The Interreg project Baltic Game Industry (BGI) was officially launched on 1st November 2017. The lead partner is BGZ Berliner Gesellschaft für internationale Zusammenarbeit. The project partners, who come from Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland and Germany, met at the Berlin Town Hall for the project’s ceremonial launch. Permanent Secretary Christian Rickerts welcomed the visitors and underscored the importance of transnational cooperation between cities to ensuring a vital, livable Baltic Sea region. The next two days were devoted to project work, the goal of which is to improve general conditions for the game industry in the Baltic Sea region. Berlin is particularly interested in adapting games for therapeutic uses.
The aim here is to make Berlin a more attractive environment for startups working in the game industry. We want to encourage them to locate here and we want to keep them in the Baltic Sea region once they’re thriving. The region’s appeal has surged in recent years, and we want to reinforce that appeal, attract new investment, and establish this industry as a strong economic sector in the Baltic Sea region.
The strategy designed to achieve these goals includes:
- An improved business environment to attract game industry startups
- Business incubation models to provide long-term support to startups
- Developing new markets for the industry that go beyond entertainment
The most important outcomes have been:
- Targeted strategies and programs, as well as a best-practice catalogue of framework conditions and policies designed to support the game industry in the Baltic Sea region
- Guidelines for game incubators on early support for game industry startups – with models for incubation programs, financing, mentoring, and international cooperation
- A virtual reality (VR) app designed for medical treatment, a reference model for VR in the health sector, and recommendations for VR applications in other sectors
In the context of Berlin’s activities in the Baltic Metropoles Network, the Senate Chancellery is a partner in this project supported by third-party funding from the European Commission.
You can find out more about the Baltic Metropoles Network (BaltMet) on the BaltMet Website. More information on the Baltic Game Industry project is available on the project Website.
You can download the speech by Permanent Secretary Christian Rickerts below.
