ISE postpones its big premiere in Barcelona until 2022

The persistence of the coronavirus crisis has led the organizers of Integrated Systems Europe (ISE), the world's largest audiovisual industry fair, to postpone its grand premiere in Barcelona, which was scheduled for June 1-4, until February 2022. "We have made this decision after long discussions with our exhibitors over the past few months and, especially, over the last ten days. There has always been a clear demand for a four-day ISE in Barcelona in June. However, the uncertainty surrounding the pandemic and international travel continues, which means we will not be able to hold ISE 2021 in its traditional format," said ISE Executive Director Mike Blackman.

Just over a week ago, the congress had confirmed that it was maintaining its landing date in the Catalan capital, with a reduced edition and in-person and virtual programming. With this announcement, the organizers gave exhibitors a few days' margin to finally decide that they did not want to participate in person, allowing cancellation without penalty. Without the media cancellations that are occurring around the Mobile World Congress (MWC), once again, the companies participating in ISE have also ended up backing down, expressing to the organizers their preferences for smaller local events.

Finally, ISE has scheduled four small shows in Barcelona, Munich, Amsterdam, and London, the main European markets for the audiovisual sector. This will encourage face-to-face interaction, but in a more prudent and safe manner. The four meetings will each last two days, spread throughout the month of June. There will also be digital programming, developed by the multinational Cisco. Regarding the celebration of this small event at Fira de Barcelona, on June 1 and 2, it is still unknown how much space will be occupied in the exhibition venues.