More than 400 people from over 20 countries are expected to attend the two-day MediaCon entertainment summit, taking place in Dublin this week.

The conference will encompass television, animation, virtual reality, gaming, visual storytelling and new broadcasting platforms, with fireside interviews, panel discussion, in-depth workshops, roundtables and master-classes.

Speakers include Sky Italia director of original productions Nils Hartman, New York Times columnist Michael Idov, NBC head of talent Chuck Labella, Discovery head of VR Nathan Brown, RTÉ Television managing director Dermot Horan, Discovery Networks programming director Nesta Owens, ITV Studios head of production Martin Baumann and Tania Alexander, founder and creator of Gogglebox.

MediaCon founder and chief executive Lesley O'Connor said Netflix and the dawn of virtual reality have given rise to an explosion in demand for content globally.

She said Ireland has a strong arts heritage and creative culture, but it has not succeeded in developing a reputation for the delivery of world-class television content.

"We need to look at a strategy for the development of internationally marketable content for global television and digital audiences. We need to look at what countries like Denmark have achieved and are delighted that the so-called Father of Scandinavian drama Ingolf Gabold is flying into the summit to share his insights," she said.