Trends and future research priorities on networked media

Summary form only given. The current media landscape is characterised by an explosion of massively distributed digital objects, by a growing share of user generated content and an ever increasing quality of professional content (digital cinema, ultra high definition TV, immersive games, 3D, amongst others). This is compounded with new consumption modes and userspsila demands for new services, such as ubiquitous access on demand, social and community media, content personalisation and more intuitive and easier methods for content creation and retrieval. This requires moving from content to context and from a traditional broadcasting approach to personal and on-demand media access. The above trends have a profound impact also on the infrastructure and the access technologies required, for example content awareness and advanced methods, tools and systems enabling more intuitive content creation and multimedia-based search for content are to become basic elements of the future 3D Media Internet. The European Commission is spearheading new areas of research, from basic technologies to service integration and applications. Innovative domains, such as video or 3D object search, next generation of P2P, end to end 3D video delivery and immersive media experiences are some of the topics that the current RD projects are addressing. In parallel new research opportunities are being explored as they should lead to new technology breakthroughs and business opportunities. This is the way to ensure Europe will be able to play an important role in the future networked media world, as we are fully aware that beyond a key technology we are addressing a major industrial and cultural challenge for Europe.