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 6 December 2024.
IBC will select 12 project proposals that will go forward to be pitched in person at the IBC Kickstart Day on Wednesday 12 February 2025 after reviewing all applications. For the first time, the Kickstart event will be held at the BBC’s Radio Theatre and Media Café in central London. While the event is open to all, numbers are strictly limited due to venue capacity.
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.
“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.
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.
“The IBC Accelerator Programme 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!”
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.