IBC 2011 – AMSTERDAM. By 16:00 Tuesday, 50,462 people had attended IBC, a new record and a rise of 4% over 2010, the IBC organisation announced. The 13 halls and 1,300+ exhibitors made it the largest IBC ever in terms of display space.
“We continue to push the boundaries of IBC, bringing in thought leaders from new media, advertising and cutting edge technology,” said Michael Crimp, CEO of IBC. “Everyone knows that the industry is changing. Audiences are being pulled in different directions, by immersive experiences like 3D and by multi-platform content as consumers use tablets and smartphones even while they are watching television. Media companies need to be agile to remain commercially viable, so they need to make intelligent use of technology.”
The IBC Awards celebrate the best of that collaboration and communication. This year the Innovation Awards went to CNBC, CNN and DNA in Finland, which also won the Judges’ Prize. Yukihiro Nishida, senior research engineer collected the IBC2011 Best Conference Paper Award on behalf of a group of colleagues at NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation), and Exhibition Design Awards went to Phabrix, Tangent Wave and Christie.
For a remarkable 60 years in wildlife television Sir David Attenborough was awarded IBC’s highest accolade, the International Honour for Excellence. His started in black and white television on 16mm film, and throughout his career he pushed forward the use of cutting edge technology, from colour to low light cameras, and from HD to 3D. His most recent programme, Flying Monsters 3D, received the Special Award which went to its producers, Atlantic Productions.
A new venture in 2011 was the IBC Leaders’ Summit. CEOs from the leading media enterprises around Europe and the Middle East spent two days behind closed doors, discussing the business challenges for the future, and how media companies must evolve to meet them.
A long-established IBC feature, the New Technology Campus was expanded into the Future Zone this year. This was host to the sensational NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation) Super Hi-Vision demonstration – 16 times the resolution of today?s HD – including some stunning footage of the Space Shuttle Endeavour on May 16, 2011. Live pictured from London came via a super-wide broadband pipe of 300 Mbps.
Next year’s IBC in Amsterdam takes place on 6-11 September 2012.
