2025 Accelerator FAQs

IBC created the Accelerator programme in 2019 to support the media & entertainment industry with a framework for agile, collaborative and fast-track innovation. Since then, some 45 projects have been delivered via the programme, involving over 300 organisations. Each is based on a diverse, multi-company, project-based approach to solving complex media and entertainment, business, and technology challenges in a fast-paced, open R&D environment.

Facilitated and managed by IBC, with open collaboration at the core, Accelerator challenges are traditionally defined and proposed to address and explore challenges set out by the Champions (end users and buyers of media & entertainment technology, products and services, eg: broadcasters, studios, academia), integrated with an array of solutions provided by the Participants (vendors and suppliers). Each project team works together to develop innovative solutions over an intensive four to six months that are showcased at the IBC Show, happening next on 12th – 15th September 2025 in Amsterdam.

The Accelerator Media Innovation programme is fully supported by IBC’s Board/ Owners, including IABM, IET, IEEE Broadcast Technology Society, The Royal Television Society, The Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers (SCTE) and the Society of Motion Picture & Television Engineers (SMPTE).

The Accelerator programme is designed to address a wide range of challenges and opportunities disrupting the sector through shared experiences and experimentation with real world media use cases.

Entry is open to all in the media technology ecosystem, with projects for 2025 likely to again cover 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 Accelerator framework addresses specific ‘bite size’ challenges within these ‘big picture’ industry challenges and opportunities. The primary aim of the projects is to prototype solutions based on existing standards and best practices, and to demonstrate the business value that can be achieved from implementing collaboratively developed solutions.

IBC has announced the Call for Challenges for the 2025 Accelerator Programme, inviting proposals for transformative, fast track innovation projects that will help shape the future of the media and entertainment technology sector.

The solutions developed in projects during 2025 are ultimately showcased and discussed as PoCs at the IBC Show in September.

Submission Guidelines and the Entry form can be found here.

The deadline for submissions is Friday 6th December 2024.

After review of applications, IBC will select twelve project proposals that will go forward to be pitched in person at Kickstart Day on Wednesday 12th February 2025.

All submissions must be formerly supported by at a minimum of two Champions who have agreed to commit to support the project, should it be selected to go forward to the Kickstart event and beyond.

An overview deck on the programme with additional information can be found here.

Following selection of submissions, 12 project challenges will be selected by IBC to go forward to be pitched at the Kickstart Day 2025 event where selected submissions and teams present their challenges to the wider IBC community, who then find synergies and start to form their project teams, in the hope of being one of just 8 projects that go through for the 2025 cycle.

The projects should ideally be underway by early March 2025, from when development of the solution takes place over the next 4-5 months. Project team meetings can take place either weekly or bi-weekly online, at the discretion of the team.

IBC Kickstart Day is the first phase of the Accelerators annual cycle. It will take place at the BBC’s Radio Theatre on Tuesday 12th February 2025.

This is where media industry technology leaders come together to pitch their Challenges and also assess other projects they may wish to champion or participate in.

The event is where project teams of ‘Champions’ and ‘Participants’ come together to form teams to address these challenges. Please see below for definitions and roles of both Champions, and Participants.

All submissions must be formerly supported by at a minimum of two Champions who have agreed to commit to the project and underline their support and be present for the live pitch on stage, either physically or via video - at the IBC Kickstart Day event.

The goal for each challenge submitted is to present a compelling case for why the project is needed to solve a critical industry challenge and also identifies possible solutions, highlighting specific areas of tangible innovation to explore for the project’s Proof of Concept.  

IBC’s Accelerator Programme is funded through a combination of sponsorship and fees from Champions and Participants taking part in the 2025 cycle.

The fees (below) help to cover and provide a number of aspects of the programme, notably IBC’s facilitation and management of projects, the Kickstart Day event, the marketing, press and pr campaign that supports the programme throughout the year, plus the physical, onsite IBC Accelerator Zone at the IBC show, where all eight projects have pods will be showcased on bespoke pods, and the Innovation Stage live sessions which form the heart of IBC 2025. The discussion sessions on the Innovation Stage revealing the PoCs and solutions developed are filmed and available as VOD on the IBC365 and IBC Show websites throughout the year.

These fees are applicable after Kickstart Day (February 2025) and at the point where the final projects have been selected by IBC to go forward, and teams are in official formation and ideation as part of final eight projects for 2025. There are no fees payable at the submission stage.

