After six years spent in Ibiza — hosting wide-ranging conversations with the likes of David Lynch, Giorgio Morode and others —  the International Music Summit is set to debut to America. IMS Engage, to be held April 17 at the W Hotel in Los Angeles, will play host to seven pairs of influential executives, artists, and thinkers, all tasked with exploring the exploding global electronic music scene in a series of unmoderated conversations.

“IMS Engage is about elevating the status and positioning of the genre­ bringing together people from electronic music, and the associated industries and creative cultures that are reaching in. It will show how far the genre has come and how far it is capable of reaching out,” said IMS partner Ben Turner in a statement.

Five talks have been announced so far:

— Hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons will sit down with Patrick Moxey, Ultra Music founder, recently named president of electronic music at Sony and former intern for Mr. Simmons.

— SFX Entertainment’s Shelly Finkel and BBC Radio 1 (and IMS co-founder) Pete Tong will discuss the ‘EDM boom’ in the U.S. and its implications for the scene.

— Troy Carter, manager to Lady Gaga and many others, will talk artist management in the digital age with Amy Thomson, manager to the recently departed Swedish House Mafia.

— Beatport CEO Matthew Adell and computer scientist Jaron Lanier — father of the term ‘virtual reality’ — will discuss tech’s present and future.

— Skrillex and Summit Series co-founder Jeff Rosenthal will likely have a ‘big ideas’ chat, if the Summit Series’ previous work is any indication.

In addition to the conversations, Billboard editorial director Bill Werde will introduce the event on Wednesday.

W Hotels Worldwide will host a performance by Foxes on the eve of the IMS Engage event. As well, a party, co-presented with The Windish Agency, will follow the event.

For more infomation on the IMS go here. [Billboard.biz]