Review: 

March 2 - 5, 2006, Architekturzentrum / MuseumsQuartier, Vienna, Austria 

The Top Talent Festival showcased and promoted the most talented students and young professionals of this year’s EUROPRIX Top Talent Award 2005, awarding them for their outstanding achievements.
22 project teams, 30 instructors and about 50 invited VIP guests from all across Europe turned the MuseumsQuartier into a vibrant centre for creativity and innovation. 
Over three days, the festival provided a platform for networking and sharing ideas, experiences and business contacts between the newcomers, instructors, representatives of the international IT and creative industries as well as media editors and journalists.

Representatives from Microsoft, Telekom Austria and ATI meant that the commercial sector was well represented and keen to see what the best young multimedia talents had to offer. Journalists from MTV, Germany’s SAT1, Austria’s Ö3 and FM4 and the UK’s BBC as well as others gave the nominees top exposure and coverage. 

The Top Talent Festival programme offered a wide range of high professional keynotes of business experts, dynamic workshops, entertaining and interesting project presentations and parties. The exhibition of the Top Talent projects and the Top Talent Award Gala Night were the special highlights of the festival. In the elegant surrounding of the Museum of Military History, Einshoch6 kept the party rolling with their blend of classical music and hip-hop.
Linus Feldt, from Gammafon Multimedia AB, hosted the event with charm and wit. The event was also broadcast live on the internet thanks to Telekom Austria. 

Especially during the multimedia live presentations, this year's Top Talent Teams demonstrated their ingenuity in the use of the technology as a useful application or an entertainment device. Their presentations gave those present a unique insight into how young producers are able to develop creative content, advance technology and develop business models. Many of the producers have also already had considerable success.
Mika Tyyskä expects Guitar Shred Show to break the one-million hits barrier this month. 80,000 people have created their own comics using Ziga Aljaz’s Strip Generator. Supreme Auction already has a major client – eBay.  

The nominees were delighted just to take part in the multimedia festival and network with other inspired producers, academics and organisations.  
Brendan Dawes (UK) roused the audience with his keynote speech on how multimedia producer’s can humanise content and gain wide audiences. Producers, he believes, should use the concept of “iteration” and develop ideas rather than being obsessed with innovation which may not be useful. Paul Hoffert (CAN), professor at Harvard and a major visionary in the industry, was amazed at the high standard of European multimedia present at the festival: “In the United States, my organisation gives out grants for over 200,000 Euros to producers. The standard here, with producers sometimes using 2,000 Euros or less, is amazing.”