Participant Fees vary and are tiered, based on annual revenues of the organisation, per the below table. [for participation in multiple projects, please speak to the IBC Accelerator teamaccelerators@ibc.org

Participant Fees

Champions Fees: Champions pay an Accelerator Subscription fee of £3,000 annually (one fee regardless of number of projects supported). 

Academia: There is an administration fee for Academic Institutions of £500 to be involved in the Programme.

Are fees charged upon submission of project ideas?

All fees are applicable post issue of an IBC contract and signature, at the point where the final eight projects are selected by IBC after Kickstart Day for the 2025 cycle.

Champions can take as much of a leading role within a project as they desire, although by joining a project they broadly commit to supporting the team with the following:

• Help identify potential Co-Champions & Participants, working with IBC to recruit to the project
• Define project objectives, scope and deliverables, working collaboratively with Co- Champions and vendor Participants
• Help identify use cases, agree achievable project plans, establish workstreams and provide guidance as project develops.
• Provide resources with specific expertise for the duration of the project or specific phases
• Provide facilities for testing, meeting, demonstrations, where agreed & appropriate
• Ultimately validate that the proposed solution provides value to their organisations and the wider industry
• Evangelise the solution within their organisation and to the wider industry
• Provide a ‘sponsor’ for the project, and a working level engagement contact
• Attend at least 80% of weekly or bi-weekly 1hr meetings (at the project team’s discretion) and relevant showcase events including of course IBC2025 activities either physically or virtually

Participant vendors can provide as much resource and relevant expertise to a project as required, and by joining a project they broadly commit to supporting the team with the following:

• Work with Champions and other vendors to develop project aims, scope, plans and timelines
• Develop solution/product design & deliverables including the proof-of-concept demonstration
• Complete relevant documents (project charters, templates, etc.) as required by the team
• Provide resources with specific expertise for the duration of the project or specific phases
• Provide facilities for testing, meeting, demonstrations, where agreed & appropriate
• Harvest the learning and assets from the Accelerator to utilise in white papers, presentations and in dissemination of project outcomes, where agreed and required by the team.
• Work collaboratively with other project team members
• Attend at least 80% of weekly or bi-weekly 1hr meetings (at the project team’s discretion)
• Attend relevant showcase events including IBC2025 activities either physically or virtually

The teams participating in a project provide resources from their own companies to work through the necessary project tasks, preparation of Accelerator demos and production of deliverables.

IBC provides project management, coordination, collaborative tools, team building and team recruitment support, as well as project marketing and communications for visibility of projects.

At the project culmination at IBC in Amsterdam, IBC provides the live and on- demand showcase platforms and discussion opportunities to demonstrate and disseminate the solutions developed by the teams, as well as other relevant industry opportunities like extended press and pr opportunities.

The 2025 Accelerator programme is limited to a maximum eight (8) projects, focusing on the business value and benefits, the proposed solutions to be explored and of course the key innovation that will be the core of the project’s objectives and POC output.

Each Accelerator Project must have a minimum of two (2) Champions and a minimum of four (4) Participants to make a viable team and be approved to go forward. There is no limit to the number of Champions or Participants that fit within the dynamics of the team, towards the POC goals and objectives. Champions are defined as the end users and buyers of media & entertainment technology, products and services, (eg: broadcasters, studios, academia), and Participants are defined as the vendors and suppliers who provide a multi- company approach to the solutions for each project and work closely with the Champions.

At the early stage of the 2025 process, full teams are not needed to be in place or have met all the requirements for the project to be green lit by IBC. However, the more Champions and Participants that you can recruit from the outset will benefit the planning stage for the project significantly.

Once the ‘Final 8’ projects have been selected, the IBC Accelerator team will provide support for matchmaking and project recruitment to engage additional Champions and Participants with an interest in the challenge and provide compatible expertise to achieve the goals of the project to help you succeed.

Champions are the buyers or end users of the solutions e.g., broadcasters, studios, platforms, technology game engines, academia, industry trade bodies, content owners and providers. Champions define the business challenge they would like to address and validate that the project will address a significant industry challenge. They also help to develop the project use cases and evangelise the solution within their organisation and to the wider industry, providing regular feedback.

