The Green Economy General Assembly

The priority commitments taken on by Europe for the development of a green and circular economy were at the center of discussions during the four days of Ecomondo and Key Energy 2017 (7-10 November 2017, Rimini Fiera).

Called on to be the protagonists in this event, partly thanks to conspicuous investments in support of research and development, concerns in attendance took up the challenge with gusto. Over 1,200 manufacturers took part in the fair, in a spirit of sharing knowledge, technologies and strategies. On the whole, the event organized by Italian Exhibition Group saw an increase in visitors, reaching 116,131 this year (+10%), 12,000 of whom foreigners. More than 200 scheduled events drew the attention of an audience of 11,000 professionals and experts. 520 journalists were also in attendance, with 162 million media contacts to date. The event also drew a strong presence of social media followers: 16,885,000 reactions (6.4 million more than in 2016).

The organizers’ idea to embrace a long value chain logic has thus proved a winning one, involving small and large concerns and complementary production sectors, with information on regulations and available financial instruments for funding innovation and research and concrete examples of concerns, cities and institutions that have already adopted the principles of the circular economy as their own.

This edition’s focus was redesigning products and industrial processes to make them green, green and efficient cities, with particular emphasis on mobility and transport (ICT, automotive, urban renewal and intermodal transportation), restoring polluted sites, water resource monitoring and management (at the Global Water Expo), including with robotics and artificial intelligence. The next edition of Ecomondo Key Energy is scheduled for 6-9 November 2018.