WAVES 2025, the World Audio Visual and Entertainment Summit, has emerged as a defining moment in India’s engagement with the global creative economy, bringing together creators, investors, policymakers and industry leaders from across continents into a single, integrated platform. Held from May 1 to May 4, 2025 at the Jio World Convention Centre and Jio World Garden in Mumbai, the Summit was conceived not as a conventional conference but as a strategic convergence designed to catalyse long-term collaboration, commercial exchange and institutional alignment across media and entertainment sectors.
At a time when creative industries are increasingly shaping economic growth, technological innovation and cross-cultural influence, WAVES 2025 positioned India as both a marketplace and a meeting ground. Representatives from over 100 countries participated, including policymakers, global studios, broadcasters, digital platforms, startups, investors and independent creators across broadcasting, films, digital media, Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming, Comics and Extended Reality (AVGC-XR), music, immersive technologies and emerging content formats.
More than one lakh participants engaged with the Summit ecosystem. The event hosted over 10,000 delegates, more than 1,000 creators, upwards of 300 companies and 350 startups, reflecting both scale and diversity. The convergence of commerce, policy and creative expression under one roof marked a shift in how India structures engagement with the global creative economy.
Institutional Design and Industry Pillars
WAVES 2025 was structured around clearly defined industry pillars to reflect the convergent and technology-driven future of media and entertainment. Rather than segmenting industries into silos, the platform enabled cross-sector dialogue and deal-making across film, television, gaming, digital content, immersive experiences, language technologies and emerging creator platforms. The architecture encouraged alignment between creators and markets, innovation and policy, talent and capital.
Create in India Challenge
At the heart of WAVES 2025 was the Create in India Challenge, an initiative designed to identify emerging creative talent and provide a global launchpad. The first edition received nearly one lakh registrations, including over 1,100 international participants from more than 60 countries. From this extensive pool, 750 finalists were selected to present their work at Creatosphere, a curated showcase space within the Summit.
Among these finalists were 43 international creators representing more than 20 countries, transforming the showcase into a genuine cross-border exchange of ideas. Creatosphere provided structured engagement with global studios, streaming platforms, production houses and investors, linking talent discovery with market access. More than 150 creators were recognised through the WAVES Creator Awards across 33 categories, but the structural outcome extended beyond awards. The initiative established a pathway for creators to move from recognition to co-production discussions, distribution negotiations and global partnerships.
WAVES Bazaar
Serving as the commercial engine of the Summit, WAVES Bazaar functioned as a year-round marketplace connecting creators, producers, distributors, broadcasters, gaming studios, music companies and investors. It was structured around curated buyer–seller meetings, project pitching sessions, content discovery platforms and rights negotiations.
The scale of business engagement was substantial. More than 3,000 structured B2B meetings were conducted during the Summit, generating business transactions exceeding ₹800 crore. With negotiations continuing beyond the event, deal values are projected to cross ₹1,000 crore. The Buyer–Seller Market segment alone accounted for over ₹500 crore in revenues, reflecting strong commercial traction.
The Pitch Room shortlisted 16 projects from more than 100 submissions, providing direct access to global buyers and financiers. The Viewing Room showcased 100 films from eight countries, strengthening international distribution opportunities. Several cross-border co-productions were announced, signalling tangible integration into global creative value chains. WAVES Bazaar was designed not as a temporary exhibition space, but as a sustained commercial interface, ensuring that market access extends beyond the Summit calendar.
WaveX and Startup Engagement
WaveX, branded as the WaveXcelerator, infused the Summit with startup-driven innovation in media, entertainment and language technologies. More than 200 startups engaged with the platform. Over 30 startups pitched live to major industry players including Microsoft, Google and Lumikai, while nearly 100 startups exhibited AI-powered and immersive solutions across gaming, content production, analytics and platform technologies.
The engagement translated into investor follow-ups, partnership explorations, pilot discussions and mentorship commitments. WaveX continued its post-Summit momentum through incubation and institutional partnerships with T-Hub, IIT Delhi and a broader network of innovation centres, strengthening integration between creative entrepreneurship and national innovation ecosystems.
Culturals and Concerts
WAVES Culturals and Concerts integrated artistic expression into the Summit’s core framework. Over four days, performances spanned classical, folk and contemporary Indian traditions alongside international collaborations. Orchestral performances, dance recitals and cross-border artistic partnerships embodied the theme “Connecting Creators, Connecting Countries.” The cultural programming was positioned not merely as entertainment, but as a vehicle for soft power, shared identity and creative diplomacy.
Global Media Dialogue and WAVES Declaration
A significant institutional milestone was the Global Media Dialogue, which brought together government representatives and regulators for structured multilateral engagement. Seventy-seven countries participated in the Dialogue, culminating in the adoption of the WAVES Declaration on May 2, 2025.
The Declaration reaffirmed the role of media and entertainment in promoting cultural understanding and resilience in a post-pandemic global landscape. It committed participating nations to bridging the digital divide, strengthening ethical and inclusive media ecosystems, supporting intellectual property protection, encouraging cross-border co-productions and ensuring responsible use of emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence. It also emphasised countering misinformation while upholding human rights and cultural sensitivities, and linked creative industries to the Sustainable Development Goals.
Policy and Capacity Building Outcomes
Beyond commercial metrics, WAVES 2025 signalled structural investments in capacity building. The positioning of IICT as a National Centre of Excellence for AVGC-XR underscored institutional commitment to advanced creative technologies. Subsequent announcements of AVGC Content Creator Labs across 15,000 secondary schools and 500 colleges reinforced long-term skilling ambitions, targeting the development of a workforce of two million professionals by 2030.
The Summit framed media and entertainment not as peripheral cultural sectors, but as economic multipliers capable of expanding exports, generating employment and strengthening global competitiveness. It highlighted the integration of AVGC-XR into mainstream advertising, storytelling and immersive production, and underscored the importance of embedding innovation within education systems and incubation networks.
Scale and Impact
WAVES 2025 demonstrated measurable impact across participation, policy alignment, startup progression and commercial outcomes. Creators accessed global buyers. Startups moved from pitch to negotiation. Governments articulated shared frameworks for ethical and inclusive media development. Businesses converted structured meetings into commercial alignments.
The Summit reduced friction between creativity and commerce, and between innovation and regulation. It strengthened India’s positioning as both a convener and a contributor within global creative ecosystems. By bringing together over 100 countries, facilitating thousands of business engagements and producing a multilateral declaration endorsed by 77 nations, WAVES 2025 moved beyond symbolic convening to operational outcomes.
Conclusion
WAVES 2025 marked a strategic inflection point in India’s creative economy journey. It integrated talent discovery, commercial exchange, policy dialogue and institutional capacity building within a unified framework. The bridges formed between storytellers and studios, startups and investors, governments and regulators indicate a platform designed for continuity rather than episodic engagement.
The Summit underscored that the future of the creative economy lies in the intersection of imagination, technology, entrepreneurship and governance. Through WAVES, India demonstrated intent not merely to participate in global creative markets, but to help shape them through collaboration, scale and sustained institutional architecture.
