Zenterio : and Linköping University make TV more social

As part of its mission to fuel innovation, Zenterio has been working with Linköping University to explore ways that television can be combined with the capabilities of social networks to make the TV user experience more rewarding and absorbing. Zenterio has been collaborating with LIU on the PUM course since 2012. You can read more about our last two collaborations by clicking here (2015) and here (2014).

During Autumn 2016, Zenterio has been cooperating closely with Linköping University to inspire innovation. The international PUM software engineering course, organized by Kristian Sandahl, Professor of Software Engineering and Rita Kovordanyi, lecturer in the Dept. of Computer and Information Science, provides an excellent opportunity for students to learn how to participate in and manage a startup company. Zenterio has been collaborating with the course for the past four years.

On the course, 120 students from different backgrounds create four virtual companies to develop projects proposed by Zenterio. The projects are chosen as part of the Zenterio innovation process, where initial ideas are evolved into potential products.

This year, the students spent three months developing projects to enhance the capabilities of JetUI (Product Video 1, Product Video 2), Zenterio's HTML5 user interface framework, by creating new immersive experiences for TV viewers.

To support the activity, Zenterio organized periodic meetings with the PUM companies to guide them through the project management process in time for final release of the results on December 8.

The projects generated several solutions to enhance the end-user experience and provide new revenue models for TV operators:

- A powerful and scalable recommendations engine based on configurable criteria such as favorites and content consumed by other subscribers. The solution includes a flexible notification system to keep end users updated about their subscriptions and recommendations.

- A synchronized video experience for remote viewers. The solution provides a platform where remote participants can watch TV content in sync while interacting with other end users. In addition, an adaptive user feedback feature is integrated to provide relevant information about a particular scene such as location, actors, and brands.

- An immerse social solution to increase end user TV content consumption. The project combines cloud authentication mechanisms in social networks to retrieve information about recommended content and the interactive capabilities of friends while watching media with the possibility to share information about ongoing live shows and on-demand content in the social community.

- A user engagement platform through gamification. End-users are able to earn points by challenging others to consume specific TV content. Also, the end users can achieve badges and titles, and share their achievements on a global leaderboard.

In order to congratulate the students for this excellent work, Zenterio organized an event on December 8, attended by Zenterio's CEO, Jörgen Nilsson. The meeting allowed the virtual companies to present their business plans and to network with Zenterio staff. The event caught the imagination of the audience who were impressed by the professionalism of the presentations and the commercial potential of the projects.