MITIL has been created as a real meeting platform to serve an international community which one has tended to neglect: the independent and local broadcasters. MITIL's aim is to reunite these broadcasters (television, radio and web) on an annual basis so that they may have the opportunity to not only participate in the various features of the event itself but also to meet up with each other and exchange their ideas and solutions in the calm and relaxing environment which Vevey offers.
Europe alone has already some 3'000 TV and probably 5 to 6 times more radio stations, and let's not forget the countless fantastic experiences lived by the webcasters. This annual rendez-vous will be YOURS - you, the low power, HIGH ENERGY people of the industry, will always be "at home" in Vevey, year after year.
The first edition will, it is clear, be a springboard for future events; the participants this year, based on their ideas, their input and their contributions, will shape those of the future. Do not fail to complete the special "list of wishes" inserted in this programme, and pop it into the appropriate box at the Welcome Desk. We promise - we shall take note of your wishes and your remarks...!
For this event to attain its objectives, it will be necessary to re-assess one's way of thinking and that attitudes change: the "local" view of the locals must widen to let them see what their neighbours are doing, and the "separatist" manner of the independents must also be relaxed; independence does not mean isolation. On the contrary, network organisation and exchanges allow for a better independence and a more authentic vision of the "local".
This is the real aim of MITIL - facilitate and stimulate (via its technical exhibition, its programme market and its conferences) the networking of a community which is becoming ever larger, inventive and creative, but which is scattered throughout the world: the independent producers and broadcasters.
At an age when the "prime time" of the big commercial or public networks is only assured by monitoring or amateur cameras, offering thus, more than ever, an opportunity for creative broadcasters to prove their "raison d'être", it is clear that broadcasting is no longer the exclusive domain of the "happy few" - those who share the income derived from tax and license fees, the advertising cake, technological know-how and the monopoly of information.
Bring your programmes to the Videokiosk, show what YOU DO - facilitate the circulation of programmes, ideas and technologies by presenting them at our Forums.
MITIL has been made possible thanks to the confidence shown by our partners - firstly, the town of Vevey, which has given us such a warm welcome - we are at home here, in the Town of Images, a town which, for a few days, is now a real "networking village"; secondly, our partners of the media in practically all countries of Europe, who, right from the start, have believed in this adventure and lent us their support, month after month, and our organisation/association partners.
And, last but not least, our technical and business partners, without whom nothing would have been possible. The realisation of the electronic Videokiosk at this first edition is proof of the wonderful co-operation MITIL has enjoyed.
The MITIL team wishes to thank you most sincerely and it is already looking forward, with your trust and enthusiasm, to preparing the next edition.
So, here's to the next time, all of us, once again, at the second edition of MITIL: note the dates - June 12/15, 2002, a MITIL which, thanks to you, will be improved, wider in scope and even more sensitive to your needs.
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Remember, this is YOUR annual meeting platform!
COSTA HARALAMBIS,
President, Founder - MITIL Association
June 2001
Vevey is a small town which has prospered due to the fact it was located at the crossroads of the main routes of communication in Roman days, routes which, today, have become European highways.
A crossing point, certainly, but also an exceptional location, situated as Vevey is, between the lake and the mountains, so much so that visitors have often settled down in the area. This town is, therefore, made for bringing together the travelers of this world and maintaining continuous links with them. For example, Nestle which has, from Vevey, already in the 19th century, developed an extraordinary worldwide network of processed foodstuffs.
The configuration of the old town, which dates back to the Middle Ages, where everything is near to the center, its main square (Grande Place), surrounded by meeting points which favour contacts, are undeniable assets for the gathering of professionals in the field of communication.
Following the crisis which hit the manufacturing industry, Vevey turned towards the evolving technologies of information and communication. With few resources, it was able to get its new policy off the ground thanks to the vision of some friends, such as Professor Murat Kunt, Director of the Signal Processing Laboratory at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology.
It was, therefore, natural that a gathering of small and independent Radio and TV broadcasters take place in a small town experienced in the art of human contact. As paradoxical as it may seem, the digital revolution, which is one of the causes of the incredible anonymous exchanges called globalisation or internationalism, offers an opportunity also to small businesses; it is necessary, of course, that competition be on equal terms, which is not yet, of course, the case, and which certainly does not appear to be obvious as far as the economic and political circles are concerned.
It is, therefore, up to the consumers, who benefit from local community-based services, to support the cultural aspect of this method of expression for, in the "global village", although one knows what is happening in the world, one is clearly more aware of what is going on one's doorstep. This phenomenon is accentuated by the fact that the population is no longer as sedentary as it was; everyone is on the move and there is worldwide emigration, phenomena in themselves which are totally irreversible.
This feeling of belonging to the same community beyond one's origins stems, to a large extent, from the presence of local radio and television. If, today, Vevey has contributed, even modestly, by offering the framework and the people capable of organising this get-together, then it has had the good fortune to be one of the nodes in the network.
It is a great pleasure for me to welcome all to this event and, in particular, those participants who come from countries outside the European Union, confronted as they are, at one and the same time, by the market and the governing powers.
I wish you all a profitable and constructive stay in Vevey.
YVES CHRISTEN
Mayor of Vevey,
National Councillor
June 2001
MITIL
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