People presenting and developing ideas in sessions at 2gether08 have a chance to interest Channel 4 in supporting them through their new £50million 4IP fund.

The aim of the innovation fund is to:
"Nurture new talent. Champion new voices and fresh perspectives. Give people who can reinvent public service media the tools and resources they need to do it."

Jon Gisby, Channel 4 Director of New Media and Technology, makes clear in this interview that groups and individuals contributing to 2gether08 are as welcome to put forward ideas as are large producers and agencies.

When asked why Channel 4 is sponsoring 2gether08, and introducing people to the fund, Jon said:

"Channel 4 has always been about championing new ideas and talent, and we have been very good at doing that in television over the course of the last 25 years.
"What we are actively exploring with 4IP is how we can extend that on to new platforms, and work with all sorts of new people that we probably haven't been working with in the past, who are looking to make a social difference and solve interesting problems, and do that on a new platform.
"We hope and believe that there are going to be lots of those sort of people at 2gether.
"We want to find them, talk to them, learn from them and hopefully fund some of them to do some really interesting stuff".
Jon and others from Channel 4 will give more details of the fund on the second day of the Festival - when there will also be an opportunity for those who have been running sessions to present their ideas. His tip for those seeking support: take a look information about 4IP on the Channel 4 website, and the Next on 4 programme.