Entitled ‘Shaping the Future: Innovation Across Continents’, the session will be moderated by Carles Gómara, innovation and digital transformation expert at ACCIÓ, the Catalan Government agency for business development. He confirms that AI’s transformational potential – as well as some of its attendant challenges – will be up for discussion.

“So much that’s happening now is around AI, so we will consider how it’s changing the sector and what we can expect in the future,” says Gómara. “Of course, one of the things it’s important to note is that no one can be sure of what’s coming up; the future is not written and we have to build it.”

Nonetheless, it’s evident that AI is advancing more rapidly than many would have predicted a few years ago. “I remember having a conversation with someone about using artificial intelligence to generate images, and they knew it was going to happen but felt it was still very far away. But a year or so later and now we are able to do it.”

As the current controversy over the use of xAI generative artificial intelligence chatbot Grok to create sexualised images indicates, it’s also an area of development with more than its fair share of potential pitfalls. Some of these may be addressed in the ELAF session, with Gomara noting his current concern about “audio and the possibilities that exist to exactly replicate our voices”.

Joining him to discuss AI and other emerging technologies, which may include robotics, will be Laura Harrison, principal product manager at BBC Research & Development; Martín Umarán, co-founder, GLOBANT; and Will Saunders, who has worked as a writer and producer, and is currently creative head of the CoSTAR National Lab and a Professor of Creative Industries at Royal Holloway University in London.

Debuting at ISE 2024, the European Latin American AV Forum provides a platform where government representatives, industry leaders and AV professionals from both regions meet to build strategic alliances and explore emerging opportunities. Consequently, the event serves as a catalyst for long-term economic and technological impact.

This year’s event takes place on Wednesday 4 February from 10:30 to 14:00 in conference room CC5.3.  Following an introduction from ISE managing director Michael Blackman, there will be sessions on regional AV trends, trade and business opportunities, and insights from business leaders in both Latin America and Europe. In addition to the above, speakers will include AVIXA senior industry analyst Mike Sullivan-Trainor, international tax expert Michela Ritondo, Catalan Audiovisual Cluster vice-president Noemí Cuní, 80 Mundos founder and BACA (Audiovisual Cluster of Buenos Aires board member María Eugenia Lombardi, and Omni Soundlab founder and director Christopher Manhey.

For the full schedule of this year’s ELAF, and for details of how to purchase individual Forum tickets or all-conference passes, please visit the ELAF webpage.