There are fees to take part in the programme. Champions are required to pay a one-off, annual fixed price registration fee, regardless of the number of projects proposed or that they support supported (see details, below). Fees are not required to be paid in advance or on submission of entries, they will only apply when projects have been selected to go forward for full development, post Kickstart day.

Participants are the companies which build, develop, and sell products, equipment, solutions & services e.g., vendors, manufacturers, software and application developers, systems integrators, etc.

Participants help design the solutions collaboratively, and with the guidance of Champions and alongside other Participants, embrace a multi-company approach to help create the workflows and best practice exploration towards the PoC demonstration at IBC. There must be a minimum of 4 (four) Participants working in a project, and the maximum is 8 (eight).

Participant fees apply per project, fee rates vary according to annual income, across a variety company sizes (see details, below). and Participants that you can recruit from the outset will benefit the planning stage for the project significantly.

Yes, IBC has welcomed several prestigious Academic and Research Institutions that have joined (and led) several projects over the years, including Kings College London, Transmixr, The ETC (Entertainment Technology Centre/University of Southern California), Bowie State

University, University of Southampton, Goldsmiths University of London, University of Bristol, Lethbridge University, University of Surrey, Qatar Computer Research Institute, Doha College, Trinity College Dublin, Ravensbourne University, the University of Strathclyde and many more.

There is a small fee for academic institutions and consortiums pay to participate in projetcs (see below for further information).

We very much welcome industry consortiums to the programme but can only provide visibility for the consortia name and brand as part of the project, rather than individual companies that are part of the consortia.

We are only able to involve up to a maximum of five people per consortium to participate in any one project.

Eight innovation projects were delivered through the Accelerator Programme in 2024. Further information about each project and team, along with each Final Showcase Session, Final POC Results, demonstrations of their solutions, project objectives and goals can be seen here.

There is a wealth of potential business and technology focused challenges that could be addressed by Accelerator projects. A core element is that projects put forward should be ‘industry relevant’ and representative of priorities for Champion organisations.

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.

No, the programme is open to small, medium and large organisations in the media and entertainment technology ecosystem and others that intersect the industry, such as telecoms and communications technology organisations. Projects often work better if there is a good mix of larger and smaller players, including start-ups.

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, as follows:

Champions: Al Jazeera Media Network, Associated Press, BBC, BNNVARA, BT Media & Broadcast, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC/Radio Canada), CBS News & Stations, Channel 4, Comcast, Entertainment Technology Centre (ETC) of USC, EO,  European Broadcasting Union (EBU), Fraunhofer, Globo, IMG, Institute of Engineering (IET), ITN, ITV, Media Cluster Norway, Music Venue Trust, Paramount Global, Reuters, RTL Group, Sky Sports, SMPTE Solent University, SVT, The Royal Central School of Speech & Drama, TRANSMIXR, University of Applied Sciences & Arts, University of Kent, University of Strathclyde, Verizon Business, Vodafone,  XReco, Yle, Zwart and 2G Digital

Participants : Accedo, Ateme, Eviden, Bitmovin, Castlabs, Cognizant, Cuepilot, d&b solutions, dB Broadcast, DIMPACT, EIDR​, Eluvio, Erizos.TV, EZDRM, Google Cloud, HAND, HumansNotRobots, LAMA, Loopic, Magnify, Nagra, Neutral Wireless, Norsk, NxtEdition, OpenOrigins, PlanIXLabs, Pluxbox.  Quanteec, Respeecher, RKG Group, SalsaSound, Singular.live, Somersault, Spectral Compute, SPXGraphics, Techex TheScanTruck, Tinkerlist, Truemedia, TSL, Videntifier, Videoclarity, VizRT, WaveSeven, WildCapture, XansrSoftware, Zixi and more.

There are many significant, valuable and tangible benefits to joining an Accelerator project, aside from addressing and solving a specific, complex technology challenge for your organisation, for an existing or potential customer, or for the wider benefit of the industry, these include:

• PR & Marketing

If your project is selected to be part of the IBC Accelerator Programme for 2025, your participation includes invaluable media & entertainment sector brand and PR exposure for you and your organisation across IBC’s key media platforms and media partners e.g.  IBC’s website, IBC365, podcasts, social media, press releases and features with a host of influential media partners. In addition, there is significant exposure for the Accelerator Programme on the ground at the IBC Show in Amsterdam, on stages, on the show floor and more.

