This was the key message from the London Centre’s review of this September’s IBC, which was held jointly with the Institution of Engineering and Technology at the latter’s sumptuously refurbished HQ on the banks of the Thames.
Amsterdam’s annual media technology event welcomed more than 1,600 exhibitors and 55,000 visitors to its exhibition halls and conference sessions. The RTS and IET are two of the six partners behind IBC.
Ahead of the closing date on 23 May 2016, we caught up with Michael Colyer, the winner of the 2015 award.
He has just returned from Rome where he was working as a vision engineer for the ATP Tennis championships.
Since winning his career has gone from strength to strength.
Amsterdam’s annual media technology jamboree was dominated by three themes – Ultra-HDTV, virtual reality and the shift to an IP-based infrastructure – according to the experts assembled for London Centre’s annual review of IBC.
“I go to IBC to see what’s maturing in the industry to the point where it rolls out into the mass market,” said Nigel Walley, Managing Director of media consultancy Decipher.
"When it’s spring again, I’ll bring again, tulips from Amsterdam”, so the Max Bygraves hit goes. And what wondrous, lush, deep tulips they were. Vibrant in hue, tantalising in texture, delicate in definition.
I was like an explorer lost in this year’s IBC, its vast arrayed halls laid out like some modern tech remake of King Solomon’s mines.
Renowned futurist David Wood has warned against a world in which “technology runs out of control” and viewers and consumers are “manipulated” by machines.
Wood was speaking on the “Accelerating digital revolution” at a special members-only London Centre event, hosted at IBC, in October.
The futurist, he explained, “anticipates a set of possible futures, including things that could go very badly [wrong], but, equally, is looking for opportunities”. Before embarking on a career as a technological seer, Wood was a pioneer of the smartphone industry.
"Ensure you are wearing comfortable shoes" read the last line of the email sent to me from the RTS regarding what I’d need for my first ever IBC experience. With that - I slipped on my new smart shoes I’d bought from Topman the day before to try and ‘look the part’ before setting sail for Heathrow’s Terminal Five. It was just a few short hours later that the service 4 tram pulled in to Station RAI and I got my first look at the venue. “Ah,” I thought to myself as that last line re-read itself in my mind, “really wish I’d had a chance to bed these in”.
September’s International Broadcasting Convention (IBC) will mark the transition from hype to reality for a wide range of transformative new technologies. Attendees of the week-long broadcasting conference and exhibition in Amsterdam will be able to assess the growing impact of Ultra-HDTV, big data and Cloud computing.
It is no coincidence that IBC has themed its entire conference as “The future of media in an age of disruption”.
