"The potential of the audiovisual sector in Catalonia is enormous." This is one of the reflections most repeated this Monday by the executive director of the Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) audiovisual technology fair, Mike Blackman, and the president of the Audiovisual Cluster of Catalonia, Miquel Rutllant, during their participation in the The New Barcelona – Moments Estel·lars series, organized by The New Barcelona Post with the collaboration of CASA SEAT, Must Media Group, Barcelona Global and Audiovisual Cluster of Catalonia.
https://youtu.be/Oj7pEsfCfa4
In the opinion of both leaders, the audiovisual industry is gaining increasing relevance globally and Barcelona starts from a privileged position to be a significant player in this sector if it adopts the necessary measures to facilitate and incentivize the landing of international companies, attract talent and build key infrastructures that allow accelerating the growth of this activity, which is not only relevant from an economic point of view, but also social and cultural. "Little by little, Barcelona is working to become one of the most outstanding cities in audiovisual terms," stated Blackman, considered one of the most influential people in this sector globally.
During the conversation they held with journalist and UPF-BSM professor Toni Aira, both the creator of the ISE show ---which landed at Fira de Barcelona in 2021 from Amsterdam--- and the president of the cluster have strived to explain that the audiovisual sector is not only about cinema and television productions, but it is an industry that is part of the daily lives of citizens and that continues to grow thanks to the rise of teleworking, mobile telephony and new technologies such as artificial intelligence and augmented reality.
"Many people still think of the audiovisual sector as something limited to cinema and television. But technology is the main lever for audiovisual development, as new ways of communicating through audiovisual technology have appeared that a few years ago would have seemed like science fiction to us," Rutllant highlighted, referring to the widespread use of applications like Zoom, Teams, or Meet. "We are surrounded by information screens in the streets, airports, and train stations, but I get blocked when someone tells me that we are a screen fair... no, we don't sell products, we sell audiovisual solutions that integrate software, cameras, screens, and all kinds of technologies that transform information and improve the user experience. Content is basic for the audiovisual sector; what we do is package this content in the best possible way," Blackman explained.
"The audiovisual sector worldwide ---added the director of ISE--- generates revenues of about 340 billion dollars; of that figure, 80 billion euros are generated in Europe. The European ranking is led by the United Kingdom, followed by Germany, France, Scandinavian countries, Benelux, Italy, and Spain, meaning Spain is one of the top 10 leading countries in Europe in the audiovisual industry. We are an industry with enormous financial value that, moreover, continues to grow, with sustained growth; it is a flourishing market that interacts with many other sectors, and this is part of its value, increasingly everything we do on a daily basis involves the use of audiovisual solutions".
In this context, Miquel Rutllant has justified the need to strengthen this sector in Catalonia and has vindicated the role played by the Audiovisual Cluster in setting long-term objectives that lead to success. "We are talking about an industry that is very important in Catalonia, and throughout the world; it is a relevant sector from an economic point of view, but it is also so from a social and strategic perspective, because I cannot imagine a region, a country or a city that does not value the audiovisual sector. Without a robust and powerful audiovisual sector, we will simply be spectators of content that has been produced in other parts of the world, and what will happen then to our culture or our way of life? That is why it is relevant from an economic, cultural and social point of view to have a cluster like this," he argued.
According to Rutllant, "the Audiovisual Cluster of Catalonia aims to develop the Catalan audiovisual industry sector from an economic and strategic point of view". "We work to have a robust audiovisual industry and to make decisions about the most appropriate strategy we should carry out in Catalonia to achieve long-term objectives," he pointed out, after recalling that there are also audiovisual clusters in the Basque Country, Navarre, the Canary Islands and Aragon, with whom they work jointly.
Mike Blackman has stressed that "this enormous growth potential of the audiovisual sector in Barcelona and Catalonia" was one of the main reasons that made them choose the city to hold the ISE exhibition, since "Amsterdam, where we were doing very well and it is a fantastic city, became too small a city for an exhibition that has grown a lot and that this 2024 will celebrate its 20th anniversary". "Barcelona has an important position, it is a hub of southern Europe and also of North Africa, with a good port and airport. More and more Asian companies believe that they will come to Barcelona to do business, and that is why we moved here. We will see how more and more companies will start operations in Barcelona and this will imply the creation of jobs, more income and a strengthening of the economy."
When ISE made the decision to leave Amsterdam, multiple European cities were studied, measuring parameters such as their hotel capacity, ease of transport, language, fair infrastructures, cost of living, and international connections. "From this work, we extracted a list of ten European cities capable of hosting ISE and asked our clients what adds value to a fair. Once the answers were analyzed, we saw how Barcelona was in a superior intermediate position. However, in terms of hospitality and atmosphere, that is, in the main factors that add value to a fair, Barcelona was in first position and was a very good option. On the contrary, the city received a low score on the issue of language. But this issue, nowadays, is a fallacy; my personal experience is that interaction here is also very easy," Blackman stated.
