Press Room

Around 10,000 participants and 200 journalists and bloggers are expected to attend this major international digital industry event which this year features one of the great powers in the digital content field, the USA, as guest country

Madrid - September 28, 2009. At this third edition, there will be nine plenary sessions, 28 round tables and 45 workshops. These are some of the figures for this major international Spanish language digital content event for which the countdown has already begun. The main commitment of this edition of FICOD (International Forum on Digital Content) is networking: with online and offline tools that will enable contact among participants and help foster the exchange of ideas and new business in this digital content industry.

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. The digital content sector in Spain saw turnover of 4.982 million Euros in 2008, which is 15.8% more than in 2007. This means 82% growth for the 2003-2008 period. It is made up of companies that do business in digital audiovisual services, music, film and digital video, interactive entertainment software, websites and digital publications. Digital content is included in the Global Content Sector, which invoiced a total of 15.858 million Euros in 2008. The importance of the digital content sector is reflected in the percentage this sector occupies within the content sector; in 2003, Digital Content turnover amounted to 20% of the total turnover of the Content Sector, and this figure was 31% in 2008, meaning an increase of 11 percentage points during this period.

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, 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.

Given its international vocation, FICOD features guest countries at all of its editions. While Colombia was the invited guest at the 2008 event; for its third year, due to the growing repercussions it is having on the sector, the invitation has been extended to the United States, one of the great world powers in the digital content field with a population of 45 million Spanish speakers.

About FICOD

FICOD was established three years ago as part of the Avanza Plan for the development of the Information Society and to bring Spain in line with Europe and provide the Autonomous Regions with a common direction.

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

The Avanza Plan, driven by the Secretary of State for Telecommunications and the Information Society of the Spanish Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Commerce, aims to foster the development of the knowledge society by developing the digital content industry, improving citizens' technological skills, encouraging corporate R+D, modernizing public services and promoting the implementation of broadband infrastructures