Welcome to Insight: Your guide to IBC2018

With 57,000 visitors and 1,700 exhibitors poised to reveal their latest products and services, and with more than 400 industry-leading speakers preparing to debate and discuss the changes affecting the industry, it is impossible to predict all of the talking points that will emerge at IBC2018. But we looked ahead and distilled what we feel will be the issues at the top of many people’s agendas when they attend the RAI in September.

As is always the case at IBC, the Exhibition and show features such as the Future Zone will be packed with innovation, with the latest product launches and unveilings that will set the course of the industry over the next few years. We also delve into the worlds of IP, AI and UHD, looking at industry adoption and the latest technology.

Interviews with half a dozen leaders from the traditional world of broadcast as well as newer entrants will provide you with a taste of what to expect at the IBC2018 Conference, the theme of which is ‘Shaping the Future Together’.

It’s a theme that will resonate with the subjects of our cover interview, Lily Cole and Kwame Ferreira, the founders of innovation group and incubator Impossible. I spoke with them about the challenges facing the media and entertainment industry and the many and various projects they are involved in.

The common thread that runs through their work is their creative methodology, an open source approach termed planet-centric design, which places the planet’s need ahead of a user’s. At its core is the need for people and organisations to take responsibility for effecting chae.hat’s an issue which IBC Council chair Naomi Climer expands on in her comment article on page 41, in which she explains IBC’s new diversity initiative.

The initial focus of IBC’s work will be on helping to address the wider industry’s gender imbalance, with a commitment to increase the number of female visitors and speakers at IBC. And with a pledge to achieve a 30:70 female-to-male ratio of speakers, delegates at this year’s conference will see the fruits of this work.

I hope to see you all at the RAI in September where we can continue to discuss the many exciting challenges and opportunities covered in Insight.