ECOMONDO AND KEY ENERGY 2020: WHILE WAITING TO MEET AGAIN ”LIVE”, PRAISE FROM THE FIVE CONTINENTS FOR THE DIGITAL EDITION

Ecomondo and Key Energy Digital Edition continued in its second week of activity on the digital platform. The 400 companies that decided to use this facility, conceived by Italian Exhibition Group to overcome the block on live expos, meet in a digital marketplace hosting supply, demand and over 500 hours of scientific conferences. An opportunity for increasing business and opening up to new markets, thanks to the 350 international buyers participating: almost a one-to-one ratio with exhibitors. 
 
From the digital platform (following registration on the web sites, it is possible to access the list of exhibitors, organize chats and calls with them and schedule business meetings in the slots available. It is also possible to explore the latest technological innovations, download technical spec sheets and watch presentation videos, as well as requesting information on services and products. It is also possible to discover the numerous startups selected ad hoc, ready to offer added value to the innovation of enterprises, which must respond rapidly to the global challenges of the climate, food, the environment and life quality. So it’s an exclusive marketplace for making contact with the green chain’s key companies.
 
Internationality is ensured: The geography of the international buyers accredited on the platform, from the Americas, Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia, has confirmed the correctness of IEG’s decision not to give in, but to move Ecomondo and Key Energy online for the 2020 edition. Buyers from five continents are looking for technological and industrial solutions for the sustainable circular economy and energy efficiency, with international matchmaking activities that will continue on the IEG digital marketplace until 15th November, with over 1,200 business meetings on the agenda.
 
This is the map. United States, Canada and Mexico for North America; Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay for South America. Australia. Algeria, Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia confirm how Ecomondo and Key Energy are also reference points for the African side of the Mediterranean; but they also arouse the interest of Kenya and Nigeria. Middle East and Asia are represented by buyers connected online from Turkey, Qatar, Israel, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Jordan, Iraq, Pakistan, Kazakhstan. Lastly, Europe, with buyers from France, Spain United Kingdom, Poland, Bulgaria, Estonia, Greece, Moldavia, Bosnia Herzegovina, Czech Republic, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Ukraine and Russia. The most numerous responses came from Bulgaria, Egypt, Russia, Spain, Tunisia, Morocco, Israel and Latin America.
 
However, the circular bioeconomy countries are already looking to 2021 as the year in which to return to the expo centre for face-to-face meetings, which, as well as market opportunities, also restore the human personalized aspect with clients.
 
 “It is necessary to familiarize with digital platforms”, states Giacomo Milani, Sales Office, of Scolari S.r.l, specialized in plants for drying industrial and agricultural waste, “also after the pandemic emergency. They will also be used for business in the future, so Ecomondo Digital Edition was the first opportunity to interact with this facility, which for us meant some contacts with new suppliers and other companies involved in our markets.”
 
 “For a company such as ours, which sells services, not products”, says Maurizio Giani, marketing manager with Herambiente, “Ecomondo is a fundamental event for client relations. On the calendar, the expos are held in a favourable moment for bringing together the market’s supply and demand. For this year, we have overcome a moment of necessity and, if this is the future, we shall adapt to it, but we hope to meet personally once more in 2021. Regulations, consultation, logistic organization, transport, certification, waste’s traceability, type-testing procedure and expertise in waste treatment and disposal are complicated aspects that are part of a ‘story’ tailor-made for our clients, which we are accustomed to presenting ‘live’, along with initiatives such as the artistic projects animating our stand.”
 
Andrea Di Stefano, Head of Special Projects, Novamont, concludes, “We hope that the experimentation launched with full-digital version of Ecomondo can become structural, smoothly integrating with the live expos with a specific long-term program able to attract its own specific public via the social networks. To pursue this shared objective, it is indispensable to boost this open flexible platform, which can also attract institutional stakeholders.”