When Merging Media was first launched in 2010, exec director Christine Lim-Labossière says the goal was to bridge the gap between digital and traditional media communities in B.C.

This year, the conference is expanding on that mandate by aiming to build bridges between Canadian talent and the rest of the world with Merging Media 2013: Global Edition.

New this year, the Pitch 360 competition finalists include seven projects from countries including France, Sweden and the U.K., in addition to five Canadian finalists.

The $10,000 CMPA Pitch 360 Award will be given to the best cross-media project in the competition. In addition, producers from Vancouver, Edmonton or Calgary are eligible to win a $5,000 production support grant from Telus to produce and distribute the project on Telus Optik TV’s VOD service and online.

Lim-Labossière, who founded the conference with CMPA-BC in 2010, says that Canadian producers have a prime opportunity to form potential partnerships with international producers.

“The seven European projects selected are all actively seeking Canadian coproducers, collaborators and potential partners,” says Lim-Labossière, who adds that the Canadian finalists’ ideas “are fresh in their approach and well integrated between platforms. While still in early development, most of the projects have international themes that show promise for market or coproduction potential.”

The conference also includes a B2B program facilitated through an online platform, created by Merging Media and CMPA-BC in partnership with the B.C. government, for which she says around 70 companies from eight countries have signed up for.

From a business perspective, Lim-Labossière says conference discussions around being globally competitive in a digital age will focus on the hybrid  business models, online crowdfunding and distribution channels that reflect the participatory character of young audiences today and where eyeballs are shifting.

She says discussions will also focus on how audience lifestyles and emerging tech have altered viewing habits beyond traditional single screen consumption.

“The only way to be competitive is to understand this shift in audience engagement,” she says

Lim-Labossière recalls a conversation she had with an organizer of London’s Pixel Market recently, who said that “everyone” wants to partner with Canada.

She points to interactive projects like the NFB’s High Rise and Bear 71 which have successfully travelled the festival circuit, and progressive Canadian convergent funding programs that have helped to build the Canadian cross-media profile on the world stage.

And with other recent developments, like Canadian funding bodies partnering on a framework to facilitate international digital coproductions, she says putting an emphasis on opportunities for digital producers to connect on an international scale is a crucial step in continuing the momentum.

“There is a great depth of talent in our midst, but this often gets missed, as producers get caught up in the grappling of the day to day bread and butter issues. I believe we already have a lively history for coproduction in the film and television, and the next step is to build upon the collaborative potential in the digital and cross-media arena,” she says.

The Merging Media 2013: Global Edition conference takes place on Nov. 6 and 7 in Vancouver.

The Pitch 360 finalists are as follows: