Press Release | 10.12.2024
Emerging Opportunities & Persisting Classics: Business Events in a Transformative Era
Presentation of Latest “Future Meeting Space” Research Results on 27 January 2025
© GCB
In its 2024 research phase, the Future Meeting Space (FMS) innovation network evaluated which processes, products and services in the business events ecosystem will remain, disappear and newly emerge in the future. The GCB German Convention Bureau and the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering IAO, who initiated the FMS project in 2015, will present key research findings in a free online event on 27 January 2025 at 3 pm (GMT). Apart from delivering comprehensive insights into the latest developments and trends, the session will include discussions with industry experts and an introduction to innovative business opportunities.
As megatrends including new ways of remote and mobile working, generational changes and AI profoundly impact our everyday lives, business events are also facing major upheavals. Not all offerings in our sector will survive in their current form, while at the same time completely new standards and processes providing various business opportunities are currently emerging. Other models are evergreens and continue successfully, irrespective of the circumstances. In its 2024 research phase, the FMS innovation network analysed those three aspects of what will come, what will remain and what will disappear. The research process aimed at identifying opportunities for all stakeholders along the customer journey at an early stage to provide everyone in the business events ecosystem with a basis for data-driven, well-informed decisions.
Identifying New Business Cases
FMS 2024 revolved around several research questions that build on each other: How do external influences, such as the megatrends mentioned above, change the business events ecosystem? How do the needs of customers and users evolve as a result? Which existing processes, products, services and business models will consequently lose importance or become obsolete? And finally, with a view to the future, what are the new market opportunities emerging from the changes that can be turned into innovative business models?
The 2024 research process started out by taking a closer look at 13 megatrends as drivers of change, from A for automation to U for urbanisation, with a focus on how those trends bring about change in the business events ecosystem. Over the course of the project, the research team developed a heat map of these changes, interviewed a select number of international experts from different disciplines and finally identified potential market changes and business opportunities. All of these steps were regularly reflected upon and discussed among the FMS group of diverse research partners.
The FMS initiators GCB and Fraunhofer IAO will present key research findings jointly with other experts on 27 January 2025 at 3 pm (GMT). The 60-minute online event is free to attend and registration is now open here.
©About Future Meeting Space
The Future Meeting Space (FMS) innovation network was launched in 2015 by the GCB German Convention Bureau e.V. and the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering IAO with the key goal of boosting the role of business events as a driver of innovation and an essential instrument of corporate communication.
Providing trends research, the Future Meeting Space anticipates relevant developments in the business event ecosystem and identifies requirements for successful events as regards concepts, technology, and event spaces. The innovation network develops topic-specific and distinct recommendations for different stakeholder groups and regularly validates them in a real-life lab with what is happening within the industry in practice.
As one of the world's leading destinations for meetings and congresses, Germany stands for innovation, sustainability, and comprehensive expertise in key sectors of business and science. Against this background, the GCB and Fraunhofer IAO as Future Meeting Space initiators, together with a diverse range of research partners, take on the role of catalysts for the future of business events "made in Germany".
Research partners for the 2024 research phase on „Emerging Opportunities, Persisting Classics, Fading Models: Business Events in a Transformative Era“ were Bayer AG, BeFuture / VDVO, Bildungscampus Heilbronn, Business Events Luxembourg, CongressAllianz, Cvent Inc, Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- & Raumfahrt e.V. (German Aerospace Center), Didacta Ausstellungs- und Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, Dorint Hotels & Resorts, Encore (represented by KFP Five Star Conference Services GmbH), EVVC European Association of Event Centers e. V., H World International, Janssen-Cilag GmbH, Köln Tourist Board, Prismm GmbH, Radisson Hotel Group, Roche Diagnostics Deutschland GmbH, SevenCenters of Germany und Siemens AG. The International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) is our Strategic Industry Partner.
About the GCB German Convention Bureau e.V.
The German Convention Bureau (GCB) is tasked with securing and further extending Germany’s position as an internationally leading and sustainable destination for conferences and meetings. Driving innovation in the meetings and conference sector, the GCB provides its members with premium market research data. The GCB develops target-group-specific marketing activities for international markets as well as for Germany and supports its members and partner in marketing their offering. The GCB’s 160 members represent nearly 400 businesses and include leading hotels, convention centers, venues, destination marketing organisations, event agencies and digital service providers within the German meetings and conventions industry. As “Strategic Partners”, Deutsche Lufthansa, Deutsche Bahn, and the German National Tourist Board (GNTB) support the work of the GCB. The IMEX Group is the GCB’s “Strategic Exhibition Partner”. H World International is the GCB's "Premium Partner 2024". The darmstadtium, the Frankfurt Airport Marriott Hotel - Sheraton Frankfurt Airport Hotel & Conference Center, the Schleswig-Holstein Tourism Agency and Thuringia Tourism support the GCB as "Partners in Focus 2024".
For further information, please see www.germany-meetings.com.
© GCB/ Patrick Kuschfeld
Dr. Martina Neunecker
- Director Communications & Strategy
- +49 69 24293025
- neunecker@gcb.de