A platform for the management of a distributed cluster for innovative gaming and animation companies

• Grant number: 14/50207-3
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: September 01, 2014
• End date: August 31, 2016
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Computer Science - Computing Methodologies and Techniques
• Agreement: University of Edinburgh
• Principal Investigator: Flávio Soares Corrêa da Silva
• Grantee: Flávio Soares Corrêa da Silva
• Principal researcher abroad: David Stuart Robertson
• Institution abroad: University of Edinburgh, Scotland
• Host Institution: Instituto de Matemática e Estatística (IME). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 12/23375-7 - Experimental interaction science, AP.R

Abstract

Gaming and animation are important representatives of the Creative Industries, as their outputs are cultural artifacts and products whose value is based on intangible content much more than physical implementation ar manufacturing costs. Different projects range over a wide span of breadth and sophistication, and resource requirements vary significantly across projects. The organisation of companies as clusters has proven to be relevant to ensure their business sustainability, allowing these companies to organise themselves opportunistically and based on demand as a single unit to face larger projects. If companies are geographically dispersed, appropriate mechanisms must be created to facilitate the exchange of products and services, to monitor the activities and general behaviour of each company and to assess the reputation of candidate companies prior to inviting them to join a partnership. These mechanisms should follow and support general norms for social and business behaviour, as well as emerge from actual interactions among companies. In the present work we propose the development of the appropriate infrastructure to support the organisation of a distributed innovation cluster for gaming and animation, based on the web and supporting the mechanisms outlined in the previous paragraphs. Our goals are the construction of the proposed infrastructure and corresponding tools to update their normative behaviour, as well as the use of this infrastructure to effectively start the development of a geographically distributed cluster. (AU)