It is my great pleasure to welcome you to IBC2014 — writes Michael Crimp, CEO, IBC —an event which I firmly believe to be vital in reflecting the industry’s innovation and enhancing all our understanding of technology and the electronic media business on a global level.
Over the past year we have seen world economies stabilise, with budgets of corporations in some countries returning to pre-financial crash levels. But the business climate has changed, in particular the approach of organisations to technology and purchase decisions. We see major capex decisions increasingly taken on the basis of return on investment and on a project-by-project basis. Ultra HD is one of the key driving forces, but investment in the infrastructure to bring it to consumers will be one of the key topics here at IBC2014.
IBC is in constant motion and is different every year. Sometimes the changes are obvious, such as with the development of the IBC Leaders’ Summit and Rising Stars Programme, and this years’ launch of IBC Content Everywhere and IBC Content Everywhere Cloud and Workflow Solutions.
However, sometimes it is incremental, such as the subtle reorganisation of this year’s conference programme into themed days, each one telling a different part of the innovation story of our industry and anchored by hard-hitting keynote sessions. Professor Brian Cox OBE is providing our Sunday keynote, and you can expect some truly incisive deliveries from the other pre-eminent thought leaders, including Channel 4’s CEO, David Abraham; vice president of Google Europe, Matt Brittin, and Tim Davie who is CEO and director of Global BBC Worldwide.
One thing that does not change though is the great service that the IBC Team provides, which means that, even with the economic climate still being a challenge, we are in the enviable position of providing space for more than 1,500 world class brands, with innovation teaming across 14 halls. IBC provides the showcase to witness the latest advances in content creation, management and delivery with inspiration and surprises around every corner.
So welcome to IBC2014. I hope you enjoy a productive time, whatever your interests and goals, and I look forward to seeing you around the show.
