Following a successful debut in 2025, Future Tech returns to Hall 14 of RAI Amsterdam this year, with more features, more innovation and more of the technologies shaping the next era of media and entertainment.
New for IBC2026 is Future Tech Ignite, which will be delivered alongside Innovation Partner EIT Culture and Creativity. Future Tech Ignite will connect more than 50 start-ups, entrepreneurs and emerging technologies with the wider media and entertainment ecosystem through its new Start-up Zone and Ignite Stage.
The stage will host a four-day programme of future-focused content, talent and skills development sessions, as well as a new creative showcase. Key themes will include artificial intelligence, the creator economy, sustainability, cybersecurity, entrepreneurship, education, future skills, mentorship, allyship, start-up innovation and investment.
On Friday, 11 September, the Ignite Stage will welcome the IBC Talent Programme. Consisting of dedicated sessions focused on empowering professionals and addressing key skills requirements within the industry, it will bring together professionals, educators, employers, industry bodies and emerging talent to examine the opportunities and challenges facing the sector’s workforce.
Highlights will include a keynote from media cartographer Evan Shapiro on the skills required to adapt to a rapidly evolving media landscape. Other sessions will explore the state of the talent landscape in media and the relationship between the industry and education, with Rise Academy and Inholland and HvA universities of applied sciences.
In addition, a What’s Important Right Now (WIRN) session will examine the real issues industry leaders should be addressing, including sustainability, content and data security, talent diversity and more.
Saturday’s programme will be dedicated to start-ups. Shapiro will return, this time with Marion Ranchet, Founder of Streaming Made Easy, to deliver a start-up clinic, while another WIRN session will address cybersecurity.
Attendees will also hear from a selection of start-ups as they deliver five-minute pitches about their emerging businesses and the problems they are solving for media companies.
Sunday will feature a session examining the creator economy, AV broadcast, and changes taking place in content creation and ownership. This will be followed by more start-up pitches and an afternoon of professional development sessions from industry advocacy groups including #GALSNGEAR, Women in Streaming Media, Rise and Women in the Industries of Tomorrow.
The final day of IBC2026 will be dedicated to students, with sessions from IBC owner stakeholders and a showcase featuring On-Air, as well as short-form content from Inholland and HvA students who will have captured footage during the show.
The final session, ‘WIRN Leaders of Tomorrow’, will see students share their views on the industry’s most pressing issues.
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