World Maritime Week, Steel Tech and +Industry – highlights of October

In October, Bilbao Exhibition Centre will once again become a meeting point where professionals from important sectors such as maritime, energy, iron and steel and advanced manufacturing will gather to finally meet face-to-face and boost innovation, knowledge, personal connections and business. Industrial fairs will be the main focus when the venue’s calendar of events restarts and gets back on track. Next month there will be important events which were postponed due to the pandemic, like World Maritime Week and +Industry, as well as a new steel event, Steel Tech. BEC will promote in-person events until the end of the year, with a total of 39 over three spaces. Some of the other events that are taking place are Imaginenano, Expovacaciones, FVO-the Used Car Fair, Retroclásica, and concerts by Rauw Alejandro, Candlelight, Hiriko Soinuak and Dani Martín.

Thanks to the great success of the vaccination campaign and the progressive easing of international travel restrictions, the last quarter of the year, which is focusing on industry, is looking very positive for BEC. Xabier Basañez, General Director at Bilbao Exhibition Centre, discussed it at a press conference this morning, together with representatives of the clusters Siderex-Basque Steel Cluster, GAIA-the Basque Association of Knowledge and Applied Technology, and AFM-Advanced Manufacturing Technologies. They are all involved in the development of most of the events that were presented.

“For many months now we have been working to fill up our calendar of events as soon as possible, in order to achieve the economic impact that comes with them. We are finally able to present a programme full of events that will surely be key for recovery, and industry, which is in our DNA, will be the main focus of these events. The COVID-19 pandemic has proven that in-person events are a key driving force for the economy and they have an enormous impact on business tourism,” Xabier Basañez declared in his presentation.

In this context of international reactivation, BEC will hold World Maritime Week, one of the benchmark maritime events in Europe, from 5-7 October. The third edition of this biennial blue economy event has included new contents that will strengthen its identity, characterised by a carefully planned programme combining congress, B2B meetings, networking spaces and an exhibiting area. There will be many new features, like two new congresses, Ocean Energy Conference and Oil&Gas Conference, as well as the usual fisheries sector event Eurofishing, the naval congress Sinaval, and the ports event FuturePort.

In mid-October, from 19th to 21st, Steel Tech Congress&Expo will be held for the first time, gathering the main stakeholders from the iron and steel industry value chain. The event is organised by Bilbao Exhibition Centre and Siderex-Basque Steel Cluster. Cluster Manager Asier San Millán highlighted that “the congress will focus on challenges and trends geared towards innovation and technology in the iron and steel industry. Some of the topics that will be dealt with include double digital and sustainable transition, ‘smartisation’, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, circular economy, and waste recovery, recycling and management”.

At the end of the month, from 26 to 28 October, BEC will host +Industry, the first major advanced manufacturing event of the year in Spain. As part of the event, six fairs will take place simultaneously – Industry Tools by Ferroforma, Subcontratación, Addit3D, BeDigital, Pumps&Valves and Maintenance – which will gather exhibiting companies dedicated to R&D&I and the new paradigms of smart industry.

As Cristina Murillo, Cluster Services Manager of GAIA, said, “in the Basque Country, the industry is characterised by its know-how and powerful technology, and it is able to meet the most avant-garde and disruptive transformation needs. We are sure that the Basque economy will be strengthened by the three transitions (technological, climatic and social-health care), which will lead to the creation of a more competitive and globalised range of services.” Ms Murillo also explained that “in order to be successful in the 4.0 transformation, we must work on the advanced management of resources, process redesign, infrastructure adaptation and product and service digitalisation. BeDigital is an international showcase of what the Basque Country has to offer, and of its key capabilities. Here we can find all the necessary allies and ingredients for our digital transformation needs.”

Xabier Ortueta analysed the current situation in the field of advanced manufacturing: “After coming to an almost complete standstill for practically a whole quarter, we were able to recover towards the end of 2020. So, last year was a not a good one, but thanks to the business attracted in 2019, which sustained our activity, and the orders placed at the end of the year, we ended on a positive note. 2021 has seen an upward trend and we hope to reach the levels of 2019, although turnover will slow down. Unfortunately, this recovery is still insufficient and is not consistent across the entire industry”.

“We are faced with many challenges in the future, but we remain optimistic,” assured Mr Ortueta. “Together with the rest of the markets, the domestic market is starting up again, as it waits for the upcoming Plan Renove (Renewal Plan) and our fairs, +Industry in October and of course BIEMH in 2022. International fairs are also starting up again: EMO, +Industry, Fabtech, Blech Expo and Formnext. Being a modern, dynamic sector, with a key role in the transformation of our industry, we will continue to offer cutting-edge solutions that are highly digitalised, productive and sustainable”.

Xabier Basañez, to round off his intervention o sectors and fairs, said, “We will offer the best event possible in terms of technology, products and services, and we are certain that all these events will be relevant and offer very interesting opportunities in this year that we believe to be of transition, leading us towards a more consolidated year of events planned for 2022. We are already working on projects like BIEMH 2022, which will return offering the best event ever, as we will soon share in Milan; as well as Wind Europe, Food for Future, Empack y Logistics & Automation Bilbao, and other international events that we will confirm shortly.”

SAFETY AT ALL THE EVENTS

Safety continues to be a priority at BEC, thus there will be a strict safety protocol during all the events. Said protocol was awarded a quality mark by the Institute for Spanish Tourism Quality (ICTE), certifying that the centre is a safe space. The exhibition centre will continue to focus on access control, preventive capacity management, social distancing, cleaning, sanitisation and environmental safety, as it has been doing over the past few months.

As well as the industrial events planned for October, BEC has many other events on the calendar until the end of the year: Expovacaciones, FVO-Used Car Fair, Desembalaje and Retroclásica; popular events like Japan Weekend and Fun&Serious Game Festival; shows and concerts by Deforme semanal, Rauw Alejandro, Justin Quiles, Hiriko Soinuak, Candlelight, Euskalgym, Dani Martín and Beret; and business conferences, exams and private events of various sizes.