Stronger than ever on the international stage

The Valencia Conference Centre is set to play host to 10 international events from now to the summer which will be visited by around 11,000 participants

By mid-July, 10 top-ranking international events will have been held at the Valencia Conference Centre. The Valencia Conference Centre will be the backdrop for three meetings held as part of the Spanish Presidency of the European Union, and for four congresses and three conventions which confirm the building´s status as a benchmark venue for major events.

The congresses scheduled include the first International Congress on Controversies in Cryopreservation of Stem Cells, Reproductive Cells, Tissue and Organs (CRYO), the 33rd European Cystic Fibrosis Conference and the 17th FESPB Congress (Federation of European Societies of Plant Biology).

On the convention scene, the Festival of Media will once again be bringing the world´s top advertising executives to Valencia for the globe´s main media creativity and innovation event, which is now in its fourth year. The meeting is set to bring together executives from leading media groups, major advertisers, and the best copywriters and strategists from advertising agencies. They include Jimmy Wales, one of the founders of Wikipedia, David Wheldon, Global Brand Director for Vodafone, Antonio Lucio, Chief Marketing Officer for VISA and Google´s Engineering Director, Yossi Mattias. In addition, RedHat, the leading open source software multinational, has also decided to hold its Red Hat and JBoss EMEA Partner Summit at the Centre.

In the words of José Salinas, the Valencia Conference Centre´s CEO, “the importance of international events held in our facilities has increased considerably over the years, which puts us in a better position to compete in an ever more demanding market. In addition, we have managed to attract events which generate considerable amounts of revenue for the city and have made Valencia the fastest growing European city in terms of event tourism over the last ten years, with the city currently ranked 26th in Europe and 45th in the world as an event destination“.

Spanish Presidency of the European Union events
The Valencia Conference Centre has been chosen as the host venue for different events connected with the Spanish Presidency of the European Union. From 12th-17th April, the 4th Conference on the 7th Framework Programme will be held under the title: The European RTD Framework Programmes: From Economic Recovery to Sustainability. This forum seeks a new deal on vital new and traditional industrial sectors. Alongside this main meeting, a total of 11 side events will also be held. These meetings are set to tackle the major issues facing new European R&D industrial initiatives and include sessions on Energy Efficient Buildings, Factories of the Future, Green Cars and Future Internet, which are key investment areas in the European Recovery Plan.

Subsequent European meetings are scheduled for 9th and 11th May. The first is the FEMIP Conference Valencia 2010, which has been organised by the European Investment Bank and will examine possible solutions to the energy challenge being faced by the Mediterranean Basin. The following event is the Mediterranean Solar Plan Conference which is one of the EU´s strategic projects for sustainable development in the light of the foreseeable increase in the demand for energy in the Euro-Mediterranean region and the need to cut back on greenhouse gas emissions.

Domestic events
In addition to the international calendar of events, different national meetings are also scheduled at the Valencia Conference Centre from now to the summer, such as the Spanish Fertility Society Conference, the Spanish Plant Molecular Biology Meeting and the Federation of Spanish Midwives Associations´ Congress.

According to José Salinas “The Conference Centre is a firm fixture on the national congress circuit which moves around the major Spanish cities. This enables us to plan ahead and maintain our facilities´ occupancy rates and thus continue to be financially self-sufficient thanks to the resources we generate from the events held in the building, without forgetting innovation through projects, such as the photovoltaic roof and our ECO project which have made the Centre one of the few European venues able to host sustainable events“.

The Valencia Conference Centre
During the near on twelve years since it opened, the Conference Centre has received over 1.2 million visitors, hosted around 1,900 events and generated over 500 million euros for the city, more than 16 times the amount it cost to build.