8 December 2015

Dr Xiaobai Shen, University of Edinburgh Business School, has secured a double award to explore the recent emergence in China of new models for digital film, music and e-fiction production and distribution involving close collaborations between internet businesses and film, music and e-fiction producers and distributors.
Double award for Xiaobai Shen - exterior of business school

AHRC Centre for Digital Copyright and IP Research in China

The , based in Nottingham/Nignbo Universities has awarded £31,924 for a path-breaking study entitled : Convergence or differentiation in IP protection strategies and business models? The research team from Edinburgh (also including Burkhard Schafer [Law] Martina Gerst and and Robin Williams) will work with China’s leading universities Tsinghua (Xudong Gao) and Peking (Yinliang Liu). The project will explore the direct involvement of China’s Internet behemoths (Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent) in film production. New business models are emerging for online film distribution, despite widespread piracy of cultural content.

: RCUK Centre for Copyright & New Business Models in the Creative Economy

Following a supplementary bid to the contingency fund of , the RCUK Centre for Copyright & New Business Models in the Creative Economy, based at the University of Glasgow, additional funding of £71,776 has been awarded, specifically for extending the scope of the above project from film to new production/distribution models in digital music and e-fiction publishing, allowing a comparative perspective between the developments in China, and the CREATe research programme in the UK. PI Dr Xiaobai Shen (Edinburgh), Co-Is Prof Martin Kretschmer (Glasgow) and Prof Robin Williams (Edinburgh)

This one year project will run for one year, from 15 December 2015.