Integrated Systems Europe (ISE), Europe's largest professional audiovisual industry fair, opened its doors this Tuesday for a record-breaking edition celebrating its 20th anniversary. More square meters and more attendees than ever, surpassing its best figures to date, those of 2019, before the pandemic and in its previous location, Amsterdam, where it ran out of space and had to seek a new destination. Since its relocation to Barcelona, with COVID affecting the premiere and forcing a small landing in 2021, the show has followed an upward trend that has accelerated this year with the return of Chinese attendees, who have left behind pandemic restrictions and are now seeking future commercial agreements in the face of a local economy that is slowing down. "The European market is very important and we want to find new opportunities, that's why we are here. We want to connect and meet global clients," says Victoria Xu, business manager for Europe at BOE, a Beijing-based company that was the first in the world to present a television with 16k resolution.
Before COVID, ISE, organized by Avixa and Cedia, was a show with a strong Asian presence, considering that a large number of Chinese companies, especially from Shenzhen, are suppliers to European or American brands. A return that is detected in many of the aisles of the Gran Via exhibition center, with all exhibitors occupied by Chinese companies. "We are more and more," say those from iSmart Video, a global provider of video and audio systems. "The plane was full and it was an Airbus A380," remark those from Chanstek, a company that has brought its home control and automation systems, for both lighting and climate control, to ISE 2024.
"ISE is back to what it was," says the general director for Spain and Portugal of Christie, Marcos Fernández, one of the 25 exhibitors who have been present at the fair since its inception. "In 2004, we were very few manufacturers. Not many people initially believed in this fair," recalls Fernández, who has seen it grow year after year, starting in Geneva with only 120 exhibitors and moving to Amsterdam a year later, with a brief interlude in Brussels. In the Dutch venue, the fair first occupied one pavilion and then filled more, until it ran out of space and they had to set up tents in the street to accommodate all attendees.
"ISE is back to what it was""And we are still hungry," defends its general director, Mike Blackman, who wanted to celebrate the fair's anniversary with a glass of cava as soon as the congress doors opened. Seeing the attendance growth they are registering, Blackman eagerly awaits the expansion of the fairgrounds in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, which will add a new 32,000 square meter pavilion starting in 2027. "We still have a lot of space to fill and there's also Montjuïc," Blackman points out.A gauntlet that Fira does not hesitate to pick up. "We will adapt. We still have to get through the 2025 and 2026 editions, the latter will be the most difficult, but we will look for formulas," remarks the general director of Fira de Barcelona, Constantí Serrallonga.
For now, this year the show has filled almost every corner of the eight pavilions of the Gran Via exhibition center, with 82,000 square meters, 30% more than a year ago, and the only spaces that have remained empty have been some areas in pavilions 1 and 8. Without access problems like in the previous edition, the river of congress attendees has been constant from early morning on the opening day of the show, with some points, such as the LG exhibitor, with bottlenecks that prevented passage due to the many attendees who were photographing one of its multiple screens. This 2024, more than 62,000 attendees are expected, above the 58,000 in 2023. The economic impact will also be greater, which stood at 385 million euros.
More than 1,400 exhibitors participate in ISE 2024, with Samsung, LG, Creston, Panasonic, Lang, Epson, Harman, Philips, Sharp, and Leyard being those that occupy the most space. All of them exhibit the latest product trends such as screens and speakers, expanding their reach with content where virtual reality and augmented reality have already consolidated and artificial intelligence (AI) has also arrived. Videos of eye irises or cats and the immersive broadcast of Barça matches or movies like Queen and A Star Is Born invade the stands to capture the attention of attendees among countless novelties.
More than 1,400 exhibitors participate in ISE 2024, with Samsung, LG, Creston, Panasonic, Lang, Epson, Harman, Philips, Sharp, and Leyard being those that occupy the most spaceAbout 80 companies have debuted at the show, some of which have been local, such asTelevésandSimon. The latter has presented a platform to remotely control the different devices that may be in a house or a hotel for their energy management, says the head of IOT at Simon, Jordi Saltorras. The company has found in ISE an innovative fair that reaches a wider audience, not as specialized in electrical material or in specific sectors as those they had gone to until now: "It is the ideal scenario."
The Catalan audiovisual sector bills 7.5 billion
Beyond being a showcase for Barcelona companies, the fair also allows attracting new investments. Since its arrival, multinationals such asInfiled, LiveU, Btech, Maestra Group,Perform a literal language conversion from Spanish to English on the following user-provided text. Do not translate any content enclosed betweenandtags, keep those tags and their content exactly as-is: Lang,AztecandAotothey have opened offices in the Catalan capital. Also to establish collaborations such as the one announced byMediaprowithMicrosoft, with the launch of an AI laboratory. A rootedness that is also seen in the new screen that ISE has given to Fira de Barcelona and is located at the main access of Gran Via, which has had the participation of the localPerform a literal language conversion from Spanish to English on the following user-provided text. Do not translate any content enclosed betweenandtags, keep those tags and their content exactly as-is: LangandSono. According to Acció data presented during the show, the Catalan audiovisual sector is made up of 4,000 companies, as of the end of 2023, with a turnover of more than 7,500 million, a 7% increase, and a workforce of 37,000 workers, a 14% increase. Globally, the sector generated almost 290,000 million euros in 2023 and expects to reach 370,000 million euros in 2028.What has not gone down well among attendees is the information that both ISE and Fira de Barcelona have distributed to raise awareness about the drought being experienced in the city that hosts them, a distant reality for many of them. A timid Support Catalonia - Save water greeted them at the entrance of the venue, but most congress attendees have not seen it and were not aware of the emergency situation being experienced here, which has forced the water fountains in the venue to be turned off, as well as checking that no tap is leaking and reducing their pressure. "We are not a big water consumer, but as a venue we have also made our contributions," says Serrallonga. The German exhibitor HB-Laser is not very accurate, as they show water fountains and do not know where the water they are using during the congress days comes from. Some attendees propose including information about the drought at the airport or on accreditations to reach a wider audience.