NAB Creates Pilot To Foster Tech Innovation

The NAB today announced what it’s calling the evolution of its innovation arm: NAB Labs will become Pilot, an initiative to bring together leading-edge companies, organizations and educators to advance broadcast technology and broadcaster innovation.

Charter members of the initiative include Accenture, Akamai, Frankly, Google, Nielsen, Shareablee and Yahoo.

NAB also announced that John Clark will be executive director of the program. Clark brings 18 years of experience in digital media, most recently with the Reese News Lab in the School of Media and Journalism at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Prior to UNC, Clark conceived, built and managed several broadcast television websites and mobile applications.

NAB said Pilot is “designed to create a coalition of broadcasting and technology stakeholders, such as new media broadcasters, measurement and attribution companies, advertising partners and technology enablers.” Among other goals, Pilot aims to drive creation and implementation of new technologies and solutions for the media industry through working groups and committees.

“As the definition of what it means to be a broadcaster broadens, it is critical to work with traditional and new media partners on innovations to better meet the needs of future generations of consumers,” said NAB EVP and Chief Technology Officer Sam Matheny. “Pilot will build these partnerships among visionaries who share the goal of tackling the challenges and opportunities facing the broadcast industry in the 21st century. I am especially happy to have John Clark leading this effort and look forward to working with him to build an engaging future.”

Pilot will build on the innovation efforts of NAB Labs, a technology division of NAB created in 2012 to propel broadcast television and radio into the future. The division has been engaged in numerous innovation efforts such as the development of next-generation television and hybrid radio for Smartphones.

In 2015, NAB Labs joined business incubators 1776 and the Dingman Center Angels, which provide resources and networking connections for early-stage companies. NAB Labs also made seed-round investments in two startup companies: Antenna, a company that builds online engagement and measures audience sentiment; and Yet Analytics, a big data company focused on interpreting data for use in real-time decision-making in time-sensitive applications.

NAB said charter members of Pilot will help define key areas for development of innovative technologies and services for media companies with a focus on multi-platform digital distribution. As associate members of NAB, Pilot members will also participate in NAB technology program development, conventions and networking events.

More information about Pilot can be found here.