Finalists of the IBC Innovation Awards 2025

IBC, the global event for media, entertainment, and technology industries, is going to honor the highest achievements in technological innovation and social impact with the announcement of the finalists in the five IBC Innovation Awards categories for 2025: Content Creation, Content Distribution, Content Everywhere, Environment & Sustainability and Social Impact. The IBC Innovation Awards recognize the best in collaborative efforts to develop new solutions to real-world technical challenges and to address social and environmental issues. Green Film Shooting is among the finalists.

 

“We are very grateful indeed to our panel of judges for their wisdom and insight in choosing our shortlists as the standard of entries, from all around the globe, was so consistently high this year,” says Fergal Ringrose, Chair of the 2025 Innovation Awards Jury. “Innovation never sleeps, and this year we can clearly see an evolution away from technology lurches enforced by the COVID-19 pandemic period towards greater refinement of innovation across the electronic media content creation, distribution and consumption ecosystem, often driven by advancing AI, hybrid and cloud-enhanced workflows.”

 

Innovative technology is a driver in the Content Creation category. The finalists include an AI-based video remastering system for Korean terrestrial broadcaster MBC, an IP-based multiviewer editorial workflow for NBC Olympics’ gymnastics coverage at Paris 2024 as well as Deep Ocean: Kingdom of the Coelacanth, the world’s first-ever video footage of a group of coelacanths captured in 8K and 22.2 sound. It is produced by NHK Japan, in co-production with ZDF/ARTE and OceanX, in collaboration with CMMAI.

 

The amazing developments are ranging from Content Distribution of the Crunchyroll Anime Awards in Tokyo that went live to the global anime community combining dubbing studios and scalable live streaming up to new solutions for Content Everywhere as for example the SVT-AV1 software encoder that makes video streaming viable on low-end mobile devices and low-bandwidth networks.

 

Innovative inventions are presented in the Social Impact category with the global initiative Media Talent Manifesto that supports neurodivergent professionals in the media and broadcast sector. Developed in partnership with Rede Amazônica, SOUV from SNEWS enables newsrooms to receive real-time content from underserved regions through mobile contribution. Meanwhile the Mobile Justice app was developed with the American Civil Liberties Union. It enables citizens to document law enforcement encounters in real-time and upload evidence for review.

 

The finalists in  the Environment & Sustainability category have a strong focus on energy efficient solutions. With the bi-color LED spotlight Evoke 5000B, Nanlux is showcasing its most powerful light. Thanks to its 5,000W power draw, it delivers a similar output to a 20,000W tungsten light. An energy-Efficient UHD Upscaling with NPU Acceleration for Sustainable IPTV Service is developed by Korea’s SK Telecom. It is serving 6.7 million subscribers while achieving 80% energy reduction and preventing 3,728 tons CO₂eq emissions annually.

 

Among the finalists is also the independent initiative Green Film Shooting, that presents innovative solutions in order to increase energy efficiency, save resources and cut carbon emissions since 2013. "We are very proud to be shortlisted for the IBC2025 Innovation Awards", says Birgit Heidsiek, CEO and Founder of Green Film Shooting. "It is a great honor to be among the finalists in a competition with these innovative global players."

 

The winners of the IBC2025 Innovation Awards will be presented on Sunday 14 September at 18.00 CEST on the main stage of the IBC Conference in the RAI Amsterdam.

 

Graphic:© IBC; Photos: © BrokenSphere / Wikimedia Commons; GFS