Thaindian News

New Delhi, Nov 12 (IANS) In a world where new gizmos are being married to the Internet and culture has emerged as an important showcase of soft power, what will drive content in terms of entertainment and how much will people and governments spend on that?

These and other issues will be addressed in a a set of four studies to be released at “Forum d’Avignon - 2011″ — an event in southeastern France that provides opportunities for discussions on the worlds of culture, creativity and media.

“Investing in culture” is the theme of this year’s edition of the annual event — the fourth thus far — at Avignon with a broad focus on the importance of culture in our societies.

The four studies to be released are:

* Intellectual property: a universal value?

* Committing and investing in culture: from intuition to decision

* Referencing, prescription of cultural contents on the Internet

* The cultural experience reinvented: creating links thanks to connected devices and services

The study on intellectual property, authored by consulting major E&Y; delves on issues such as how to develop an international benchmark on intellectual property, protecting investors and promoting innovation based on extensive field reports from G20 countries.

The rest are related to analysing key triggers which prompt investment in cultural projects, the relationship between cultural expenditure and economic power and how the internet has change the role of traditional media and journalists.

“From Nov 17-19, 400 attendees from all continents will try to share their vision of this personal and collective investment,” the organisers said, ahead of the event.

The Forum d’Avignon was created after the ratification of the UNESCO convention on cultural diversity, and since its beginning, has been backed by the French Ministry of Culture and Communication.

It’s a laboratory of ideas dedicated to culture and suggests subjects for reflections at global, European and local levels.