• Year-Round Customer/Supplier Engagement

Importantly, the Accelerator programme has been welcomed and embraced because it brings year-round engagement and interaction between Champions and Participants, buyers and sellers as well as valuable visibility throughout the year, not just at IBC itself.

• Central Show Floor Presence at IBC

An Accelerator Zone – featuring all eight projects and teams selected in 2025 – will be a central feature of IBC Show in 2025 situated alongside the Innovation Stage. Each project and team have a pod and screen to showcase their project solutions, with branding of both Champions and Participants in the project. 

• Stepping Stone to Commercial Opportunities and further success

There are many great examples of IBC Accelerator projects that have gone from development in the programme to commercial deployment by some of the biggest broadcasters in the world. There are also many examples of award winning projects developed in the programme.

• IBC Accelerator Programme Project of the Year Award

The prestigious IBC Accelerator Project of the Year Award 2025 will be awarded to the top project as reviewed and judged by our independent jury of media professionals.  All projects showcased at IBC are in the running for the award, judged on Final PoC and Showcase sessions assessed as key materials presented during and after IBC show, with the award winner announced live at the following Kickstart Day.

All 8 Challenges are in the running for the award, and are assessed which is presented after after IBC show, with the annual Award Winner announced live at the following year’s Kickstart Day. Previous winners include the 2021 project for 5G LBXR (Location-Based Extended Realities) project, and our 2022 Winner 5G Remote Production in the Middle of Nowhere, and in 2023 it went to the Responsive Narrative Factory. The winner of the 2024 Project of the Year Award will be presented at Kickstart Day on 12th February 2025.

Specifically, any IPR ownership (including technology or content) contributed into a project remains with its original owner, and there is no obligation to license this to other project members. If the IP owner wishes to do so, this can be negotiated bilaterally with the parties involved.

In the case of innovation jointly developed within the Accelerator project as a result of cross- party development, the licensing of IPR is a matter as between each of the Accelerator Project Members involved and can be licenced to other team members or externally with the full agreement of the team. IBC has no rights or interest in acquiring rights of technology IPR developed by the Accelerators.

Accelerator Projects are designed to be rapid-fire and typically last from a kick-off in early March (depending on team composition achieving the requisite numbers) four to five months, to showcasing the solution at IBC 2025 in September. Projects often extend to a second – and sometimes a third - phase to expand the scope or work on more advanced use cases, depending on team appetite.

Yes, and this has proven to work to excellent effect in previous projects, whereby competitive Champions and Participants have often engaged collaboratively to solve a specific, common challenge. Nothing of commercial sensitivity need be shared, and each Accelerator is supported by well-established ground rules and policies established in similar projects over many years.

Over the last five years, several concepts which started out as Accelerator projects  have been further developed toward commercialisation and market launch by various vendors involved – some solutions have been deployed on some of the world’s biggest live events and broadcasts. Typically, outcomes of a project range from such development to industry presentations and discussion sessions, whitepapers, case studies, best practice guides, lessons learned. Opportunities to showcase and present project outcomes often go beyond IBC’s event platforms and have included Mobile World Congress, RTS, EBU, IET, NAB, Media Production Technology Show and other industry events in as well.

Accelerator showcases would typically take the form of exhibition showcases demonstrating the solution as a Proof of Concept, with in the Accelerator zone at IBC in Amsterdam in September 2025. The project teams also take part in special Accelerator sessions and demos on the IBC Innovation Stages tat the show discussing and explaining the outcomes, learnings and solutions online. The showcase discussions at IBC 2025 can all be seen within the individual project pages here.

Further information is available on the IBC Accelerator Programme pages here e including the full overview deck detailing the process, benefits, and commercial aspects of the programme as well as the submission form for 2025 and further info and videos on the remarkable eight Accelerator projects completed in 2025.

You can also email at accelerators@ibc.org.

The IBC Accelerator 2025 cycle offers several tiers of sponsorship with additional benefits and high-level exposure in and around the programme, right from the start of the cycle through pre-Kickstart Day promotion through to IBC itself. These includer a Headline Sponsor, Associate Sponsoers, and Kickstart Day Sponsors.

If you are interested in enquiring about these opportunities, please check out the Accelerator Sponsorship opportunities proposal here contact our Accelerator Team at  accelerators@ibc.org.