In this context, the University of Liechtenstein, together with the company HELGA.works in St. Gallen, successfully submitted a funding application to Innosuisse. Following approval of the project funding by the government, the support agreement was signed on March 12, 2024 by the Head of the Office of Economic Affairs, Katja Gey, the Rector of the University of Liechtenstein, Christian Frommelt, and the implementation partner Vincenzo Neidhardt, CEO of Helga AG.
Securing income for artists with artificial intelligence methods
The music industry is facing a growing challenge: unpaid royalties for copyrights are expected to soon reach almost 8 billion dollars annually, compared to the current 2.5 billion dollars. With a groundbreaking initiative to combat this unfair distribution, the Eastern Swiss start-up HELGA.works is launching an Innosuisse project together with the Department of Information Systems & Computer Science at the University of Liechtenstein.
The aim of the project is to help artists receive the royalties to which they are entitled. The main challenge is to identify the rightful recipients despite insufficient data quality. By using state-of-the-art machine learning models, such as graph neural networks, which can deal with incomplete and inaccurate data, the aim is to create a solution that is not only innovative, but also remains simple and interpretable. The aim is to develop a prediction service that estimates the risk and amount of unpaid royalties. The potential product solution has already attracted significant interest from investors and the industry, including renowned music publishers and artists. In addition to creating economic value, the proposed innovative solution will help artists, especially niche artists, to receive their rightful remuneration. The project thus also contributes to cultural and musical diversity.
The Office of Economic Affairs and the National Contact Point for Research and Innovation in the Department of Economic Affairs are available to provide further information (www.avw.llv.li; contact: Frank Heeb, T +423 236 67 45; Frank.Heeb@llv.li).