Second lives at UNC

March 21, 2007 at 7:54 pm | In education, future, innovation, north carolina, technology, trends, unc | Leave a Comment

Staff with Information Technology Services at UNC has invested $5,560 into the purchase of a pair of islands in Second Life — the virtual online community. University staff, graduate students, and volunteers are developing the properties and filling them with Carolina landmarks — like the Old Well and Forrest Theatre.

With almost 5 million people registered worldwide and millions of U.S. dollars exchanged among users per month, Second Life is its own world complete with a global economy and infrastructure. Users can go to the beach, attend concerts and even go skydiving.

Ultimately, University officials plan to make the space available for any number of uses — from virtual lectures to student life projects.

Carolina's Second Life

– mvc.

The benefits of venture-funding

March 21, 2007 at 7:34 pm | In business, economic development, north carolina, survey, trends, venture capital | Leave a Comment

A new study says that venture-backing is a major motor for the nation’s economy. In North Carolina, the impact was calculated to be $28 billion and 146,509 jobs in 2005 alone, and over the past 35 years, venture capital firms poured $6.3 billion into 419 different companies in the state.

The foundation of the study was a database of 23,476 companies that have attracted venture capital. Actual data were pulled only for the top 200 companies. For the remainder, employment and revenue figures were projected based on each industry’s growth rate.

Though the survey includes numbers from mature companies (like Cisco, Starbucks, and eBay) that have long since moved beyond the need for venture capital (and thus I’m a little dubious about some of its more enthusiastic claims), there’s still a lot of value in looking at the numbers.

– mvc

Could the future of the film industry bode well for N.C.?

March 21, 2007 at 1:35 pm | In business, culture, economic development, film, north carolina, policy | Leave a Comment

This isn’t really North Carolina-related (yet…), but I thought this piece on the future of the film industry from Slate had some interesting implications. Bear with me…

The memo predicted the decline of the studios, with filmmaking talent as the beneficiary. He also predicted that a management company with a lot of big stars would start to produce and own films.

The story here is all about how an agency called Endeavor might have basically created a straw man in order to get top dollar on Bruno, the next film by Sacha Baron Cohen (an Endeavor client; very nice!). Slate understands and explains better than I do:

Before the bidding frenzy started, Endeavor sold Bruno to a financing entity called Media Rights Capital. MRC didn’t take much of a risk, since the studios were fighting to buy the project before the proverbial ink was dry. In fact, MRC sold the package to Universal at such lightning speed that some at the studios have wondered aloud (if not on the record): Why did Endeavor need to bring MRC into the deal?

And that raises the question: Is MRC a separate company, or is it Endeavor in different clothing? It is against California state law for agencies to produce films, and Endeavor has said that MRC is a separate entity.

OK. If you’re still with me, it seems that if the future of the filmmaking industry is oriented around the talent rather than the studios, and the agencies with the talent are prohibited by Calif. law from making films, there’s a big opening for an enterprising state trying to become a second home to the film industry…

Now I don’t know the extent of N.C. conflict-of-interest law (and speaking of law, I need to get back to Bluebooking), so maybe someone can fill me in. But it appears that there’s a lot of potential for a state to enhance its cultural image (and economy) by positioning itself as a haven for film-making talent moving away from the studio system. Like I said, my understanding is really incomplete. But someone fill me in.

~ nd 

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