2026 UWA SUMMIT | UWA International Ecosystem Forum Held in Shenzhen, Charting a New Picture of Global Audiovisual Integration

On October 22, 2026, the UHD World Association (UWA) held its International Ecosystem Development Forum in Shenzhen. Experts from international standards bodies, overseas broadcasters, content companies, cloud providers and device makers discussed how to take UWA’s ecosystem from its China-market foundation to the international stage. They covered international cooperation, standards alignment, content protection and micro-dramas, as well as overseas device coverage, tool support and local business models.

Opening remarks. UWA Secretary-General Zhang Wengang said internationalization is UWA’s next key topic. He hopes support from standards bodies, partners and members will turn China-market experience into broader cooperation. “International cooperation is key to UWA’s global development,” he said.

Global trends. Andy Quested, Chair of ITU-R Working Party 6C, said broadcast, internet, mobile, gaming and AI are converging fast and reshaping audience expectations. Media organizations should put user experience first while attending to trusted content, ethics and privacy. “Without convergence, there is no survival,” he said.

HDR in cinema. Tony Ngai, Founder and Director of SMPTE HK, said HDR cinema should be promoted from creative needs, with the whole chain from cinematography to exhibition involved. Brightness is not the only measure. Shadow detail and the theater environment matter too, and technology should serve the director’s intent.

UWA’s global ecosystem. Kevin Guo, UWA Senior Director of Ecosystem Development, reported 500+ members, about 70 of them overseas, across 30 countries and regions. Overseas efforts include Southeast Asia experience centers, local integration and training partners, pilots and tool support. He invited partners to help grow the ecosystem.

Content protection. Jiang Xiaoli of Huanyu Trust (Beijing) Technology Co., Ltd. said today’s DRM landscape is fragmented. He advocated cross-platform protection built on the ITU-T J.104X standard, with trust management and continuous monitoring.

Regional broadcasting. Shakeeb, Vice President of AIBD, introduced AIBD’s Asia-Pacific network and welcomed UWA to connect with regional broadcasters and the 2027 summit in Korea. He stressed training as a key way to raise awareness and access.

Micro-dramas. Desmond, Senior Vice President of Partnerships at MNC, said micro-dramas should be designed for vertical screens and fragmented viewing time. V+Short plans to evaluate Audio Vivid and HDR Vivid on suitable short dramas.

Video quality. Arina, Business Development Manager at Elecard, said end-to-end quality monitoring is essential. She shared a case where dynamic metadata was lost during transcoding.

Cloud and AI. Yao Qinghui, Chief Strategy Officer of Tencent Cloud Smart Media, said Tencent Cloud uses AI to rebuild production and distribution workflows. Its tools include encoding optimization, SDR-to-HDR conversion and restoration of older films, and they also help customers cut bandwidth costs.

Encoding in practice. Wang Zijiao of Sumavision shared the encoding deployment behind Shenzhen Satellite TV’s HDR Vivid 4K channel. He said multichannel Audio Vivid encoding is still in testing with domestic broadcasters.

Roundtable. Moderated by UWA Senior Advisor Fu Liming, with representatives from True, SWS, CSI and Huawei. Participants showed interest in adopting the technologies, but noted concerns about local purchasing power and adaptation costs. They named overseas device support as the main bottleneck, with mobile and micro-dramas as priorities. They recommended delivering multiple formats from high-quality HDR masters, along with native tool support and continued engagement with standards bodies and regulators.

Closing. Participants agreed that global audiovisual integration needs both hard technical standards and soft connections: open cooperation, training and user experience. UWA will keep working with international standards bodies, partners and members to help more innovations take root worldwide.