MTFLabs

Music Tech Fest (MTF) is a growing global community of over 7000 brilliant minds. These innovators come from a wide range of backgrounds, disciplines and skillsets. Many are academics; others are industry experts, scientists, professional artists, producers, curators, business executives, media professionals and more. They come from fields as diverse as medicine, agriculture, automotive, aviation, product design, social sciences, robotics and AI, music composition and performance, arts management, micro computing, business incubation, traditional crafts, neuroscience, ecology and economics. These diverse practitioners use music as a social glue.

At the heart of the MTF ecosystem is #MTFLabs - a six-day innovation prototyping event that brings together a selected group of experts from the global MTF community, working together with a local group of participants with a wide range of technologies. Participants are invited to create hybrid technologies that bring together ideas and tools from different concepts, creating new projects, new aesthetic approaches and forge collaborations. The activities culminate with a showcase of the newly created works and a live experience for invited audience, with the participation of the experts and local participants.

As in the 2021 edition, #MTFLabs Aveiro 2022 will start with a series of inspiring lectures from avant-garde international guests in their respective areas. Then, the ideas are put into practice during the laboratories, through working groups formed by experts and local participants. During #MTFLabs, the invited experts work closely with the participants, enhancing a quick transfer of knowledge and allowing for a fast learning curve. In this approach, technologies provided by Music Tech Fest partners and sponsors are used in hybrid innovations, enabling the creation of entirely new market niches.

The 2022 edition of MTF LAbs

MTF places music and creativity at the heart of innovation across all domains to address grand societal challenges. The MTF Labs Aveiro 2022 theme is Ecosystem Living.
This challenge moves beyond and away from the concept of urban planning because we reject ‘urban’ as a necessary (or even desirable) condition for human habitation.
Ecosystem Living transcends the idea of spatial planning, since the focus of spatial planning is limited to the physical space and not the complex interactions between cohabiting species.
Nor is it ecosystem planning because we do not seek to impose order, encourage extractive practices or create the conditions for entirely anthropocentric habitation.
We consider human beings and their activities to be part of nature and not separate from it, and so true ecosystem living is about harmony, alignment and balance, and finding an entire value network within a holistic cohabitation. This balance must synthesise and integrate artistic practice, scientific research, traditional craft professions and local cultural practices.

Calendar

The MTF Labs Aveiro 2022 will be implemented according to the following timeline:

  • 11st July 2022: Official presentation of MTF Labs Aveiro 2022.
  • 12nd July to 30th September 2022: Applications period.
  • 12nd to 25th September 2022: Extended application period, if necessary.
  • 30th September 2022: Selection Announcement (up to 20 participants).
  • 10th to 15th October 2022: MTF Labs Aveiro Edition
  • 15th October 2022: MTF Labs Aveiro Edition Showcase

 

Recommendation of participant prole / target groups

MTF Labs are fully inclusive and combine expertise from the widest range of occupations, cultural, social and educational backgrounds.

Common qualities of MTF Labs include:

  • An affinity towards music, creativity and the arts;
  • An open mind;
  • An ambition to solve societal challenges.

  

We strongly recommend a careful reading of the supporting documents, including Participtation Rules, prior to any submission.