Screen Yorkshire and the BBC announce new plans to work together to develop content for children's media as part of a new BBC initiative called @North. Launched by Peter Salmon, Director BBC North, at the Manchester Media Festival, @North aims to link up the digital community across the North in a bid to ensure the benefits of the BBC's move to Salford in 2011 extend across the whole of the North.

In its first pilot year @North will focus on working with the BBC Childrens department to encourage and support the development and delivery of interactive content for children, with up to four projects with a total budget of £500,000 available for commissions by CBBC and CBeebies. The project, which represents a new model of engagement with independent companies and digital agencies across the North, will rely on close collaboration with Screen Yorkshire, the regional body which supports the digital industries in the region, alongside other regional screen agencies, North West Vision and Media and Northern Film and Media.

There will be two events held in the region, where you'll have the opportunity to meet the BBC and ask questions about the project.

8th January 2010, 10.00 am - 12.00pm: Leeds, Round Foundry Media Centre map
11th January 2010, 10.00 am - 12.00pm: Sheffield, Electric Works map

Sally Joynson, Chief Executive, Screen Yorkshire says:

"In the past Yorkshire had a great reputation for producing high quality children's media. This new initiative is a fantastic opportunity for Yorkshire to discover and develop a new generation of talent and rebuild its reputation in this area. @North is a genuine reflection of how the BBC move to Salford can benefit content producers across the whole of the North and we are delighted to be working on it with the BBC and other partners".

This pilot project with BBC Childrens department will involve multi-disciplinary teams from many other areas of the BBC such as Future, Media and Technology (FM&T) in new collaborative ways of working.

The key objectives for the project are:

- For CBBC & CBeebies to tap into new opportunities for innovation
and creativity.
- To stimulate and inspire the digital sector across the North of England, initially focusing on creating new children's content.
- To understand and help develop the supply chain across the North for the BBC and build on existing creativity and skills.
- To make the BBC North process for commissioning multiplatform content open and collaborative.
- To share knowledge about the BBC's infrastructure, processes and audiences.

It is intended that @North will provide a blueprint of how BBC North can work more openly in MediaCityUK and will involve more BBC division partners as it develops.

Commenting on @North Peter Salmon said:

"This is an exciting new concept and there is real business up for grabs, with CBBC and CBeebies commissions to be won by creative organisations working on interactive media across the North of England. There is some great creative work going on in the digital sector across the North and we want to work in partnership to develop new and exciting multiplatform content for our young audiences."

Independent companies and digital agencies in the North are invited to send expressions of interest in the @North project to Mario Dubois, Project Lead - mario.dubois@bbc.co.uk