The EWEA will hold its annual congress in Copenhagen next week. More than 10,000 delegates will visit the city, but the locals and tourists in the Danish capital will also get a chance to learn more about sustainable energy at the MINDBLOWING COPENHAGEN festival.
The energy sources of the future are going to be on display for Copenhageners and visitors to the city in the middle of April. Over 10,000 delegates will participate in the EWEA‘s international wind energy conference in Bella Center but during the preceding weekend of 14-15 April, Copenhagen City Council and Wonderful Copenhagen will also be arranging a major energy festival, MINDBLOWING COPENHAGEN on Ofelia Beach, a popular public space beside the harbour in the centre of the city. The congress itself will take place in Bella Center, Scandinavia’s largest congress centre, where there will be ample space for more than 10,000 delegates and the large scale trade fair taking place simultaneously.
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.
The EWEA’s choice underlines Copenhagen’s international position as a leader when it comes to sustainable meetings. Steen Jakobsen, congress director at Wonderful Copenhagen, explains:
“Both from the climate summit, COP1, 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 EWEA congress takes place in Copenhagen from 16-19 April. More than 10,000 professionals and 300 firms from over 70 countries, including leading experts within the wind energy, financing, political, development and installation fields, are expected to attend.
Popular focus on sustainable solutions
The Mindblowing Copenhagen festival will be a popular, ‘outreach’ of the major international industry conference to be be held in Bella Center. In the same way as the IOC congress and COP15 managed to reach out beyond the confines of their meetings venues right into the heart of the city to raise awareness among locals and visitors, the message of the wind energy conference will also be carried out on to the streets of the city. MINDBLOWING COPENHAGEN will be one step towards Copenhagen Council’s ambition to be the world’s first carbon-neutral capital by 2025.
This kind of outreach programme has been 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.”
