In 2010, the Barcelona International Convention Centre (CCIB) is scheduled to host over 350,000 delegates participating in a variety national and international events and congresses. Flagship of Barcelona’s business tourism industry, the centre has been chosen as the venue for a number of important events related to the medical-health, pharmaceutical, computer and technology industries, among others.
“In a market that is becoming increasingly more competitive, CCIB has demonstrated its capacity for attracting national and international events, generating large revenues for Barcelona and presenting our facilities as a yardstick for all industries. Along these lines, we are very satisfied with the results for the first quarter of 2010, and with the top events and congresses booked for the rest of the year,” explains Marc Rodriguez, director general of CCIB, when summing up the centre’s activity; a period characterized by the high level of the events held, or scheduled to be held, in 2010.
From 25-28 January, CCIB hosted, for the third year running, Networkers at Cisco Live!, one of Cisco’s main annual conventions for EMEA markets, with the attendance of 4,000 trade professionals. Following this top global event, CCIB hosted the main annual meeting and workshops of YPO (Young Presidents’ Organization), from 23-27 February. This prestigious event, which has been held in Spain for the first time, attracted 1,500 highly influential executives and company chairmen from all over the world.
A few days later, CCIB again placed Barcelona on the international cultural and biotechnological map with the Anna Lindh Forum 2010 (4-7 March), and BIO-Europe Spring 2010 (8-10 March), respectively, with a joint attendance of over 2,500 delegates. Afterwards, the centre hosted a number of top world-class medical and pharmaceutical industry events: the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) (14-19 March); the European Breast Cancer Conference (23-27 March); and the 11th Annual NATA Symposium (8-9 April).
Last April, the most important events featured the 2010 Packaging Fair. Fermin Perez, director general of easyFairs Iberia, the organizing company, stated at the conclusion of this last edition of the event: “easyFairs Iberia has again fulfilled our expectations. More than 3,500 trade professionals, designers, company directors and chief executives related to the packaging and labelling industry have attended the event. CCIB has provided us with facilities totally adapted to our needs, since we were looking for a centre that met the high demands of our target, professionals with an enormous decision-making capacity. Modern and architecturally outstanding, CCIB features excellent facilities and highly competent staff.”
For 2010, CCIB has confirmed a number of relevant events related to very different industries. During the year, the centre is scheduled to host over 350,000 delegates attending a variety of national and international events. The medical industry is especially important, since a number of organizations have chosen CCIB to hold their periodical meetings or assemblies with the aim of disseminating and discussing different specialities related to illness prevention, diagnosis and treatment, as well as the development of systems and facilities. These events include the Congress of he Spanish Society for Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology (19-22 May); the Cancer Congress 2010 (28 June-3 July); the 88th General Session & Exhibition-IADR (13-17 July); ESTRO 29 (12-16 September); the ESICM Annual Congress 2010 (8-13 October), and the UEGW 2010, scheduled to be held from 23- 27 October, with the attendance of 12.000 gastroenterology specialists.
Besides the medical-health industry, new technologies and innovation form the core of CCIB’s event agenda, with, for example, the International GENNESYS Congress on Nanotechnology and Research Infrastructures (27-28 May), and the Symantec Conference (4-7 October), which will attract researchers and professionals from all over the world.
In addition to the aforementioned congresses and conferences, other top events include the Euro-Med Summit of Heads of State and Government in June; the WCCI 2010 World Congress on Computational Intelligence (19-23 July), a global event which is expected to attract 3,000 computer experts and gurus; and two global HP events – Worldcup y Software Universe – scheduled to be held in May and November, respectively, with the attendance of some 3,000 delegates from the multinational.
“This broad and multidisciplinary event agenda,” states Rodriguez, “demonstrates that our facilities are perfectly adapted to all demands, not only due to their size – with a maximum capacity of 15,000 delegates, equipped with 45 flexible function rooms, a large exhibition area, and an auditorium seating 3,200 – but also because of its cutting-edge technology and telecommunications systems. Our professional team, specializing in different technical fields, provides organizers with a full range of services. In addition, we can also count on the experience of GL Events, an international group present in the world’s main events, such as the Beijing Olympic Games and the coming edition of the Football World Cup in South Africa.”
