EU inviting Filipino AV companies to ‘Silk Avenue’

The road to success in the worldwide P13-trillion audio-visual (AV) market has a name. It’s called "Silk Avenue."

The European Union (EU) is inviting Filipino TV broadcasters, producers, filmmakers and animators to attend Silk Avenue, a gathering of more than 200 Southeast Asian and European AV companies to be held in Rome, Italy.

"Silk Avenue is a major matchmaking event that will bring together 100 Southeast Asian audio-visual enterprises and 150 of their counterparts from Germany, Spain, Italy and the Czech Republic," said Gerry Constantino of the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP), the local coordinator of Silk Avenue.

"It will be held in Rome on Oct. 13-14 and we’re inviting Filipino TV broadcasters, producers, production outfits, animators and other AV companies to attend this business-building event," he said.

Constantino said Silk Avenue will give Filipino companies a foothold in the EU, the largest AV market in the world.

Silk Avenue is designed to increase economic cooperation and transnational business agreements between European and Southeast Asian AV enterprises, which want to expand in the growing EU/Asian AV markets.

The EU accounts for 31 percent of the global AV market, which is estimated to be worth P13 trillion (190 billion euros). The five major European AV markets are the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy and Spain.

The AV market includes the film, broadcasting (TV and radio), video and multimedia industries.

"Filipino companies which will participate in Silk Avenue will have the inside track in this huge market since they can make pre-arranged business contacts with EU AV companies," Constantino said.

He added that if Filipino participants could come a day earlier, they will be given guided visits to four local AV companies, including Italy’s famous Cinecitta Studios where many major movies are shot.

He said the business matching activity during Silk Avenue is free of charge. Participants will only spend for their round-trip airfares and day-to-day needs.

Silk Avenue will focus heavily on the impact of digital technologies on the AV sector. Production and distribution, however, will also receive special attention.

"Digital technologies have created a revolution in the AV sector, especially in the provision of content," Constantino said.

He said the simplicity of digital technologies vis-a-vis traditional production methods means that digital should give rise to more and more content, thus enhancing competition.

That’s good news for Filipino AV companies, especially those which would participate in Silk Avenue. Constantino, however, said other Silk Avenue participants will come from competitor countries such as India, China, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Thailand, most of which have mature AV industries.

But with the popularity of "Chinovelas" and "Koreanovelas" in the Philippines, competitors, in many ways, can also be seen as partners, he said.

The European Commission (EC), through its Asia-Invest Program, and Filas (the Financial Development Agency of Regione Lazio) are funding Silk Avenue.

Filas fosters and finances the development of innovative business practices in Italy’s Lazio region.

For more information on Silk Avenue, including registration and the event program, log on to www.eccp.com or e-mail [email protected].