IBC Accelerator Kickstart Day to take place at iconic BBC Radio Theatre as call for latest industry challenges gets underway.
IBC has kicked off its latest Call for Challenges for the 2025 Accelerator Media Innovation Programme, inviting proposals for transformative, fast-track innovation projects that will help shape the future of the media and entertainment technology sector. The deadline for submissions is Friday 6th December 2024.
The IBC Accelerator Programme is renowned as a nucleus for collaborative innovation within the media & entertainment ecosystem – where project challenges are proposed by the buyers of technology who then form project teams with specific expertise to explore and develop solutions in a matter of months. The solutions are ultimately showcased and discussed as PoCs at the IBC Show in September 2025. Submission Guidelines and the Entry form can be found here.
“The Accelerator Programme has really delivered as a safe and trusted space for the media sector to work together, better understand complex challenges, to learn and to lean into solving common pain points around transformation,” said Mark Smith, Head of the Accelerator Programme for IBC. “The projects of 2024 clearly hit a seam of critical challenges that resonated across the industry, from our AI Media Production Lab, the News & Disinformation and Digital Replicas projects through to the Evolution of the Control Room and Connect & Produce Anywhere software-defined Production project. There was a wealth of value in the compelling POCs and showcases at IBC2024”.
Entry is open to all in the media technology ecosystem, with projects covering a wide range of relevant industry challenges in topical areas such as AI, Connectivity, Sustainability, IP Evolution, News & Disinformation, Ad Tech, Cybersecurity & Content Protection, Immersive XR Tech among many other areas of media technology evolution.
After review of applications, IBC will select 12 project proposals that will go forward to be pitched in person at Kickstart Day on Wednesday 12th February 2025. For the first time ever, IBC Kickstart Day will be held at the BBC’s iconic Radio Theatre and Media Café in central London. While the event is open to all, numbers are strictly limited due to venue capacity. To attend Kickstart Day, please register your interest here and you’ll be the first to be notified when registration for the event opens.
“The IBC Accelerator project has become integral to the industry, looking at some of the key subjects and areas that are driving the future of what we do,” said Morwen Williams, Director of Media Operations for the BBC. “I am delighted that we are hosting this event at the BBC and look forward to hearing the great pitches that will come forward!”
For 2025, IBC is seeking challenges that address pressing issues in content creation, live production and distribution, audience engagement and technology integration, intelligent automation, sustainability, innovative ad-tech, connectivity and many other areas of emerging media R&D. Selected projects will have the opportunity to collaborate with world leading media brand Champions, the industry experts, that provide leadership for transformative innovation
More than 300 organisations have taken part in the programme since its foundation in 2019. More than 80 Champions, Participants and Academic Partners took part in the programme in 2024.
All 2024 project PoCs were showcased live at IBC2024 at the IBC Accelerator Zone and as a Final Showcase Session on the Innovation Stage, and each project can be found here.
For more information about the Accelerator Programme, project showcases from 2024, please visit the main Accelerator Programme page here or contact accelerators@ibc.org.
2024 cohort
2024 Champions included: Al Jazeera Media Network, Associated Press, BBC, BNNVARA, BT Media & Broadcast, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC/Radio Canada), CBS News & Stations, Channel 4, Comcast, Entertainment Technology Centre (ETC) of USC, EO, European Broadcasting Union (EBU), Fraunhofer, Globo, IMG, Institute of Engineering (IET), ITN, ITV, Media Cluster Norway, Music Venue Trust, Paramount Global, Reuters, RTL Group, Sky Sports, SMPTE Solent University, SVT, The Royal Central School of Speech & Drama, TRANSMIXR, University of Applied Sciences & Arts, University of Kent, University of Strathclyde, Verizon Business, Vodafone, XReco, Yle, Zwart and 2G Digital
2024 Participants included: Accedo, Ateme, Eviden, Bitmovin, Castlabs, Cognizant, Cuepilot, d&b solutions, dB Broadcast, DIMPACT, EIDR, Eluvio, Erizos.TV, EZDRM, Google Cloud, HAND, HumansNotRobots, LAMA, Loopic, Magnify, Nagra, Neutral Wireless, Norsk, NxtEdition, OpenOrigins, PlanIXLabs, Pluxbox. Quanteec, Respeecher, RKG Group, SalsaSound, Singular.live, Somersault, Spectral Compute, SPXGraphics, Techex TheScanTruck, Tinkerlist, Truemedia, TSL, Videntifier, Videoclarity, VizRT, WaveSeven, WildCapture, XansrSoftware, Zixi and more.
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