“Digital media companies will have access to some of the sharpest industry minds in the world during X|Media|Lab “Digital Worlds: Social, Virtual, Mobile” conference at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI), August 10 – 12, Melbourne,” said the Victorian Treasurer and Minister for Innovation, John Brumby in Melbourne today.

Mr Brumby said speakers at the conference would include world renowned filmaker Shekhar Kapur, who is returning to X|Media|Lab after being an International Mentor at the recent X|Media|Lab in Mumbai.

Also attending X|Media|Lab Melbourne “Digital Worlds” is a delegation from the Cyber Recreation District in Beijing, which includes the President and CEO, the Chairman, and VP of Technology.The CRD is the biggest digital media industry development project in China.

“This is a tremendous opportunity for Victoria’s digital media companies to expand their networks with China and India, and to work one-on-one with a range of the world’s digital media power-brokers,” he said.

International media stars converging on Melbourne for X|Media|Lab include:

Shekhar Kapur, world renowned film-maker and co-founder of Virgin Comics and Virgin Animation (Mumbai/London); Dr David Liu, CEO of Beijing’s Cyber Recreation Development Corporation, and the world’s most ambitious virtual world project (Beijing); Dale Herigstad, 4-time Emmy Award winner, including the first Interactive Emmy (Los Angeles); Francisco Cordero, the General Manager of Bebo, the UK’s largest and fastest growing social networking site (London/Sydney); Kay Gruenwoldt, Nokia’s world-wide Manager of Global Developer Program (Vancouver/Helsinki); Kevin Anderson, the Head of Blogging and Interaction at The Guardian newspaper (London); Marcelino Ford-Livene, Head of Interactive Advertising for Intel’s Digital Home Group (Los Angeles); Director of London’s SMARTlabs, Lizbeth Goodman (London); Martha Ladly, for ten years the Editor and Producer at Peter Gabriel’s Real World Multimedia and now the Director of Toronto’s Mobile Experience Lab (Toronto); Australian Film Commissioner Tom Kennedy (Sydney); Telstra Big Pond’s General Manager of Innovation, Jason Romney (Sydney); Liz Heller, Founder and CEO of marketing innovators Buzztone (Los Angeles); Brian Gruber, Founder and CEO of Fora.tv (San Francisco); Jennifer Lewis, Editor of STOMP – Straits Times Online Mobile Print (Singapore); and Bruce Joy, Founder of VASTPARK, Australia’s amazing virtual world’s platform.

The 2007 Melbourne Lab is looking for 10 great projects along the general theme of “Digital Worlds: Social, Virtual, Mobile” … social media, virtual worlds, mobile applications, video, interactive entertainment and content, and web applications.

Companies and project teams from all over the world are encouraged to apply, and can submit their project ideas online at www.xmedialab.com

Selected projects will have the opportunity to work one-on-one with the X|Media|Lab International Mentors over the intensive two-day workshop, and attend the X|Media|Lab Professional Day Conference, Australia’s best attended digital media event.

Previous X|Media|Lab project teams have ranged from independent start-ups which have gone on to win awards at MIPCOM in Cannes, UNESCO in New York, AIMIA in Australia; to Lonely Planet; Disney Internet Group from Tokyo; Zuji.com; and India’s biggest games and animation company. Project teams have come from the UK, Hong Kong, China, Australia, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, India and New Zealand.

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About X|Media|Lab (pronounced “cross media lab”)

X|Media|Lab is the internationally acclaimed think-tank and creative workshop for digital media professionals across the emerging digital media disciplines in computer games, animation, digital cinema, interactive content and entertainment, and mobile applications. X|Media|Lab brings together the world’s leading digital media practitioners, power-brokers, and innovators in a unique creative environment that helps companies and project teams improve their own digital media ideas, get their products to market, and achieve commercial success.

In 2007 X|Media|Lab will be held in Mumbai (March), London (June), Melbourne (August), Singapore (October), and Beijing (December).

X|Media|Lab was created in 2003 and has been held at the Sydney Opera House, the Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Australian Centre for the Moving Image; as part of the Sydney Film Festival, the Melbourne International Film Festival, the Asia Media Festival, the Asia Games Developers Summit, and Broadcast Asia.