ABU DHABI: A new media content creation zone called twofour54 was unveiled by Abu Dhabi on Sunday. The launch of twofour54 was attended by Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, crown prince of Abu Dhabi.
The initiative will establish the city as a center of excellence for Arabic content creation, while also creating new opportunity for the region by providing a collaborative and fully-equipped center that brings together local, regional and international companies from across the breadth of the film, broadcast, digital, publishing and music industries. It will, according to officials, make Abu Dhabi a “capital of ideas.”
The name twofour54 is derived from Abu Dhabi’s geographical coordinates on the world map — lying between 24 degrees north and 54 degrees east.
The initiative has already attracted several of the largest and most influential content creation companies worldwide, including CNN, BBC, Thomson Foundation, Random House, Harper Collins, Rotana Studios, Financial Times, Abu Dhabi Media Company, C Sky Pictures and the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
The twofour54’s advanced ecosystem offers production facilities, infrastructure, training and a new business incubator — all on one site — for the development of world-class Arabic content by people from the region for the 300-million-strong Arab audience.
Speaking at the launch, Tony Orsten, chief executive officer of twofour54, said the Abu Dhabi 2030 vision seeks to establish the emirate as a regional center for culture. “An extremely important part of achieving this vision lies in creating a thriving international media industry which, to be successful, needs to be local at the same time,” he said.
According to a global study by PWC (Global Entertainment and Media Outlook report, 2008-2012), the Middle East media market is forecast to expand at double-digit annual rates over the next five years, by far outstripping the average of 6.6 percent growth across the rest of the world.
“Today we are not just launching a business, we are creating an industry and an ecosystem for true Arabic content creation by the people and for the people in the Arab region,” said Wayne Borg, chief operating officer, twofour54. “The market opportunity is substantial by any measure, but the industry needs more than just a location — it needs a cohesive environment that supports education, investment, collaboration and creative partnerships.”
The company is built around four pillars — twofour54 tadreeb, twofour54 ibtikar, twofour54 intaj and twofour54 tawasol. The twofour54 tadreeb will be the region’s premier vocational training academy. The twofour54 ibtikar will provide innovation support and funding for new, local businesses, twofour54 intaj is focused on supplying state-of-the-art production and post-production facilities and twofour54 tawasol, headed by Noura Al-Kaabi provides a one-stop-shop facility to support the relocation and establishment of content organizations.
