Möbius will allocate €5.5 million to explore new business models for the book publishing sector

• The Möbius project is financed by the European Commission with a view to updating the book publishing sector through what are known as prosumers
• Eleven institutions from four different countries are to work together on a project that will be completed in 2024
• The European book publishing sector is one of the largest in the world, yet it is experiencing a period of change that will require it to reappraise its traditional value chains and its business model

9 March, 2021

Barcelona, 9 March 2021 – This Monday saw the launch of Möbius, a European project that aims to offer tools and methodologies to explore new business models for the book publishing sector. The initiative has been allocated 5.5 million euros of funding. Möbius, which is financed by the European Commission and will run until 2024, is intended to harness the power of prosumers (content producers and consumers) in the literary sector.

The Eurecat Technology Centre, which will act as the project’s coordinator, and Mobile World Capital Barcelona are the two Spanish partners from a total of eleven European collaborators in the Möbius consortium. The partners are based in Spain, Italy, Germany and Belgium and come from different sectors such as the publishing industry, technology, the social sciences, social innovation and art. Specifically, they are IMEC, DEN Institute, European Network of Living Labs, Fédération des éditeurs européens and KU Leuven (Belgium), IN2 Digital Innovations, MVB Marketing and Kunstkraftwerk Leipzig (Germany) and Bookabook (Italy).

Book publishing is Europe’s largest cultural industry and a world benchmark. It is, however, experiencing a period of change that requires it to reappraise its traditional value chains and its business model with a view to reasserting -alongside prosumers- its place as an essential economic and cultural agent in the digital era.

Möbius will help to renovate and to revitalize the sector by providing it with methodologies and tools that make the most of the potential of prosumers in innovation processes and thus guarantee a future focused on users and on the design of new media experiences.

The project will entail the development of a series of tools to support publishing decisions based on prosumer-led production mechanisms, known in the sector as prosumer intelligence. New business models will be launched and implemented through collaboration with prosumers in order to add value in book publishing processes. Möbius will, lastly, create an immersive, interactive and multiplatform book experience intended to surpass all hitherto familiar publishing formats.