Orange and Havas Media announce the creation of SiliWood, a cutting edge joint research and business development centre in Los Angeles

Los Angeles

Orange and Havas Media proudly announce the opening of a new joint research and business centre in Los Angeles. The centre, named SiliWood, supports the growing interest of brands and agencies in potential industry developments generated by the crossover between the media industry and Hollywood.

SiliWood – a term coined in the 1990’s to describe an area around LA and the convergence between Silicon Valley and Hollywood – has, with the inclusion of Big Data, become one of the most exciting areas to work for brands and agencies. As a result, traditional boundaries within the entertainment industry are being extended by new inventions and ideas from tech startups. More recently, the rise in the number of digital formats that leverage Big Data and new technologies are creating new user experiences. This mix of ideas and skill sets will be the focus for the project as well as its impact on the way we live and work.
The research team at SiliWood will identify innovations in the short- to mid-term resulting from the convergence of what many in the industry are calling “The Big 4”: Media, Content, Technology and Data Science. Initially the teams will leverage studios, start-ups, VCs and world renowned universities in the Los Angeles area.
Élie Girard, Group EVP for Strategy and Development at Orange comments: “Orange has expertise in converging digital content at the network and device level. By joining with Havas in the heart of the entertainment ecosystem we hope to take a deeper look at the business and talent issues around digital storytelling.”
Dominique Delport, Global Managing Director Havas Media Group comments: “These are fascinating times - as a data-driven and digital global group, SiliWood is of extreme interest to us as it represents the future of our industry. This venture will help us to understand and leverage the evolution of this new ecosystem and help our teams and clients benefit from the creative outputs and huge opportunities this exciting convergence will produce"
This marks the onset of a long-term investment into this area by both Orange and Havas Media, starting in January 2014, with a series of round table discussions and day-long workshops.

about Orange

Orange is one of the world’s leading telecommunications operators with sales of 43.5 billion euros in 2012 and has 168,000 employees worldwide at 30 June 2013, including 103,000 employees in France. Present in 32 countries, the Group has a total customer base of more than 231 million customers at 30 June 2013, including 174 million mobile customers and 15 million fixed broadband customers worldwide. Orange is also a leading provider of global IT and telecommunication services to multinational companies, under the brand Orange Business Services.

Orange is listed on the NYSE Euronext Paris (symbol ORA) and on the New York Stock Exchange (symbol ORAN).
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