Ircam creates Ircam Amplify, its commercial entity for audio innovations
43 years after it was founded by Pierre Boulez, Ircam creates Ircam Amplify, its commercial entity for audio innovations. Conceived as a real bridge between the state of the art of audio research and the industrial world at global level, Ircam Amplify will be a key player in the sound revolution in the twenty-first century.
The commitment and confidence placed in Ircam Amplify by Banque des Territoires, Believe and E.T.R.E confirm the ambition of its strategy to explore the power of sound above and beyond the music sector.
IRCAM (Institute for Research and Coordination in Acoustic/Music) is a center of research and technological innovation in which artists, scientists and engineers meet and stimulate each other. Associated with the Centre Pompidou since its creation, IRCAM brings together the best talents in sound, audio, music and voice.
"By creating this link between the industry, the world of research and that of creativity, we support the "made in France" origin of sound in all its aspects. Ircam Amplify builds on Ircam’s unrivaled expertise in transforming utopia and foresight into reality” says Frank Madlener, Director of IRCAM and President of Ircam Amplify.
Today, sound has changed form: by playing an increasing role in a world in search of multi- sensory experiences, it invites itself into new spaces, new objects with which we interact by voice; it awakens emotions and revives memories, it transforms both long-distance relationships and our interfaces with connected object. The question of sound opens up new horizons to explore.
"By offering companies exclusive access to Ircam's unique expertise, Ircam Amplify is building adapted audio solutions in various sectors such as health, mobility, retail, luxury, robotics, industries or smart cities" says Nathalie Birocheau, CEO of Ircam Amplify.
SAS Ircam Amplify is committed to three booming areas of development, simultaneously offering technology, services and content:
- sound as space (sound design, 3D audio),
- sound as an interface (speech synthesis, new instruments, gesture and sound interaction),
- sound as data (indexing and musical recommendation, web audio).
“Investing in Ircam-Amplify is a great opportunity for Believe to collaborate with the best researchers globally in the world of sound and to build the technological solutions of the future to always better serve all the artists we support everywhere in the world" says Denis Ladegaillerie, CEO of Believe.
This project springs from the opportunity offered to the cultural sector by the launch of the Call for Expressions of Interest in "Heritage and Digital Culture" from the Investments for the Future Programme (AMI). The program is operated by the Banque des Territoires in close collaboration with the French Ministry of Culture.
The program dedicates € 100M of investments to projects which will enhance cultural assets in the digital age — giving public institutions the possibility to create subsidiaries with strong technological and innovative potential in existing markets.
The Ircam Amplify project was able to benefit both from special support from the Ministry of Culture as well as the expertise of the Banque des Territoires, who supported the engineering of the project, the structuring of application files and connecting to players in the sector in order to refine market opportunities and the economic model.
"The Ircam Amplify project is the seventh investment carried out within the framework of the call for expressions of interest in the “Heritage and Digital Culture" area of the Investments for the Future Programme managed by the Banque des Territoires in close collaboration with the Ministry of Culture. This project embodies our ambitions when we designed and launched this Call: to develop new uses linked to new technologies in the cultural sector - here, in connection with sound; to promote the internationally recognized know-how and expertise of our public institutions, such as IRCAM in the digital and economic spheres, to promote our brands more globally; to foster collaborations of excellence between the public and the private sector in order to foster the emergence of new markets, and thus meet the challenges of cultural sovereignty; and finally, to allow cultural actors to develop new sources of funding” says Maud Franca, Deputy Director of the Investments for the Future Programme for Digital, Banque des Territoires.
Press Release, April 23, 2020
Photos © Geraldine Aresteanu pour Ircam Amplify