The second great economic engine of Madrid, as IFEMA is recognized for its capacity to boost employment and wealth, begins to put its machinery to full performance, after a year of forced stoppage except for holding virtual events, or some in hybrid format like the MBFWMadrid gateway . This was stated by José Vicente de los Mozos , president of the Executive Committee of IFEMA and Eduardo López-Puertas , general director of IFEMA, during the presentation.
Despite the impossibility of holding its usual activity, IFEMA has invested its time and knowledge in developing new ways of generating value for companies and society. And this has been possible thanks to the digitization process that has allowed us to explore new possibilities and extract new advantages.
“All an effort to accelerate the digitization of fairs and events, and to continue being, despite the pandemic, an economic catalyst capable of activating business opportunities and knowledge,” they underline.
Hence the work to design the functionalities of a platform that would bring together supply and demand from numerous sectors, as has been the completely digital FRUIT ATTRACTION LIVEConnect success story, but capable of mobilizing contacts, closing deals and generating future expectations. With this same model, a total of 16 virtual fairs are ready for their progressive celebration throughout 2021 , such as the one that is currently being held interSICOP LIVEConnect.
This digital development has been possible thanks to the transformation project, already started in 2020, but which has taken its great leap over the last twelve months, and in which more than a third of IFEMA’s staff has been working , with initiatives to the development of its own digital platforms , new value-added services as well as a business intelligence project, among others.
The activity returns to IFEMA
The new hopeful context that marks the evolution of vaccines and the decrease in the incidence of infections has led IFEMA , according to its president, José Vicente de los Mozos, “to meet much earlier with its objective of progressively minimizing the impact of ERTE on the that the workforce is in, programming a de-escalation in the degree of affectation to be able to face the entire programming of events planned for 2021 if circumstances permit ”.
And he adds: “It will be carried out -as he adds- in three stages , beginning in mid-March with the incorporation of 40 people with a change in their affectation; On April 5, the workforce will be at 90% occupancy to reach May 4 to restore 100% of IFEMA employees ”.
A commitment closely linked to that of tackling as much as possible the entire schedule of events scheduled for 2021. An exercise that wants to be the year of recovery for IFEMA , with a calendar of more than fifty programmed face-to-face fairs , all of them enriched with content virtual machines capable of breaking with seasonality and amplifying audiences. Thus, the concept of hybridization in fairs is consolidated, which gives greater power and scope to these fundamental business platforms.
The start is scheduled for March , which will host the first face-to-face fair in Spain in 2021: HIP, Hospitality Innovation Planet, the great innovation event for hospitality and restaurant professionals, between the 22nd and 24th of March. A month in which digital formats will continue to gain momentum, with the announcement of 7 exclusively digital fairs on the LIVEConnect platform, from the bakery, pastry, education and technology for education sectors.
In April there will be more fairs and face-to-face events such as the MBFWMadrid catwalk , as well as 4 digital fairs, linked to the trends and lifestyle sectors.
Maximize security
To make this reactivation possible, in which IFEMA has been working for a year to organize safe events, in spaces with the greatest guarantees for participants, it has been essential to design an elaborate health strategy .
In this context, IFEMA has developed an ambitious protocol that brings together all the necessary measures to organize the flow of attendees and their mobility; establish capacity controls; interpersonal distances; the elimination of direct contact through digital registration; taking body temperature; the widening of corridors, and the incorporation of the latest technologies for the counting of attendees, and especially for the renewal of air in pavilions, among other innovations in this area.
Precisely one of the main values of this strategy is the unique ventilation system of IFEMA pavilions , which renews the entire air 5 times an hour, being able to renew all the air in the pavilion in just over 20 minutes, keeping in comfort temperature at all times.
A technology that, together with the large volumes and high ceilings, makes the conditions of the air breathed in the fairs equivalent to being outdoors, ensuring the non-recirculation of the air, the credit systems and the maintenance of the comfort conditions. .
All these protocols have been recognized with the AENOR certification , and entails the strict monitoring of compliance with all the requirements through the anti-COVID security monitoring group, created for this purpose and in which different areas of IFEMA participate .
