Innovation through experimentation: IBC launches 2025 Accelerator programme

Mark Smith, head of the Accelerator programme, tells TVBEurope it is about understanding what challenges technology buyers want to solve, and what is coming next

By Jenny Priestley

Published: October 23, 2024 Updated: October 24, 2024

Mark Smith, head of the Accelerator programme, tells TVBEurope it is about understanding what challenges technology buyers want to solve, and what is coming next

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IBC has opened submissions for the 2025 Accelerator Media Innovation Programme, which will showcase Proof of Concepts at IBC2025.

Project challenges are proposed by the buyers of technology who then collaborate with project teams including specific expertise to explore and develop solutions. Selected projects will have the opportunity to collaborate with media brand Champions.

IBC will select 12 project proposals that will go forward to be pitched in person at the IBC Kickstart Day at the BBC Radio Theatre on Wednesday 12th February 2025 after reviewing all applications.

For 2025, IBC said it 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.

The IBC Accelerator programme is important because it offers a unique place for international media organisations to collaborate on solving common problems - or challenges - by innovating through experimentation in a safe and trusted IBC-facilitated environment, Mark Smith, head of the Accelerator Programme for IBC, tells TVBEurope.

It's about understanding what challenges technology buyers want to solve, and what is coming next. It gives IBC some invaluable insights to industry priorities and themes to inform the show and the conference.

If you look back since 2019, we have seen a who's who of blue chip media brands, technology leaders and innovators driving development of some incredibly important solutions and greater understanding of the art of the possible, adds Smith. We want to make sure that we also attract the most relevant, common, critical challenges for the industry to address collaboratively - and that ultimately, these become signposts for the direction of travel in the context of industry evolution.

Smith states that there are many benefits for companies who take part in the programme. The programme provides Champions (the buyers of technology) with a hub where they can have discussions with vendors and others in the supply chain they might not usually work with. The quality and regularity of the dialogue through a six month period can inform and literally accelerate their understanding of what's around the corner, he adds.

With limited R&D budgets, not even the largest companies can solve some of these issues alone, so it is a multiplication of R&D resource in an uber-efficient way. We often also hear that Champions like the end-user approach to defining solutions, rather than the old world of selling technology in search of a problem. The Champions don't often, if ever, exhibit at IBC so this programme also provides a platform for thought leadership, on stage and on the show floor.

For the vendors (Participants) the Accelerators programme is an opportunity to interact with their customers and potential customers on a weekly basis. They also get to roll their sleeves up and trial their solutions alongside others in either experimental use cases, or hackathons, or near real-world use cases, says Smith. We've had many examples where solutions have been proven and then deployed in real world scenarios. Aside from this, there is a tremendous amount of visibility that IBC lends to the programme and the projects - offering a great platform to showcase expertise and technology know-how.

Smith says feedback from the 2024 cohort has been overwhelmingly positive with meetings and ideas already being developed for the 2025 project pitches.

Submissions can be about anything, but they must be common issues that technology buyers (the Champions) collaboratively want to address, therefore they need the support of a minimum of two Champions, he continues.

There are many areas that challenges could come from, if you think about the scale and complexity of transformation that is happening across so many areas of the industry today from content creation, live production and distribution, audience engagement and technology integration, to intelligent automation, sustainability, innovative ad-tech, connectivity and many, many other areas. We'd welcome challenges in any of these areas, among others.

Submission guidelines and the entry form for IBC Accelerator Programme 2025 can be found here. The deadline for submissions is Friday 6th December 2024.

LINK:	https://www.tvbeurope.com/business/innovation-through-experimentation-...
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