The judges’ panel for the awards is made up of members of the organization as well as the sponsors and outstanding sector leaders. The awards will be handed out at a gala ceremony as part of the 2009 FICOD program. The 7 categories are as follows:

• Award for innovation in the distribution of digital content.

• Award for the project that offers synergies between the different digital content sectors.

• Digital content creation project award.

• Award for the project with the greatest international projection.

• Award for the digital content application that best promotes digital inclusion.

• Award for using digital content to improve citizen services: education, health, tourism promotion, support for the elderly, etc.

• Award for the most innovative digital content business model.

FICOD 2009 will take place on November 17th, 18th and 19th at the Juan Carlos I Convention Center in Madrid (Campo de las Naciones). FICOD was established by the

Secretary of State for Telecommunications and the Information Society of the Spanish Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Commerce in 2007 primarily as a way to promote the products and services of the digital content industry, seek synergies and exchange experiences, with a special focus on the Spanish language market. It is a sector that includes more than 455 million Spanish speakers and around 104 million Internet users.

The national digital content market has continued growing over the last year and has already surpassed 60 billion Euros. It is made up of 21,000 companies that generate 300,000 jobs. For this reason, FICOD is presently the meeting point of reference for professionals in television, film, music, interactive digital entertainment, animation, audiovisual production, digital publications, education, user-generated content (UGC), social networks, the blogosphere, interactive advertising, etc. The entire sector chain will be represented: distribution, devices, finance, training, internationalization, audiences, payment methods, public policies, digital television, e-commerce, etc.

The technical program will include plenary sessions, round tables and workshops. In parallel, an exposition area will be set up for all industry companies interested in participating. Around 10,000 participants and more than 200 members of the national and international press are expected to attend FICOD 2009.

About the Secretary of State for Telecommunications and the Information Society and the Avanza Plan

FICOD (International Forum on Digital Content) is part of the series of measures approved by the Secretary of State for Telecommunications and the Information Society of the Spanish Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Commerce under the Avanza Plan to develop the Information Society and to bring Spain in line with Europe and provide the Autonomous Regions with common direction. Specifically, the Avanza Plan aims to accelerate the development of the knowledge society by promoting the digital content industry, improving citizens’ technological skills, encouraging corporate R+D, modernizing public services and promoting the implementation of broadband infrastructures.