ISE 2026 Audio Visual Show To Light Creative Spark With Expanded Programme In Barcelona

Even though there are some four months until it opens its doors, the Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) tech show has announced that next year’s event will include eight new listening suites to showcase high-end audio, a cybersecurity and education tech summit, running alongside the show, and, for the first time, a space to bring together content creators.

Despite attendance numbers making ISE one of the biggest annual AV shows in Europe, unless you’re an audio visual (AV) professional, ISE is a show you’ve likely never heard of. That’s because over its twenty years of events, the show has been a space for the business divisions of major companies. However, in 2026, the show will make its first steps to more public awareness with a move beyond pro audio to accommodate more familiar audio brands. The experiences will still be high-end, though, with ISE promising environments that blend “state-of-the-art acoustics with inventive design”.

Located for several years at the FIRA Barcelona, the same location used by Mobile World Congress, the show attracted over 1,600 exhibitors in 2025, with over 85,000 attendees. The show says that even with months to go, it already has more than 1400 exhibitors secured, 184 of which are at the show for the first time and this year, the ISE team says it is expecting the numbers to increase again, despite not having access to the FIRAs Hall Zero, which has been delayed until 2027.

A Show Apart

While it initially sounded to me as if ISE was looking to move into IFA territory, that’s not the case, at least according to ISE managing director Mike Blackman, whom I spoke to at a pre-ISE press event.

Blackman says he sees “little overlap between the shows”, with IFA focusing more on white goods and audio retailers, who sell products rather than solutions. “We have integrators; people who — they’re not just giving you a product and saying, ‘here you go, go and do it’. They’re actually coming and putting that in, because it needs more sophistication.”

One thing that won’t necessarily be coming to the show, however, is automotive; despite it being, to my mind at least, a classic example of an AV-powered integrated system. “At the moment, we are putting our focus elsewhere. ISE has always been innovative in what we do — we don’t try and jump on this bandwagon that everyone else is saying, “Are they doing cars? Let’s do cars.” If the demand comes to us, we won’t turn it away. At the moment, we haven’t seen it that way.”

The AI Megatrend Continues

Unsurprisingly, ISE is focusing on AI, which Blackman describes as “a megatrend”. Last year, AI evangelist Brian Solis was the opening keynote speaker and this year it’s Sol Rashidi, dubbed in 2022 by Forbes as an AI visionary.

But is AI not just another bandwagon? Blackman disagrees. “There are sometimes things that are so intrinsic to what’s going on that you can’t ignore them,” saying that it is already intrinsic to everything that ISE touches, from content creation to the corporate office.

Cyber-security for AV

Another new area for ISE this year is also cybersecurity. While not an instinctive match for ISE, area Blackman says that it’s actually an essential topic for the AV world. “AV is no longer peripheral: it’s at the core of smart infrastructure, making cybersecurity a strategic necessity.” He points to breaches in security from billboards being taken over in Russia to the fire at Heathrow airport, and claims that too many companies are still very naïve to the impact that losing control of their systems can have.

Blackman says the summit will bridge the AV and cybersecurity worlds to share practical insights and foster collaboration and give attendees a clear roadmap to secure AV systems without sacrificing innovation. Attendees will also be able to enjoy a tech-tour of a state-of-the-art control room in Barcelona.

Adding this arena to the ISE conference bagged Blackman an invitation to meet the deputy director of the Spanish secret services. “I walked out of that meeting with these guys thinking, ‘Oh, I’m never going to log into my banking details at the airport ever again!’”

Tech-Ed

This is clearly an educational issue and how to use AV to teach will be at the forefront of the Tech-Ed Congress, which will be running alongside ISE. AV is very much converging with the educational market, Blackman observes, with new and innovative ways to use technology in the classroom cropping up all the time.

Lighting A Spark

The final announcement was that ISE 2026 will introduce Spark, an event aimed not just at the technology but at the creative industries that are using it.

“One of the things we’ve recognised about the creative people is that a lot of them are walking the show floor: the Amazons, Netflix, YouTubes, etc, they’re there. They want to have a presence, and we decided that now is the time to ignite that spark”.

Blackman describes Spark as a cross-vertical assembly of creativity, giving “one huge dose of creative fuel that unites creativity, technology, and business leadership to generate positive momentum and ignite potential.”

Finally, Blackman said that he saw two big growth areas for the 2026 show. Live events: “you can’t experience a concert or a theater show without AV,” and sustainability.

While it would be nice to think of the latter happening for altruistic reasons, in reality, he says companies are being forced to do so by their customers. Whatever the push, the results are paying dividends, he says.

“You’re seeing companies starting with sustainable packaging with a goal for reusable products. So, it’s not a case of end of life, it’s thrown away. Their asking, “Can we recycle that or find a second-life customer for these products?”

Personally, I’ll be going more for the AV and audio demos rather than the reusable packaging, but whatever floats your boat, ISE returns to Fira de Barcelona, 3-6 February 2026, and registration opens on Monday, 6 October 2025.

Forbes