Mike Blackman (ISE): "Barcelona works for us"

Mike Blackman (Georgetown, 1958) already feels at home in Barcelona. Not only because he lives between Munich and the Catalan capital, but because all doors in the city have opened to him since his arrival. So much so that he has been mentioned as a potential president of Barcelona Global, a business lobby where he currently holds a vice-presidency and does not rule out taking on more responsibilities in the next term.

The businessman directs Integrated Systems Europe (ISE), the leading audiovisual industry fair in Europe. He decided to move to Barcelona in 2018, after Amsterdam had become too small for them and limited their growth capacity. Last year they celebrated their 20th anniversary breaking attendance records with almost 74,000 congress attendees and surpassing the figures achieved before the pandemic, in addition to leaving an economic impact of 468 million euros in the city. In an increasingly tight fair calendar, the 2025 edition is scheduled one week later than usual, from February 4 to 7. More than 1,500 exhibitors will participate.

--- How do you feel the city has welcomed you?

--- I think Barcelona does much better than other cities. The different institutions work together to attract businesses and help them grow here. There are many places where they do a lot to capture you and, when you arrive, you have to fend for yourself. What I find in Barcelona is that both the City Council and the Govern truly support you to expand. This represents a big difference when it comes to staying. There are many more incentives once you are already here to continue. When we get bigger, why should we leave? In Barcelona, we are growing phenomenally.

--- You must have seen that Barcelona is quite pessimistic and economic sectors are always afraid that any initiative will leave. One of the most repeated questions asked upon your arrival in the city was why you had chosen it. Has your perception changed?

--- The reasons have been reinforced. We studied many aspects to make the decision to come here. First, we have seen how hotels cooperate with us, trying to maintain a reasonable price level. This helps us bring our clients, who do not find it too expensive to travel. Working with the city has been much easier than we imagined. So I think they promised us less than they were capable of doing when we came. Everyone has delivered much more than they told us, working with us and helping us develop. The result has been that, when COVID arrived, we thought we would have to change the growth forecasts we had projected in 2017, when we started considering moving. This 2024 fair was a record, exactly what we predicted then. This shows that we recovered and we did it much faster than many other congresses around the world. These have truly been record growth figures. It is a reflection that Barcelona works for us.

At least ten companies have established offices in Barcelona as a result of ISE's presence. Among them, Taylorleds, B-Tech, Lang, Aztec, Lightware or LiveU.

--- One of the results of ISE's growth in our previous headquarters, Amsterdam, was that many Chinese companies opened businesses in the Netherlands. We are already seeing that in Barcelona. We know that at least ten companies have established offices in Barcelona and its surroundings ---Taylorleds, B-Tech, Lang, Aztec, Lightware, LiveU...---, not only Chinese brands, as a result of ISE's presence. The fair is contributing to long-term economic growth, a goal pursued by Barcelona Global. That implies generating long-term jobs and income for the city. There will be much more of that. Fairs like ISE should always be considered as economic facilitators. I may be wrong, but I believe one of the strongest areas of growth will be China, establishing distribution businesses here.

--- How is this new edition of ISE shaping up?

--- This year's fair is 20% larger than last year's in square meters. We will be around 95,000 square meters. There will be no free pavilion in the Fira Gran Via venue; there will only be some parts of pavilions 1 and 2 that we will not be able to use because preparations for the Mobile World Congress (MWC) by companies like Ericsson will have already begun. It is difficult to say how many attendees will come this year, it is always a guess, but we do see a correlation between the growth of exhibitors and that of attendees.

--- For the first time, there will be an exclusive space for startups, as already happens at MWC with Four Years From Now (4YFN) and has also started to be done at Smart City Expo.

--- We have always had startups, and one of the things we have discovered is that many investors attend the fair. Specifically, more than 1,000 attendees come looking for companies to buy, invest in, or get involved with. We realized that we had startups and investors, but we weren't doing anything to bring them together. That's why we have chosen to create an area at the fair where we can really work to help them. Our biggest exhibitor is Samsung, and we don't expect it to grow much, but we do expect growth from smaller companies. Most of our top 100 exhibitors remain practically the same year after year. So, when we look at the long-term growth of ISE, we see that it depends on small companies, those that this year occupy six square meters, in 2026 will contract 20 square meters, and in five years perhaps reach 100 square meters. It is our duty to support them. If we want the industry to grow, we have to help them create opportunities.

--- Where will they be?

--- The exhibition area, with more than 80 startups, will be located in a very prominent place so that everyone can find it. Between halls four, five, six, and seven, there is Congress Square, a space where everyone passes through, and they will be there. This way, it will be an excellent way to help attendees find them, almost by accident. They may not be looking for them, and when they pass by, they might see something that could be interesting to them.

--- Does ISE also need the expansion of Fira Gran Via, like Mobile does?

--- According to our calculations, we expect to be sold-out in 2026. There will be no available space left, and we will have maximized the facilities. This implies that, looking ahead to 2027, the new pavilion, Hall 0, will be necessary for our growth.

--- Is expanding to the Montjuïc venue on the table?

--- Before we think about moving somewhere else, it is an option. Dividing a fair is always a challenge. Even doing it in different pavilions is a challenge. But that's not a problem yet. The earliest we might need it will be after 2030, and it may no longer be my problem.