CASES
VRT Sandbox has already worked with lots of startups and SME's. Below you can find all the projects that VRT Sandbox has been working on the startups they've worked with.
Past collaborations
2019
Uncanny
Making appealing title sequences for the opening credits of the Canvas docu fiction series ‘Als je eens wist?’. Or what about building 3D models together with our youth channel Ketnet?
An exciting challenge for Uncanny!
CUTNUT
Storytelling made easy. That’s the unique selling point of Cutnut, a German company founded in 2015. Forget about horizontal. Vertical is the way to go.
With the Cutnut Story Editor you can create and share vertical stories. Ideal for publishers and brands. One tool for social media and AMP Stories.
We tested Cutnut with Eén Digitaal and Studio Brussel. They created several Instagram Stories and AMP videos with this tool.
Soulmade
What if you could tailor-make an app to make sure everyone can use it? That is exactly what they are doing at Soulmade.
By using the benefits of VR, AR and holograms they open up the world of digital storytelling for kids.
Imagine that you’re a child and you can see your own drawings coming to live. Turning a very dull and scary hospital room into a magical space. Wouldn’t that be great? Well, this is exactly what happened.
Relaas
Sharing stories brings people closer together. With Luisterpuntbibliotheek, FMDO, Relaas and Radio 1 we organized Hallo Micro, an initiative to empower newcomers to tell their stories to a live audience.
The results are precious anecdotes about trains in Cuba, the consequences of being stubborn and childhood memories.
This project was supported by the Government of Flanders.
Winston analytics
Learning how to speak properly is crucial if you want to be a radio presenter. Our VRT language department is making sure you’re ready to go on air. Winston Analytics was their perfect speech companion!
Just create a profile for each channel. The speech app does the rest. With this online tool you can improve your communication skills through voice analysis and Artificial Intelligence, giving you feedback, tips and exercises.
It was amazing how easy it was to track progress and how it really made the job of a speech coach easier.
lucidweb
LucidWeb is a Brussels-based company that helps agencies, publishers and broadcasters to distribute and share 360°/VR/AR content.
LucidWeb collaborated with Vranckx to tell a 360-degree story. Together they made Mama Congo. This is a unique 360-video where you can look at 6 different portraits of Congolese women. It’s a combination of 2D video, 3D video and interactivity.
Holler.live
Your customers form opinions about you at every single point in their customer journey. They want to share this with you, but not at the price of filling in boring, long, time consuming surveys.
In our case we use Holler.Live in the MNM app to engage with users, get instant feedback and let the presenter interact with the listener.
aiconix
Aiconix.ai capitalizes on Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in the field of video optimization. Its software enables the start-up to deliver the important analysis data already during the video production and to swiftly integrate the necessary information into the video. t is a helpful tool to translate videos.
In 2016, VRT NWS tested Aiconix for te first time. In 2019 they did the test again.
Azilpix and red bull media house
AZilPix specializes in a new concpet of vidoe caption. Sounds simple, but what they do is actually pretty impressive. Much so that we decided to do a test case with them and Canvas.
Afterwards we introduced AZilPix to Red Bull Media House via the Sandbox Hub. Now they’re operating in Europe!
NEWSBRIDGE
Newsbridge is a Paris-based company founded in 2016. The company builds revolutionary contribution and image processing solutions for advanced story production.
Although this tool has a lot of functionalities we mainly used it at VRT NWS to transcribe videos.
But Newsbridge also does indexing, analyzing and labeling of video and audio fragments. Their semantic search engine looks through people, objects, scenes, contexts and speech. Unleash your creativity when producing stories.
Valossa
Valossa’s vision is to develop an AI that understands video like a human does. Replace your cognitive workloads with video artificial intelligence.
During the years in the university research labs, the team saw how the world moved beyond text, with video playing a greater role in our daily communication. This spawned an idea to use technology to automatically understand what we are viewing and apply the latest techniques to meet the emerging needs of content producers globally.
VRT NWS tested this tool with a focus on speech-to-text.
Content Link Block
2018
Trendolizer & EzyInsights
Trendolizer and EzyInsights are news gathering tools. To test their products we gave it to two of our colleagues at VRT NWS who used the tools for about three months.
They tried to integrate these tools into their daily routine as journalists. The main focus of the test was to find out if these tools were an easy way to detect fake news while working on news articles.
