Around twenty Walloon audio visual companies recently took part in the National Association of Broadcasters Show (NAB SHOW) in Las Vegas. Walloon creativity and innovation invaded the aisles of this leading U.S. trade show. Now a major event, it is used by the Wallonia Foreign Trade and Investment Agency (AWEX) to help promote the audio visual expertise of Walloon SMEs through its large group stand.
For example, this is how I-MOVIX, a Mons-based company and world leader in extreme slow-motion cameras, signed its first large contract here almost ten years ago. Every year, the company returns to present its latest jewel of technology: a camera capable of recording several hundred images per second in 4 K, a definition which is even higher than... high definition!
Another event regular, EVS, is determined to permeate second screens - the opportunity for EVS to rise to a new challenge. Times are changing, as are consumption habits. Indeed, today it is not uncommon for us to watch television, smartphone glued to our ear, while using a tablet to look at personalised content. We want to be able to... interact! In the future, it will no longer be enough to film a football match and broadcast the best moments on television. At the same time, the production of other camera angles or interviews will be expected to feed the social networks, for example. It is with this in mind that EVS is involved in developing solutions to give broadcasters live use of all this additional material. The World Cup in Brazil should act as a large-scale test of what is to come in the near future, the standard.
Finally, there is the case of MOODME, a start-up from Walloon Brabant involved in the world of apps, the applications that are downloaded to a tablet or smartphone. For this ambitious SME with limitless innovation, the idea is simple: play with our faces in order to make them convey emotion, a bit like the now-unfashionable emoticons. And it's working… This app has attracted none other than AS Roma, the famous football club adored by millions of tifosi worldwide. A predictable success story! The proof perhaps, that in Wallonia, creativity and innovation do indeed rule.