IBC Announces Call For Challenges

IBC has announced the 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.

IBC will select 12 project proposals that will go forward to be pitched in person at the IBC Kickstart Day on Wednesday 12th February 2025 after reviewing all applications. For the first time, the Kickstart event 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, please register your interest here and you'll be the first to be notified when registration for the event opens.

The IBC Accelerator Programme has established itself as a catalyst for collaborative innovation within the media and 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 Proof of Concepts (PoCs) at the IBC Show in September 2025. Submission Guidelines and the Entry form can be found here.

"The IBC Accelerator Programme has really delivered as a safe and trusted space for the media sector to work together, better understand complex challenges, learn and lean into solving common pain points around transformation," said Mark Smith, Head of the Accelerator Programme for IBC. "The 2024 projects 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."

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

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.

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, as follows:

Champions: 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.

Participants: 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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