Abstract
This chapter discusses the implications of the structure of production of smart toys and the resulting local linguistic and cultural possibilities, combining the framework of the political economy of children’s media and leisure with the cultural and creative industries approach in the context of the increasing commercialisation of children’s culture. The chapter draws on content analysis of media and advertising from 12 countries in the Internet of Toys project, linguistic analysis of smart toys’ websites, analyses of start-up case studies from Lithuania and Portugal and secondary data on children, technology and digital literacy. While the production and promotion of smart toys are heavily reliant on global market logics, national and European incentives to software companies are not governed by the intention to support smaller linguistic cultures.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Studies in Childhood and Youth |
| Publisher | Palgrave Macmillan |
| Pages | 327-346 |
| Number of pages | 20 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2019 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Publication series
| Name | Studies in Childhood and Youth |
|---|---|
| ISSN (Print) | 2731-6467 |
| ISSN (Electronic) | 2731-6475 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2019, The Author(s).
Funding
Acknowledgements The authors acknowledge the support of COST DigiLitEY for a short-term scientific mission to produce this chapter. Smart Monkey was created by the start-up Science4You (n.d.), “a 100% Portuguese company dedicated to developing, producing and selling educational and scientific toys as well as activities for children”, primarily those younger than age 16 years. Miguel Pina Martins created the start-up as a project at Lisbon University in 2007 and offi - cially launched it in 2008. It received venture funding and support from the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and Innovation programme and was promoted, by the media and the government, as an example of successful entrepreneurship during the financial crisis in Portugal. The company distributes more than 350 products online and through its own shops and technology and toys shops. Science4You released Smart Monkey for the 2015 Christmas season and it has developed a technological line of products, including smart watches, drones, tablets, an action camera, robots and a smart ball, offering education through products and consumption. The com - pany has benefitted from EU programmes, receiving €481,000 from a programme to support SMEs (2016–2018) “to buy a new production line” which, among other objectives, “represent[s] the status of national culture, science and technology through its products” (Science4You, n.d.). It also received €615,000 from a programme to support internationalisation (2016–2018) to “diversify high added-value products” in international markets (Science4You, n.d.). The success of this strategy was publicised in 2017, when Science4You announced its products would be sold in 1800 shops of Target, a United States retailer (Pimentel, 2017).
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| Small and Medium Enterprises | |
| European Cooperation in Science and Technology |
Keywords
- Children’s culture
- Cultural and creative industries
- Globalisation
- Localisation
- Market