Integrated Systems Europe (ISE), the largest AV and systems integration show in the world, took place last week in Barcelona at the Fira Barcelona, Gran Vía. This year’s event had 58,107 unique attendees from 155 countries and on the trade show floor, which was the largest to date, exhibitors reported unparalleled footfall to their booths.
Mike Blackman, managing director of Integrated Systems Events, says: “It’s been an extraordinary week and it’s hugely gratifying for us to look back and realise we’ve delivered an exceptional show for our industry and the wonderful city of Barcelona. We’ve had unprecedented visitor levels to the show, so much inspiring content and features on display, and ground-breaking visits from the King of Spain on Tuesday and the President of Catalonia on Thursday to add both a royal and a political seal of approval to the show.
“This week at ISE 2023 confirms that we can safely say the global AV and systems integration industry is back with an impressive bang!”
Biggest trade show floor and a royal visit
Day one saw the highest number of opening day visitors ever for an ISE show as attendees explored a record-breaking 56,870sqm of floor space. The venue featured six halls, as well as the Audio Demo Rooms where French pioneer of electronic music Jean-Michel Jarre revealed his new album.
In total, 58,107 attendees took part in ISE 2023, making 133,606 visits to the show floor. There was also a royal visit as King Felipe VI of Spain took a tour of the show floor on day one. He was accompanied by Ada Colau, mayor of Barcelona, Núria Marín, mayor of L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, Laia Bonet, 3rd deputy mayor of Barcelona. In addition, the president of the Government of Catalonia, Pere Aragones, visited the venue, where there were 70 Catalan-based companies exhibiting.
Praise from exhibitors
Christine Schyvinck, CEO of Shure says: “It’s been a few incredible days at ISE! Lots of inspiring conversations with partners and old friends. We were honoured to welcome His Majesty the King at our booth, and we won the Inavation Award for Audio Technology! We had a very successful week, and we look forward to continue all our conversations.”
Luis Garrido, executive director of Alfalite, says” “We are delighted to have been part of ISE 2023. The show reinforced Alfalite’s strategic agreements with international partners and allowed us to showcase our products to regional and overseas potential distributors. We are a Spanish company and the only European LED Screen manufacturer with the latest technology, so we felt honoured by the King’s visit to our company stand.”
A new feature this year was the Content Production and Distribution zone in hall 6, showcasing creativity and technical solutions in order to provide inspiration for integrators and end-users. This zone is set to return next year.
Inspiring keynotes
Attendees also enjoyed three insightful keynote speeches at ISE 2023. Firstly, on day one, BK Johannessen of Epic Games spoke about how tech trends in the gaming industry are driving AV innovation to new heights of creativity.
Day two’s keynote was delivered by Stephen Nuttall, head of television for the America’s Cup, who talked about the technical challenges that his team has to overcome in order to live broadcast this iconic sporting event.
Finally, Fran Chuan of InnoQuotient delivered Thursday’s keynote, which was entitled “How Innovative is the AV Industry?” In this, he presented the results of ISE’s Culture of Innovation 2023 Survey, using the proprietary InnoQuotient tool.
Next year, ISE will be held in Barcelona from Tuesday 30 January to Friday 2 February 2024.