The president of the Audiovisual Cluster of Catalonia has highlighted, precisely, the great attractiveness of the Catalan capital in the field of fairs and congresses, a sector that clearly favors the audiovisual industry, since it is a large client of this technology. "Barcelona is and will be one of the most important cities in the world in terms of organizing business and leisure events and, obviously, in all these events there is a lot of audiovisual technology behind them. Everything is audiovisual today and, for that reason, the growth potential of the sector is enormous; new audiovisual functionalities are constantly emerging that will make it an even more robust sector in the future," Rutllant affirmed.
Infrastructures, key to the future of the sector
At this point, he has claimed the need to have high-level audiovisual infrastructures and parks to compete with the major international audiovisual capitals. "If we want to be in the first division and play a prominent role in the audiovisual world, we must have these infrastructures. What are we missing in Barcelona? An infrastructure that facilitates the production of new audiovisual content. In this sense, we have good news, as there is a project promoted by the Government of the Generalitat, the Catalunya Media City, which plans to build a large audiovisual infrastructure in the Tres Xemeneies of Sant Adrià del Besòs, and this is very good news because it will act as a flagship for the audiovisual sector. The goal is for it to be completed by 2030," he advanced. Rutllant has also called for the expansion of the Terrassa audiovisual park and added "that we need many more sound studios, about 15,000 or 20,000 additional square meters, to be able to compete with other hubs on a global scale. Infrastructures are a primary aspect for the future of our sector."
For Mike Blackman, "projects like the Tres Xemeneies are lighthouses that will put Catalonia on the map of the audiovisual sector and speak of its potential." The director of ISE has also emphasized the strong growth that other businesses closely linked to audiovisuals are experiencing in Barcelona, such as the video game sector or online sports (e-sports). "There are many large markets that are growing here. Catalonia will never be a place where huge production companies land; some perhaps, but not the largest, as all this will go to Asia, due to economies of scale, which are incredible there; but Barcelona has enormous potential in distribution and content creation and is also a city where large conferences and fairs are held, and let's not forget the concerts that take place in Barcelona, it's an incredible topic, audiovisuals have a lot of presence in concerts!" he added.
"Perhaps you are still a bit behind other places in the world, but you have strong growth potential. We cannot say that Barcelona is the world capital of audiovisual, well, during the celebration of ISE in January it will be, because everyone will be here, but during the rest of the year I don't know, but little by little Barcelona is working to become one of the most notable cities in audiovisual terms", considered the executive, with a clear desire to boost the city's self-esteem, which he believes is too often underestimated. "Here we have received a lot of support and warmth from all administrations; this institutional support is much higher than in other places in Europe and this reinforces our decision to stay in Barcelona," he stated.
For Rutllant, having such an important fair as ISE in Barcelona "is basic and fundamental for our image as a city and a brand, because it is a fair that has great international relevance and is associated with concepts such as innovation and technology." Blackman announced that the edition taking place between January 30 and February 2, 2024, will feature 16K technology and new transparent LED screens. Actions are also being prepared with the America's Cup of Sailing, and a demonstration will be made of what a future classroom will be like and how technology will transform the education sector. "I always think it's a shame that the general public cannot come to the fair, as everything we present affects citizens and it is a show where you can learn a lot and confirm the relevance of audiovisual solutions," said Blackman.
Another novelty that ISE is preparing for 2024 is a summit between Europe and Latin America to bring together companies and public administrations and exchange good practices. "It will be a fantastic event that will allow us to be at the top of the pyramid and be able to influence what the sector will be like in the future," he explained.
"Next year we will celebrate our 20th anniversary, 20 years of ISE, a fair that has not stopped growing. We want to maintain an average growth of 15% in the number of exhibitors, square meters, and visitors. We want an even bigger and more spectacular fair to also contribute to the city. We hope more companies come to Barcelona, to distribute or open delegations, but good incentives must be adopted to get more companies to settle here," Blackman reflected. "Our ultimate goal is to be a forum where the industry comes together to decide what it wants to do with its future, that is, we want to debate what we want to happen," he concluded.
We export talent, but we also need to attract it
Finally, Rutllant also brought up the need to attract talent and advocated for the adoption of fiscal measures to facilitate the arrival of these professionals, as the Government of Quebec has done, which subsidizes up to 30% of the salaries of workers in the audiovisual sector. "In Catalonia, we have some of the best audiovisual schools in Europe from a technical training point of view, and therefore, what we are doing is exporting talent to the global audiovisual market. Many of the students, when they finish, go to London or Los Angeles and other audiovisual cities in the world. It is a reality that we are exporting more talent than we are attracting," he explained.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/5eCwSib3MgNOGSOTjomkpQ
According to the cluster president, "exporting talent must be compatible with also importing talent." "It is very, very important to attract talent, both students and professionals. The administrations are working very well and Barcelona Global is also doing an excellent job of communication with the administrations to convey this message and achieve fiscal incentives that facilitate new companies and professionals establishing themselves in Barcelona and Catalonia," Rutllant concluded.