Influo
Influo is a startup that connects influencers with companies. They provide an end-to-end solution for brands and agencies.
Working with influencers to promote your brand is a new way of advertising since the classic ways of advertising are losing ground. The number of people interested in influencer-marketing is growing.
Voizzup
Imagine as a radio maker that you can monitor in real time if your audience is listening or not. Turning up the volume when you ask them to. Or even when you don’t ask them to.
That is exactly what the Voizzup tool has to offer.
MNM discovered that this was groundbreaking and would revolutionize the way they make radio.
ON-HERTZ
So image you want to make a radio show, say from an air balloon. What you could use is a full radio studio running on a simple laptop or tablet. That is exactly what On Hertz is.
During a 2 hour radio show from VRT radio station Radio 2 this software was tested. On Hertz proved to be a compact and stable solution. You can now make radio from anywhere!
360video Live Streaming Radio 1
Match: Radio 1 - interne keuken
Sit down at the table together with radio hosts Koen Fillet, Sven Speybrouck and their guests during VRT radio channel’s Radio 1 show Interne Keuken. An on location live radio broadcast. Join them and take a seat at the table!
Together with the audio technicians of Interne Keuken we set up a live 360° video stream.
The studio is on location, hardware used was an Orah 360 camera and an older sound card which did the job for now (Edirol U-25).
METACHAT
Metachat built a community platform for news tv-show PANO. After each show, the viewers were invited to join the chat and talk about the things that matter, for them.
live weather views
VRT’s weather department will be using Live Weather Views automatically generated time-lapse videos that can be customised with a few key clicks. VRT will provide user feedback and a list of features that will be of interest for LiveWeather Views.
AZILPIX
Azilpix is the company of Philippe Bekaert, a true pioneer in the innovation industry. With Azilpix he captured and produced the grand finale of Thomas Speelt Het Hard, a show on our tv station Canvas.
REALITY MATTERS
Together with Reality Matters we produced an augmented reality experience for our VRT kids channel Ketnet. It was used at the Ketnet fanday.
BUFFL
Buffl is an app that can be used in the design thinking process. It allows you to quickly ask a community their opinion.
We tried an app that allows the user to swipe Tinder-wise through VRT content.
manual.to
Better manuals, made in minutes? That’s the core-business of Manual.to!
Manual.to makes it easy for anyone to quickly create, share and read workplace instructions. Sporza used this software to make a physical explainer.
BLOCKCHAIN FOR RADIO
Can we use the blockchain technology to achieve a new manner for intellectual property payment?
news in vr
‘De verhaaldoos.be’ wants to mobilize both the media and the general public to the ultimate interactive experience that Virtual Reality can bring. Did it work?
muuselabs
The goal is to create a Jooki, a jukebox for children with a visual impairment. No screens, no ads. Enjoy music with a sense of togetherness, safety and purpose.
koalect
Koalect built a crowdsourcing platform where people could register something they wanted to achieve for the opening act of Thomas Speelt het Hard.
A tv show where host Thomas Vanderveken tries to master a piano concerto in just one year.
Dropbox BUSINESS
Match: VRT radio imaging
As VRT we make radio imaging for our own brands, such as MNM, Studio Brussel, Eén and Canvas.
Did you know that when they want to edit their work from home, they need to drag their hard disks all the way from work to home and back? With Dropbox business we want to seek how we can optimize that process. At the same time we investigate how the tool can help us to make it more easy to collaborate with each other, both with intern as extern customers from VRT. We also investigate if integration with our current systems as sharepoint are possible.
Steambox
Match: Imec, VDAB & Proximus
What’s in a word? Science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics. To prepare the next generation for the technological and societal challenges of the future, the Steambox-project aims to introduce a more practical way of education with more room for experiments. The project entails collecting content on a certain topic during different workshops, demonstrations and presentations at an event in an educational box. By means of the technology inside, teachers are able to simulate the event in the classroom and challenge the students creatively and technically.
selma.ai
Match: Eén online
Selma.ai is a Flemish startup which works on data-driven targeting of content. Together with the online-team of Eén, we investigate how we can raise the click through-rate from Eén’s newsletter.
