Kidsmediacentre announces new partnership opportunities for children's content developers

TORONTO, March 12, 2012 /CNW/ - The kidsmediacentre at Centennial College's Centre for Creative Communications is inviting for-profit children's content producers and developers to learn about new college-based funding and grant opportunities at a special information session on Thursday, March 15.

Supporting the children's industry and helping children's producers bring new technologies, properties and innovative cross-platform ideas to life is a key focus for Centennial College. Opportunities are available for content developers to secure technology, faculty consultation, student time and access to testing facilities.

Hosted by the kidsmediacentre and Centennial College's Applied Research and Innovation Centre (ARIC), the information session will outline applied research opportunities, which are a growing source of funding for innovative Canadian businesses. Applied research places current or newly graduated college students in workplace environments, allowing them to apply their job-ready creative and strategic skills with partner companies. Creating industry-college partnerships with commercially viable businesses to produce innovative children's content and grow the industry is a top priority for the kidsmediacentre.

Last year the kidsmediacentre and ARIC awarded $150,000 in applied research investments to children's media producers, and hope to increase that number this year. Current opportunities available through Centennial College include:

• The National Research Council's Digital Technology Adoption Pilot Program (DTAPP) helps Canadian small and medium businesses adopt digital technology to become more productive.
• Colleges Ontario Network for Industry Innovation (CONII) offers competitive applied research grants worth up to $30,000 to established Ontario production companies with a focus on job creation and economic impact.
• The ARIC Fellowship offers applied research grants worth up to $10,000 of student and faculty time for Ontario-based projects to help solve a specific problem for industry or community.
• Applied research grants worth between $10,000 and $100,000 per year are available for children's projects in the Canadian health and wellness industry. Projects can include mental health, healthy eating, bullying, media health and healthy living programs for children. These are funded by the National Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) under the College and Community Innovation Program.

In most cases, companies are asked to match the contribution value of the applied research grant they receive through cash or "in-kind" (i.e. student mentoring) investments in their project.

Seating at the information session is limited. For more details and to register, please contact Andrew Miller at 416-289-5200, ext. 2916 or [email protected].

About the kidsmediacentre

A companion centre to Centennial College's Children's Entertainment program, the kidsmediacentre invests in research to explore kids' media futures. Its goal is to provide a range of R&D support to cross-platform, media and entertainment producers to ensure the kids' media industry in Canada is vibrant, indigenous and committed to the healthy growth of children.

When:	Thursday, March 15, from 6 pm to 7:30 pm
Where:	The Centre for Creative Communications Room 297 (second floor)    951 Carlaw Avenue (near Pape and Mortimer Ave.), Toronto

For more details and to register, please contact Andrew Miller at 416-289-5200, ext. 2916 or [email protected].