IBC has announced the eight Accelerator projects and one Special Incubator project that have been selected to go forward as part of its 2025 Accelerator Media Innovation Programme.
The Accelerator Programme is IBC’s core innovation track that brings together buyers (Champions) and sellers (Participants) of Media & Entertainment technology to work collaboratively in fast-track, solution-focused innovation projects.
For 2025, the Accelerator challenges will 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.
Pitched by world-leading media organisations at the Accelerator Kickstart Day event in the BBC’s iconic Radio Theatre last month, the projects are now beginning the development of solutions that will be showcased at IBC2025.
2025 Accelerator Media Innovation Projects
A Framework for Generative AI aims to develop a Generative AI Framework that enables broadcasters to efficiently create various types of media content, including scripts, highlights, short-form promos, TV ads, and marketing materials.
AI Assistance Agents in Live Production envisions AI-driven production assistants that seamlessly integrate into control room workflows, enhancing live production with intelligent automation.
Ultra-Low Latency Live Streaming at Scale builds on the foundation of the previous Scalable Ultra-Low Latency Streaming for Premium Sports accelerator, focusing on the development of a truly scalable architecture for delivering live TV over the internet.
Stamping Your Content (C2PA Provenance) aims to develop open-source tools that enable organizations to integrate Content Credentials (C2PA) into their workflows, allowing them to sign and verify media provenance.
Conquering the Air (Waves): Private 5G from Land to Sea to Sky explores the deployment of private 5G network cells on drones to enhance live broadcast production by providing wireless connectivity for video, audio, and sensor data.
Master Control Cloud proposes the development of a cloud-based routing and monitoring system for live media streams, enabling seamless acquisition, transport, and oversight entirely within the cloud.
Building on the foundation of the 2024 project,
ECOFLOW II shifts focus to overcome the challenge of limited data access and engagement.
Multi-Vendor Software Live Media Exchange explores a new approach to Live Media Exchange, leveraging high-speed interconnect technologies originally developed for high-performance computing and now widely used in cloud data centers.
2025 Special Incubator Project
Changing the Game Again
Graduated from the success from the 2024 Accelerator “AI Media Production Labs”, IBC’s brand-new Incubator cranks it up a gear with a working POC test bed that will aim to develop personalized highlight reels and real-time sports data tailored to each fan based on their preferences and interactions.
The IBC Accelerator Media Innovation Programme’s annual Kickstart Day 2025, was hosted on Wednesday 12th of February at the BBC Broadcasting House, London.
The full-day event focused on media industry innovation, with an international audience of media & entertainment technology professionals and leaders. Aside from industry-leading speaker & panel sessions on compelling challenges and opportunities for the sector, the highlight was a series of Quickfire Pitches by the 12 shortlisted Accelerator Project Challenges vying to be part of the final eight selected for development in 2025.
Thank you to everyone who joined us for a record-breaking event!
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Full background information on the IBC Accelerators can be found here:
Accelerator Sponsorship Pack Accelerator FAQs IBC Accelerator Overview Deck Accelerator Marketing Pack
Accelerator Media Innovation Programme
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More than 300 organisations have taken part in the programme since its foundation in 2019, as Champions and Participants in some 44+ projects – household media brands come together with large, medium and small technology organisations and academic institutions.
Champions of projects have included Aardman Entertainment, Al Jazeera, BBC, BT Sport, DAZN, Fox Sports, ITV, NBC Universal, the English Premier League, Pixar, Production Park, Thomson Reuters, RTÉ, Sky, Universal Pictures, Paramount, Warner Bros. Discovery, and many, many more.
Projects have addressed a seam of critical industry challenges in areas such as 5G, AI, CG Animation, Live Cloud Production, Immersive audio & sound, News Disinformation, Next Gen News Studio, Cloud Localization, Sustainability, Volumetric video and VFX workflows, IP Workflows and many others...
2024 Accelerator Media Innovation Projects:
- ECOFLOW: Energy-Conserving Optimization for Future-ready, Low-impact Online Workflows
- IP Networks: Finding the Needle in the Haystack
- Connecting Live Performances of the Future with ULL-AVLM (Ultra-Low Latency Audio, Video, Light and Media Data)
- Design Your Weapons in the Fight Against Disinformation
- Evolution of the Control Room - Leveraging XR, Voice, AI & HTML-Based Graphics Solutions
- Digital Replicas and Talent ID: Provenance, Verification and New Automated Workflows
- Scalable Ultra-Low Latency Streaming for Premium Sports
- AI Media Production Lab
- IBC Incubator Project: Connect and Produce Anywhere - Phase II
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IBC365: Accelerating Innovation Podcast
Get ready to ignite your curiosity with IBC 365’s exciting weekly mini podcast series, “Accelerating Innovation”, where some of the sharpest minds in media and entertainment reveal their thinking and approach to innovation. Broadcaster and presenter Omar Mehtab will guide you through the fascinating world of innovation, exploring groundbreaking advancements and decoding the complexities of modern technology.
Available on Spotify, Podcast Index, Podcast Addict, Deezer, Apple Podcast, and Amazon Music/ Audible.
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"It’s a brilliant opportunity to meet like-minded people working in some of the biggest tech companies, other broadcasters, universities and researchers to bring us all together into one collaborative approach to solving the problems we’re all facing.”
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“The IBC Accelerator programme is breaking boundaries. This is my first time here and I have already spoken to a lot of international media companies, which I wouldn’t have easily met if I wasn’t here. It’s a great space for co-creation.”
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“The challenge of real-world networking in recent times makes IBC Accelerators even more important for the industry. It provides a unique space to engage and collaborate with established peers and exciting new companies. Building these relationships is crucial for the BBC to remain relevant.”
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“The Accelerator programme offers an amazing opportunity to collaborate with incredible people across the industry; I had the opportunity to build relationships with senior people. It's a truly collaborative environment, where we can innovate, tackle business problems, and succeed together.”
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“Collaborating with new contacts, diverse vendors, even former industry rivals – we tackled joint challenges head-on. We built a great foundation, and this year's pitch promises an exciting six-month sprint.”
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“The Accelerators program brings people together; it allows us to make a commitment to a focal point and address some clear deliverables around that. For me, IBC helps to bring all participants around the table.”
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“The Accelerator Media Innovation Programme really sets the scene for IBC and gets the excitement going in the lead up to the show.”
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“The true value lies in bringing together those facing challenges with those who can solve them, all in an open and collaborative environment. The Accelerators are a powerful driver of this collaboration, which ultimately showcases the capabilities of our industry as a whole.”
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"The Accelerators program is fantastic because it fosters collaboration among public broadcasters. Sharing common goals and challenges, we realise we're not alone.”
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"The rise of disinformation - fake news and deepfakes - is a real worry. How can we be sure what's real anymore? At IBC, The Accelerators share different techniques and perspectives and that’s key, it’s what we are interested in.”
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“It’s such an amazing group of people; everybody is interested in the future of media and technology. To bring together the collaboration and ideas is just an incredible place to be and really important with where we are right now in our industry."
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“We love the energy, creativity, collaboration and the ideas that came out from the Accelerator’s programme.”
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“The rise of misinformation and deepfakes threatens media, democracy, and trust in information. What’s special about the Accelerators programme is its holistic approach in bringing together the different parts of the chain to help tackle this problem.”