Media Lab Europe

Media Lab Europe is the European research partner of the MIT Media Lab in Dublin, Ireland, and has the character of a start-up company. Media Lab Europe invents by bringing together scientists, engineers and artists from different disciplines to aid the creation of technologies and possibilities.

My main motivation for going to Media Lab Europe was so I could have an impact on this young organisation. I was excited about the idea of joining a research institute from the beginning, and I contributed to many special interest groups as well as with corporate sponsors. I also acted as connecting person between Media Lab US and Media Lab Europe. My research accomplishments include the design, concept and development of a "Sports over a Distance" project, which allows two players to play a soccer-like game together although they are in distant locations. This work got accepted at ACM SIGCHI (Conference on Human Factors in Design), the most prestigious conference in this field. It also got accepted to UIST(User Interface and System Technology) in France, another prestigious conference. My other work on "Transparent Headphones" received "best practice" recognition from CHI.

The papers, as well as an in-depth description can be found at exertioninterfaces.com.

I also led an "Internal Communications" team. It aimed to improve the internal information flow within the organization by establishing an Intranet, Extranet and Internet website, all powered by a content-management system with intelligent retrieval functionality. I volunteered for this position, because I wanted to be actively involved in the early stages of setting up this new research lab and have an impact on its success.

I also consulted Media Lab Europe in marketing and distributing the research products outside the company. As part of this, I was responsible for the appropriate communication of cutting-edge technology details to potential partners and for communicating with them on various levels: I had to describe the technology according to the partner's understanding and apply it to their business' needs. This resulted in presenting research work at two open-houses to about 200 visitors. Their affiliations ranged from Fortune 100 companies, international research labs, prestigious universities, non-profit organizations, boards of directors, and governmental institutions from developing countries. Even Bono from U2 was there.