For the fifth consecutive year, the Israeli national pavilion at IBC showcased some of the latest startups which presented technologies for the media and broadcast industries. Over the years we have seen our portfolio companies graduate from our pavilion to become successful companies in their own right.
One notable company is of course Waze whose acquisition by Google for over $1 billion has opened the eyes of many in the world of the opportunities in this small country.
Several other graduates made the headlines at IBC this year with Tvinci winning “Best TV Everywhere/Multi-Screen Service” at the CSI Awards 2013 and Viaccess-Orca awarded the “Best Content Platform” at the ConnectedWorld.TV Awards 2013. Viaccess-Orca is a merger between Viaccess and a previous Israeli portfolio company Orca Interactive.
The Israel Pavilion is organised by Israel’s Ministry of Economy and its representatives across the globe together with the Israel Export Institute. Our pavilion consistently serves as a hub of innovation and oasis of expertise. This year, whether it was the engagement offerings from Applicaster or the human recognition from Extreme Reality, guests were able to get a taste of the opportunities for enhancing their businesses by integrating these new ideas.
With the number of attendees at IBC this year rising to 52,974, the Israel Pavilion was a constant hub of activity. The interest and excitement was visible for all to see as visitors met with the innovators behind some of these cutting edge technologies from Israel.
As in previous years, the UK media industry saw the great potential in the Israel Pavilion at IBC with well over 100 meetings taking place between the British visitors at the Israeli technologists. In the past few years, we have seen this pavilion being the first seed in spawning a fruitful business relationship and we expect the same this year as senior representatives came from all the leading UK’s broadcasters and media companies to discuss potential business opportunities.
With the international visitors now on their way back to their respective countries, the real work begins and follow up discussions will take place to transform the potential opportunities into reality.