To be concrete the newsletter is made 50% redactional, while the other 50% is chosen by the artificial intelligence of selma.ai. The personalized data together with Selma.ai choses which articles you’ll get in your personalized newsletter.
veset
Match: Ketnet
Everything is moving into the cloud! Is this seemingly unstoppable trend also valid when it comes to the playout of VRT’s linear channels? Not only do we face the challenge of live broadcasts and adhoc interventions, we also have to deal with very complex playout schedules. We currently depend highly on an intensive layer of manual quality control. Will this still be feasible in the cloud? We took on this challenge with the guys from Veset and their Nimbus cloud playout software-as-a-service solution.
2017
Solar team kul, newtec, network innovations & pacific live media
Together with satellite and contribution specialists Newtech, NI and PLM, VRT Sandbox provided the technology that allowed the Solar team to broadcast a multicam "report of the day" Facebook livestream during the five day solar race, from the middle of the Australian desert. In the lead-up, we followed their exciting adventure and helped out with media coverage.
vrt sandbox productions: backpack multicam
4 ENG cameramen, including one motorcycle cameraman, were equipped with a LiveU 500 cellular bonding device that sent the HD signal to a control room in VRT Brussels. In this control room, the show was produced, including color correction, synchronization and communication with the (much more mobile) cameramen on-site. Shorter build-up and break-down times, and a smaller, much more flexible on-site team can unlock the production of tier-2 sports that are left unbroadcasted for the moment.
kiswe
Kiswe offered 5 produced feeds via one OTT player on the Sporza website. This includes running, high-jumping, javelin throwing, long jumping and the main program. In the Kiswe player, you were able to watch different streams at the same time, play Diamond League trivia games and read additional info about the competitions, such as times, rankings but also social media posts and more. This created an "experience" that goes beyond classic OTT live streaming.
thomas more
Will Virtual Reality survive its hype? How will lasting formats look of 360° video look like? The research department Memori at Thomas More aims to gather the various aspects of 360° video in a research project. VRT Sandbox is part of its user research group and will help in finding some answers during pilots and enquiries.
appiness, setkeeper & limecraft
During a first track at VRT Sandbox, Appiness created an app called Spott. The app is now implemented with several programs on VRT. In a second track, Appiness aims to integrate the app with Setkeeper and create an automated workflow. The information gathered with the preparations for the production, such as clothing, will also be available in the app.
ibm & kanaal z
Speech recognition helps in determining the topic, while the concept detector in turn determines what can be seen: persons, objects, etc. By means of optical character recognition, you are able to detect which text is visible.
wolftech, microsoft & vrt nws
By means of their Wolftech news tool, you are able to increase efficiency by managing stories over multiple platforms.
hack belgium
From the 4th of May till the 6th of May, Tour & Taxis was the location of a large-scale hackathon with as goal to build a better Belgium. As VRT Sandbox, we built our very own studio at the event, in which we captured the main insights and recaps of every day, while sharing innovating ideas with a larger audience.
uxprobe & vrt nws
UXprobe offers a software service that measures the User Experience of apps. It provides real-life customer-based insights that help companies understand their customers’ feelings and behavior in order to improve their app.
2016
eeyou
Europe's premium platform for Virtual Reality.
doohapps
DOOHapps is the world’s first interactive application store for the digital-out-of-home and retail industry.
appiness
Object recognition and interaction with video and tv content. By means of the app "Spott", viewers able to shop what they see in their television programs.
limecraft
The Digital Production Hub For Creatives
Optimizing the workflow of television production teams such as Loslopend Wild
proximus
The largest of Belgium's three mobile telecommunications companies.
Streaming 4K sports braodcast signals.
barco
A Belgian multinational and global display hardware manufacturer.
Processing 4K sports braodcast signals.
unomaly
Anomaly detection in logs.
With the integration of anomaly in the systems of VRT, we tried evaluating how the new machine learning technology could benefit the operational side of a broadcast system.
tinkerlist
The first unified platform for creative television makers.
Optimizing the workflow of the new tv-quiz 'De Allesweter'.
azilpix
Multi-camera video capture and production system enabling immersive broadcasting of complex events, at low operational cost.
2015
big industries
Hadoop and Big Data IT consultancy for Belgium and Luxembourg - Cloudera and MapR Hadoop - reseller and system integrator.
zentrick
Online platform that drives measurable results for any video by introducing interactive elements that activate, engage and convert your audiences.
opentelly
Developer of THEOplayer, the world's most comprehensive HTML5 based video player for streaming content on the web.