MIB sets 2027 for WAVES’ second edition; summit to run biennially

Mumbai: The second edition of World Audio Visual and Entertainment Summit (WAVES), the government’s flagship creative-economy platform, will be held in 2027 and run as a bi-annual initiative, Information & Broadcasting Secretary Sanjay Jaju announced at the silver-jubilee edition of FICCI Frames.

“WAVES should become a platform for bringing together the global creative economy. It’s going to be a bi-annual event. It’s going to happen in 2027,” Jaju said, adding that “WAVES is not an event, it is a movement.” “By definition, a wave begins as the old one ends, and gives birth to the next,” he noted.

Jaju said the inaugural edition has been followed by a series of ‘WAVES Bazaar’ roadshows across the world, with Melbourne, Busan and Toronto among recent stops. “Our creators are taking their content outside; ideas are becoming opportunity, passion is becoming paisa, craft is becoming commerce,” he said.

Held in Mumbai from May 1–4 and inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, WAVES 2025 brought together over one lakh visitors from 100 countries, featuring 140 sessions and participation from more than 3,100 companies.

Jaju described WavesX as an access-to-mentorship programme for creative startups, now underway at the Indian Institute of Creative Technology (IICT). The new IICT Goregaon campus has moved into the tendering phase (targeted to begin in December), with the first academic batch planned for 2028. 

Emphasising the industry-led model, he said IICT is majority owned by industry bodies (52%), while the Government of Maharashtra and the Government of India together hold 48%. 

He urged companies to reskill employees through IICT courses and tap its incubation and technology infrastructure, alongside allied media institutes and incubation partners nationwide.

Under the Create India Challenges, over 1 lakh creators participated, and 700 finalists converged at WAVES. The ministry, Jaju said, is now working to incubate and support these finalists “to move higher up the value chain.”

Positioning India’s Cine Hub as a digital single window for permissions and timely disbursals, Jaju said it is increasingly used by Indian producers. The platform is being re-crafted to handle concert permissions, with a beta slated by end-October “so we don’t lose the concert season starting in November,” a move he said will lift the concert economy.

Acknowledging disruption pressures, Jaju said the ministry is working on reforms for broadcasting, DTH and television, following the Prime Minister’s Independence Day announcement. The overarching goal, he stressed, is to make India the world’s most vibrant, ethical and innovative creative economy.

Closing with a sector-wide call to action, Jaju said, “Innovate fearlessly and tell stories that uplift”, believe in Indian creativity, and shape India’s cultural narrative with courage and conscience. “We are committed not just as a regulator, but as an enabler and collaborator. Let the next quarter-century be bold in creativity, fair in conduct and global in impact.”