September 2007. It was set up to maintain Norwich and Norfolk's credentials as a centre for the creative media, following the regional shake-up of Independent Television in the UK and the subsequent closure of Anglia TV's studio.
EPIC’s main aim is to develop Norwich’s position as a centre of excellence for digital media in the region, and to produce the skilled digital creatives of the future through collaboration between industry and education. The initiative is funded by the East of England Development Agency (EEDA) and the initiative is fully in-line with that organisation’s Regional Economic Development Strategy.
NCC is also a member of the UK’s DC10+ partnership of local authorities which was the outcome of a Digital Challenge (DC) competition for local authorities in the UK. The finalists then formed the DC10+ partnerships of ten local authorities and, together with private sector partners, is dedicated to unraveling social inclusion issues through the effective roll-out of technology-based initiatives. It also aims to be a network for change; helping to empower people and connect communities through innovation and technology.
The DC10 partnership is currently working closely with the UK Government, and the private sector, to develop policy and best practice around Next Generation Broadband, Digital Switchover and Connected Neighbourhoods initiatives. This also includes pioneering use of IPTV and consequently the EPIC initiative is of national and regional significance, and completely in line with the EU’s Lisbon Strategy of developing "the most dynamic and competitive knowledge-based economy in the world”.
In mid 2008, Grassroots TV, a company that specializes in IPTV production, is moving into the premises and with EPIC will aim to develop community services for the local citizens. A top priority will be to target and attract the socially and digitally excluded population in preparation for the digital switchover, and key groups in the city and county have already been identified.
EPIC has been heavily re-equipped with state-of-the-art post-production and audio dubbing equipment, and is already proving very popular with production companies from within the region and beyond. In September 2007 a new degree in Film and Video, delivered by Norwich University College of the Arts, commenced at EPIC and it is hoped that this initiative will attract more young people to the industry.
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 Participating Partners
- Norfolk County Council (NCC)
- EPIC
- Norwich University College of the Arts and diverse private media and ICT companies will participate as Stakeholders
Background of Partners
NCC has considerable experience of ICT/broadband initiatives in European programmes such Interreg, eTen, and eContent. Example projects were LoG-IN, BIRD, e-Voice and SUPER. Domestically, NCC has also been at the forefront of e-government developments in the UK.
In addition to DC10+ it has been involved in a range of initiatives such as the UK government’s national pathfinder projects and has attracted over £10 million worth of project funding from central government.
In 2007, it developed the UK’s largest free public access broadband wireless service called Norfolk OpenLink that attracted considerable international attention.
Norwich will also be the home of the first of the new generation of BBC Open Studios in the city centre, multi-purpose, Forum building. The project managers from NCC and EPIC both have substantial experience of large-scale project management and European Projects.
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Contact
Centre Leader
Jamie Warren
EPIC-TV, Norfolk County Council
Activities
E-CLIC Norfolk will be involved in all of the work packages WP1-6. In WP1 it will set up local and regional project structures to ensure that the aims of the project are clearly understood, and to provide E-CLIC Värmland with the data to efficiently monitor and manage the project.
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Areas of Expertise
- HD Studio Production
- Programme format development
- HD Post Production
- Surround Sound Audio Production
- DVD authoring
- Internet streaming
- Online media/new media platform
- Virtual Studio
- Speech Technologies
- Social Networking software
- Graphic design
- 3D animation and integration with e-learing systems
- IP-TV Streaming, hosting and scheduling
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