After two days at the Media City Tech Festival in Odense (great venue, less great weather), I’ve come away with a lot to think about.
What stood out most wasn’t a new product, platform, or shiny demo. In fact, there was almost no product discussion at all.
Instead, the event centred around three big themes: culture, AI, and cloud sovereignty. With a polite nod towards sustainability.
Culture as critical infrastructure
One of the standout (and opening) talks came from Suzanne Lord from the BBC, who framed culture as mission-critical infrastructure within media organisations.
In a time where workflows, roles, and expectations are being reshaped by AI, there’s a noticeable level of uncertainty across the industry – “Will AI replace me?” – particularly within large media operations teams.
Suzanne spoke about the scale of that challenge, and the importance of having a strong, adaptable culture to guide people through it. While technology is accelerating change, it’s culture that determines whether organisations can actually absorb it.
A political edge to a technical industry
Another interesting undercurrent throughout the day was how political the conversation has become.
With the Danish general election coming to an end earlier in the week, there was a clear focus on:
- Misinformation – who’s checking the facts?
- Cognitive security – are my opinions being shaped for me?
- Data security – who’s really in control?
Layered on top were broader geopolitical tensions, which gave parts of the conversation a more political edge than you’d typically expect at a technical event
That leads directly into one of the biggest talking points of the event…
Cloud sovereignty: independence vs reality
At a high level, everyone agrees… more control and independence is a good thing.
But when you dig deeper, the picture gets more complicated:
- Are European solutions truly ready to match the scale, cost-efficiency, and resilience of US providers?
- Is there a growing product knowledge gap in the market?
- And if political pressure accelerates change too quickly, could that actually introduce new risks?
One comment summed it up well. If the US “flipped a switch”, Europe would have a serious access problem.
At the same time, cost remains an underlying driver, and the reality is, the same risks don’t magically disappear with EU-based solutions.
Conclusion: We need to reduce dependency by generating a more balanced ecosystem between US and European providers, rather than a complete shift in one direction.
There’s also a parallel conversation here around efficiency, not just where content is stored, but how much is stored, and how effectively it’s being managed once it’s there.
AI: still the headline act (but familiar patterns)
Unsurprisingly, AI dominated the majority of sessions, but the framing was interesting.
There’s a sense that demand is currently outpacing what the industry can realistically deliver – a kind of “pig in the python” moment – thanks for the quote by Benedict Evans – and yet, this isn’t new territory.
We’ve seen similar cycles with:
- PCs
- The internet
- Smartphones
AI is just the latest wave, albeit a very big one.
As the event progressed, the discussion became more grounded. There was a clear shift towards practical application across the industry:
- How should AI be used responsibly?
- Where should human oversight sit?
- How do you balance speed with trust?
Overall, it feels like the conversation is moving from possibility to accountability, which is probably where it needs to be.
Underpinning a lot of these discussions is a simple reality – AI is only as effective as the content it can access and understand. For many organisations, that means first getting to grips with duplicate-heavy archives, fragmented metadata, and inefficient workflows, before more advanced use cases can truly deliver value.
Sustainability: present, but still the quietest voice at the table
It was encouraging to see sustainability represented, with contributions from Michael Harrit at the BBC and Carsten Sparwath at TV 2 Denmark, who is aiming to make TV 2 the greenest broadcaster in Denmark, applying initiatives like the Green Producers Tool and collaboration across the Nordics.
However, there was also a noticeable contrast.
Sustainability featured on the smaller stage, it was the only session dedicated to the topic, and attendance was very low. While sustainability is still a strategic priority at an organisational level, it doesn’t yet seem to command the same day to day attention or urgency as AI.
That’s not entirely surprising because sustainability is often seen as a long-term goal, whereas AI is perceived as an immediate opportunity (or threat)…
Additionally, the DPP highlighted towards the end of 2025 that sustainability was unlikely to be a major theme in 2026, and based on this event, that prediction seems to be playing out.
The focus, for now, has clearly shifted elsewhere.
So… what does all this mean for NAB?
With NAB Show 2026 just around the corner, it’ll be interesting to see how these themes translate.
My take:
- I anticipate this year will see a further drop in EU attendance
- AI will dominate again but with more tangible use cases and commercial framing
- Cloud and workflow efficiency will be front and centre (especially around cost, scalability, and performance)
- Data sovereignty will likely show up, but in a different form – less political, more practical
What I’ll be watching for is this: How do vendors bridge the gap between vision (what we heard in Odense) and execution (what buyers actually need today)?
Final thought
Stepping back, one of the most interesting takeaways is how much broader the industry conversation has become – iIt’s no longer just about workflows or formats.
It now sits at the intersection of:
- Technology
- Politics
- Economics
- Culture
And that naturally makes everything more complex.
