We are delighted to share that the project Evolution of the Control Room, involving Dr. Gareth Young, SCSS and Colm O’Fearghail (Postdoctoral Researcher at TRANSMIXR) was awarded the prestigious ‘Project of the Year’ title by the IBC Accelerator Media Innovation Programme.
The announcement was made during Kickstart Day 2025, held at BBC Broadcasting House on 12th February. The annual award is presented to the top project as reviewed by an independent jury of media professionals.
Combining two original Accelerator challenge proposals, Evolution of the Control Room aimed to push the boundaries of live production workflows, control systems and technical architectures. The project brought together two research and development streams: one explored XR, AI and voice control in the context of the control room; the other focused on modular, HTML-based graphics solutions.
Commenting on the project’s original aims, Grace Dinan, TUS Senior VP Broadcast Specialist with TRANSMIXR, explained:
“Rather than aiming to replace the traditional on-premise control room altogether, we wanted to develop an alternative solution that can add value where it’s most needed. For instance, during rapid scale-up of production facilities during a special event like an election, or the Olympics.”
The project’s proof-of-concepts, demonstrated at IBC2024, included:
· A virtual control room for XR head-mounted displays (HMDs)
· AI-powered tools for sourcing, analysing, and reporting news
· AI-assisted voice control for both XR and on-premise environments
· Voice-driven automation for presenters to trigger live production events
· XR studio solutions with live volumetric video for multi-format delivery
· A complete HTML-based graphics workflow supporting multi-platform output
Since its launch in 2019, the IBC Accelerator Programme has become a leading platform for collaborative R&D in the media and entertainment sector, tackling cutting-edge topics such as AI, connectivity, sustainability, IP-based workflows, ad-tech, content protection, and immersive technologies.