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Media Lab Europe (MLE) was a research institute in Dublin, Ireland based on the MIT Media Lab. It went into voluntary liquidation early in 2005.
MLE was created in July 2000 and was considered a pet-project of the Irish Taoiseach Bertie Ahern. The lab received significant subsidies from the European Union and start-up funding of 35 million Euro from Irish Government. It was located in a former Guinness warehouse in the historic Liberities area and was to have been a flagship project for the Irish Government's "Digital Hub" project, an urban rejuvanation scheme which aimed to encourage digital media companies to locate in the area. The MLE board included U2's The Edge.
The lab focused on basic research into digital technology, bio-feedback and human-machine interaction. The lab was quite successful and managed to recreate the creative play atmosphere of the MIT Media Lab; it published 43 journal and conference proceedings articles in 2004 [1] (http://www.medialabeurope.org/research/publications.php). The "Mind Games" group lead by Gary McDarby, for example, achieved international recognition for its work on EEG based mind-computer interfaces. Research partners included Allied Irish Banks, BT, Ericsson, Intel, and Orange. The lab also cooperated with several Irish universities and the Higher Education Authority. The lab received an honorary mention at the 2004 Prix Ars Electronica.
However, the lab had administrative difficulties from the start and there were frequent changes in the management staff. The lab was also unlucky to have been founded just as the internet bubble collapsed and with it the corporate fashion for investing in project of this sort. 2004 saw increasing concern about the viability of the lab, it encountered a funding crisis and it did not seem likely that the lab would satisfy its business plan by become self-financing. On the 14 January 2005 it was announced that the lab would be put into voluntary liquidation and close.
Commenting in the Irish Times (Karlin Lillington 2005) Nicholas Negroponte, the founder of the MIT Media Lab, said that the research at MLE was "beyond [his] wildest expectations", he was critical of European companies for their unwillingness to invest in the lab and said
- "Many visitors to MLE thought the work in Dublin was more edgy than at MIT. In this regard, Ireland received what it asked for in spades. the failing was economic and the financial model was freakishly untimely"
It was also reported in the media (Jamie Smith 2005) that the Irish government would have provided further limited funding, but only if MIT had agreed governance changes; something they were unwilling to do. The Irish Government now plans to fund a digital media centre at the same location, but this will have a more applied focus.
MLE was not the only attempt to franchise the MIT Media Lab, Media Lab Asia was founded by MIT and the Indian government in 2001 but broke all links with MIT in 2003.
External link and references
- Official site (http://www.medialabeurope.org)
- Games to take your breath away: BBC news (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/2917503.stm)
- Smith, Jamie (15 January 2005). Flagship digital research project in Dublin collapses. The Irish Times p1.
- O'Brien, Denis (8 October 2004). Media Lab Europe is a Unique Asset. The Irish Times.
- Lillingon, Karlin (17 January 2005). Media Lab closure 'a huge shame'. The Irish Times p16.
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