What technologies, businesses, and skills will shape the next era of media and entertainment? Join this one-hour webinar for an exclusive preview of Future Tech at IBC2026.
Hear from leading industry voices on the trends driving change, discover how the IBC Accelerator Media Innovation Programme is turning shared challenges into working solutions, and explore how Future Tech Ignite is supporting the next generation of ideas, businesses, and talent.
Featuring insights from IBC, the Accelerator community, EIT Culture & Creativity, and contributors from across the start-up and talent ecosystem, the webinar will reveal what visitors can expect from the expanded Future Tech experience in Hall 14 this September.
Speakers:
Evan Shapiro, Media Universe Cartographer
Since he created his Map of Media, Evan Shapiro has become known as the cartographer of the media universe. His maps, infographics, and ruminations are now widely quoted and used by businesses, executives, analysts, and colleges around the world. Using his very specific point of view, Shapiro charts media's future through his essays in his Media War & Peace Newsletter and with his transformation agency, EShap. He also co-hosts The Media Odyssey podcast, which has quickly become an industry touchstone. Shapiro is also an Emmy and Peabody Award-winning producer of TV, films, and podcasts, including Portlandia, This Film Is Not Yet Rated, Please Like Me, Comedy Bang Bang, Brick City, and Harmonquest. He also served 18 years as a professor at New York University’s Stern School of Business.
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Russell Trafford-Jones, Chair of The Media Technical Network at IET
Russell Trafford-Jones is a writer and technology evangelist with a background in contribution, compression, and live sports production. As Chair of the IET Media Technical Network, Trafford-Jones works to promote education and diversity within the broadcast industry. His website, The Broadcast Knowledge, educates by bringing together all the industry’s explanatory videos in to once place. Trafford-Jones has worked for a number of years at Techex, cloud and video over IP specialists in the UK, and leads their collaboration with industry bodies to create and test new technologies.
Susannah Montgomery, Business Development and Ecosystem Manager at EIT Culture & Creativity
At EIT Culture & Creativity, Susannah Montgomery helps shape the networks driving Europe’s creative and digital transformation. She connects people across the creative innovation pipeline to turn promising ideas into funded collaborations with real-world impact. Her background spans European research projects, interactive exhibitions, and public programming at the intersection of technology, culture, and society.
Erik Weaver, Director of Adaptive Production at ETC
Erik Weaver, a specialist focused on the intersection of cloud and the media and entertainment industry, is currently director of ETC’s Adaptive Production project and special projects. Prior work at ETC includes “Production in the Cloud”, which encompassed many aspects of the cloud, including transport, security, metadata, long-term storage, and the formation of an agnostic framework that unites key vendors and studios. Weaver was also global M&E strategist for Western Digital.
To find out more about the innovations set to land at IBC2026’s Future Tech area, register here.
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