More than 10,250 delegates, 500 leading exhibitors, 400 presenters and 100 expert speakers, who joined the European Wind Energy Congress EWEA in Copenhagen this week, are heading home after a successful event.
“I have been attending EWEA in a number of cities, but I must say that Copenhagen has been the most enjoyable show ever. I am impressed with the conference center – the Bella Center – it was easy to get a hotel close to both the venue and the city, there are loads of nice people in Copenhagen and Denmark is not too expensive,” explains Steve M. Jackson, Sales and Marketing Manager at SEM Limited, who manufactures elements to wind mills, and continues:
“It has been a really good show, very well organised. And I have already associated with both existing and potential costumers, so I am expecting a high outcome.”
Copenhagen was chosen as the host city for EWEA because of Copenhagen and Denmark’s reputation within sustainable energy, and in particular wind power.
“Denmark’s leading position in the energy field had a major impact on our choice, and we have had an enormous support from the Danish wind turbine industry. Copenhagen has a good reputation as an international congress city and Bella Center matches our needs perfectly. As well as this, it means a great deal that it is so easy to get to Copenhagen by air from around world, so that we can attract as many delegates as possible,” Anja Wimmer, head of event logistics at the EWEA, explained back in 2010 when the decision was taken to hold the congress in Copenhagen.
EWEA’s choice underlines Copenhagen’s international position as a leader when it comes to sustainable meetings. Steen Jakobsen, congress director at Wonderful Copenhagen, says:
“Both from the UN climate summit, COP15, and the current EU presidency, we have gained in-depth experience in how to develop large-scale, sustainable events, and today Copenhagen has a prominent name within the international meetings industry as a host city for sustainable events of all sizes. It is easy to find both venues and suppliers who are used to working with sustainability here. For example, as many as 63% of the city’s hotel rooms are eco-certified. The EWEA’s choice of Copenhagen is one more feather in the Danish capital’s cap.”
The congress itself took place in Bella Center, Scandinavia’s largest congress centre, where there where ample space for the 10,000 delegates and the large scaled exhibition.
The weekend before the show, the Copenhagen City Council and Wonderful Copenhagen arranged a major energy festival, MINDBLOWING Copenhagen on Ofelia Beach, a popular public space beside the harbour in the centre of the city, to raise awareness among locals and visitors. MINDBLOWING COPENHAGEN was another step towards Copenhagen Council’s ambition to be the world’s first carbon-neutral capital by 2025.
This kind of outreach program has become more and more common, Steen Jakobsen explains:
“It’s an increased global trend that destinations are competing on how to develop and host international congresses in the cityscape including the citizens and visitors. In the same time the congress associations are interested in leaving some sort of ‘legacy’ in the cities where the congresses are held. This could be to involve the local citizens by showing them the challenges and solutions within the congressional field. And this is why outreach activities are obvious choices.”
