Innovation

Roularta in the graphic and media sector

Roularta aims to play a pioneering role in the graphic and media sectors. We also defend the interests of the sector through various channels and through our membership in numerous associations (Council for Journalism, Conseil de déontologie journalistique, WE MEDIA, JEP, the Belgian federation for the graphic industry Febelgra, EMMA …) and we strive for innovation.

Roularta Innovation Lab

In September 2018, the Innovation Lab (IL) was established within Roularta Media Group. The Innovation Lab is at the service of all business units of Roularta Media Group (RMG) and performs a radar function. It searches ‘beyond the horizon’ for the latest technologies and trends, and functions as a crossroads of digital and technological innovation.

The IL investigates new technologies, tools and software, and evaluates their possible added value for Roularta Media Group.

The Innovation Lab scans the world of start-ups, develops a strong network within this environment and thus is the first point of contact for start-ups within the world of media tech.

In addition, the Innovation Lab enters into partnerships with technological suppliers and research groups from colleges and universities. With these partners Roularta Media Group forms a triple helix (collaboration between government or private fund organisations, business and education) with the aim of bringing to the market advanced technological solutions that users truly need.

An example of such collaboration is reflected in ‘Trendify'. The goal is to provide a solution to help journalists be more creative and efficient using a collection of AI media-monitoring tools. This will enable them to discover surprising perspectives and opinions, thereby further improving the quality of the content while reducing research time.

These tools will consist of a trend detection engine (detecting time-bound changes in the themes or topics), an opinion mining engine (bringing to light opinions related to these trends) and a trending content detection engine (finding content that is generating a lot of user interaction over a short period of time). The research results and new technologies increase cost efficiency and offer innovative tools for highquality content. For this project, the Roularta Innovation Lab has concluded partnerships with ML2Grow (AI service provider), YesItCan.be (technology provider) and research groups imec-SMIT-VUB and VUB Artificial Intelligence Research Group.

In addition, Roularta Media Group together with the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) introduced the new chair ‘Personalisation, trust and sustainable media’. In this initiative, chair holders Prof. Dr. Karen Donders, Prof. Dr. Ike Picone and PhD researcher Pauljan Truyens of the VUB will conduct and stimulate research into ways in which news media companies can sustainably innovate. The 4-year chair will take a largely holistic approach to innovation in positioning (brand strategy), mindset (editorial focus, relationship of trust with the public) and social impact (investigative journalism, fact-checking). Therefore in the context of the new ‘Personalisation, trust and sustainable media’ chair, Prof. Dr. Donders and Prof. Dr. Picone, both affiliated with the Smart Media unit of research group imec-SMIT-VUB, will search for sustainable information media innovations. In this, they will also take into account the dual nature of news media: media companies are both commercial in nature and social actors.