WASHINGTON—The National Association of Broadcasters said applications are open for exhibitors to participate in Futures Park, a showcase for cutting-edge research and development in broadcast, media and entertainment technology at the 2025 NAB Show, set for April 6-9 in Las Vegas.

Reserved exclusively for technologies not yet commercially available, Futures Park is an area on the show floor where innovative ideas will take center stage, NAB Show organizers said.

“Futures Park is a hub for technology innovation at NAB Show,” said Sam Matheny, NAB executive vice president and chief technology officer. “It offers a unique platform for trailblazing researchers and developers to present their groundbreaking work, giving attendees an exclusive look at the ideas and technologies that will shape the future of broadcast, media and entertainment.”

Universities, research institutes, companies and organizations are invited to present and demonstrate new technologies that are still under development, NAB said, including those with significant improvements or enhancements. Other areas eligible for display are developments in relevant open standards (including open-source implementations or reference design platforms), media education programs or projects and other noncommercialized, media-related items of interest.

NAB will supply complimentary exhibit space for accepted applications, including booth carpeting, pipe and drape separating contiguous booths and basic identifying signage for the presenting organization. All other exhibit-related expenses are the applicant’s responsibility of the applicant.

A 10-by-10-foot booth is the typical exhibit space size, but additional space requests may be accommodated on a case-by-case basis, accounting for the nature of the demonstration and its relevance to NAB Show attendees, NAB said.

Complete information on exhibiting at Futures Park can be found here. Applications can be submitted using this form no later than Jan. 10.

NAB Show will take place in the West Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center from April 6-9 (education sessions from April 5-9). To preregister, click here. To learn more, visit NABShow.com.

The National Association of Broadcasters said 244 companies will be first-time exhibitors at the NAB Show in April.

The list includes Blubrry Podcasting, Libsyn, Padcaster, Women in Media, Sohonet, Deity Microphones, Red Bee Media and StreamShark. (See the list.) Some have appeared at the show in the past in other booths, such as Audinate, found in the Bosch/RTS in the past; others are likely to be entirely unfamiliar. The show will have approximately 1,700 total exhibitors including 819 from outside the United States.

We asked NAB Executive Vice President of Conventions and Business Operations Chris Brown for some insights into this aspect of the event.

Radio World:What can we glean from the list of companies — what technology sectors seem hottest, and in what kind of new tech areas is the show growing?

Chris Brown: It is a great list of new companies and they tend to reflect the breadth of the show and the trends that are driving innovation. We have companies covering all ends of the content lifecycle from acquisition to management to distribution — with a slight leaning, a little more than a third, representing acquisition and production technologies. From a tech and trends perspective we are seeing healthy interest in streaming technologies, advanced advertising, social media, cloud, storage and IP. Our focus every year is to dig for companies that are developing leading edge technologies or serving particular segments of our audience with specialized products or services.

RW: Do you know which NAB Show exhibitor is the longest-tenured?

Brown: Unfortunately we don’t have accurate enough history (and remember, the show has been around since 1923) to confirm this definitively. But we certainly have a healthy list of companies that have exhibited with us for a very long time; these include companies like Sony, Panasonic, Imagine and GatesAir (formerly Harris Corp.), Grass Valley, Avid and Ross just to name a few.

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RW: What will be the three largest booths at the show?

Brown: Sony, Blackmagic Design and Canon. Beyond these and others that have been exhibiting for some time, we have a number of other important brands that are emerging with an increasing presence in the show. A couple of good examples would be AWS Elemental and Google. The combination of AWS and Elemental has matched the enormous resources AWS with the deep industry expertise of Elemental to create an entity that is having a major impact on the industry. In the case of Google, not much needs to be said — they play a vital, varied and growing role within the media and entertainment ecosystem. Just two years ago they were not even participating as an exhibitor.

RW: How does this year’s exhibit space compare to last year?

Brown: Between exhibit space and exhibitor activity in meeting rooms and suites, the show will once again cover more than 1 million square feet of activity. It will essentially cover the same area as last year.

RW:What are other platforms at the show where attendees can find up-and-coming companies?

Brown: We have an area of the show that is all about up-and-coming; we call it the Innovation Pipeline, and it covers the companies and trends from inception to full launch. Three distinct areas are included: NAB Pilot’s Futures Park, which represents the true R&D side of the equation, with research and other companies showing technologies that are still in the lab stage. Then there is Startup Loft, an area that features companies that are in their true infancy, with products or services that are baked but only on the market for a year or a year and a half. These are the “garage” entrepreneurs of our business. And as a final phase, there is Sprockit. Sprockit is a program that identifies the most promising young companies in the media and entertainment space and brings them into the spotlight at the show. These are companies that are bringing technology that can revolutionize, even disrupt, the industry.

We also will be featuring a number of technology pavilions that will lean forward and will feature companies that are relatively new to NAB Show. These include our Immersive Storytelling Pavilion (North Hall), the Game Developers Gallery (North Hall) and the Podcasting Pavilion (South Hall).

LAS VEGAS—Pilot, formerly known as NAB Labs, previously announced that it would be showcasing ATSC 3.0 technology at the Futures Park during the 2016 NAB Show; as part of that, Pilot has announced that it will display a prototype ATSC 3.0 receiver and gateway demonstrating the Interactive Environment at its booth.

The Interactive Environment is a feature of ATSC 3.0, the next-generation standard developed by the Advanced Television Systems Committee. The approach is based on HTML-5 and will reportedly allow broadcasters to provide more customized experiences for viewers.

The home gateway combines an over-the-air TV tuner with Internet access, Wi-Fi connectivity and a software environment that enables user engagement. Pilot’s demonstration will feature examples of interactive multi-view programming from Fox Sports; local interactive news and weather programming from News Press & Gazette; recognition of local station members from PBS; on-demand content from Akamai; advanced analytics; real-time viewing and engagement metrics from Yet Analytics; and a Pilot channel featuring zoned and targeted advertising and advanced emergency alert capabilities.

Pilot developed the Interactive Environment prototype as part of its ATSC 3.0 Gateway project. The prototype will be on display at booth SU16009 as part of the Futures Park.

WASHINGTON—Rebranded simply as the Futures Park and with a new location in the South Upper Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center, the 2016 NAB Show’s Futures Park will once again feature media-related research and development projects from around the world. This year, special attention will be given to a number of ATSC 3.0 demos, showcasing the next-generation DTV standard.

The Futures Park will feature a special ATSC 3.0 Broadcast Pavilion at this year’s show, where 15 companies will present and demonstrate prototype equipment that implement portions of the ATSC 3.0 standard. There will also be the ATSC 3.0 Studio, which will features live content for the ATSC 3.0 demonstration broadcasts. The NAB’s Pilot booth will also show ATSC 3.0, display a prototype ATSC 3.0 recevier/gateway.

Another exhibit plans to showcase the Korean UHD On-Air consortium, demonstrating work done toward the planned 2017 launch of regular terrestrial UHDTV service in Korea. This is expected to be one of the first deployments of ATSC 3.0 broadcasting.

The Super HiVision format from NHK, which provides 8K video and 22.2-channel sound, is also expected to be on display. New elements to be presented this year include 8K laser projection, HDR and wide color-gamut 8K images, an 8K remote production truck, and examples of 8K content.

In addition, demonstrations by the Ultra HD Forum and the 4EVER-2 Project are also set for the Futures Park; as well as displays on virtual reality, next-gen audio, interoperable file-based workflows, new sensor techniques, interactive TV, management of multiple live content streams, HDR video production tools, multi-screen application development and 3D production software.

The 2016 NAB Show Futures Park will be open from April 18-21.