MICE summary of 2022 – part II
Tackling the effects of the pandemic and rebuilding tourism, including in the context of the ongoing war in Ukraine, are the challenges we have faced in 2022. What key initiatives and events are worth summarising? What will we recall when talking about the year that is already coming to an end? Welcome to the second part of our proprietary summary of 2022!
1. Cooperation with conference organisers
2. Inspection visits, fam trips
The Kraków Convention Bureau actively cooperates with organisers of international congresses and conferences in our City and co-organises fam trips and inspection visits. This year was no different. The thematic cross-section of supported events is vast, examples of some of which are provided below.
Cooperation with conference organisers
From 29 September to 1 October, the 7th edition of the McMaster International Review Course in Internal Medicine (MIRCIM 2022) took place at the ICE Congress Centre in Kraków and the UJ CM Teaching and Congress Centre. The new hybrid conference format was met with considerable interest, as evidenced by the number of 450 in-person participants from around the world and 600 online per day. Lectures were simultaneously translated from English into Polish, Ukrainian and Spanish. More than 40 lecturers –world-renowned experts from North America and Europe – delivered lectures and participated in panel discussions.
The 19th International Conference on Experimental Mechanics ICEM was held on 17–21 July 2022 in Kraków, Poland, for the first time. ICEM conferences are organised under the auspices of the European Society for Experimental Mechanics (EuraSEM) and bring together internationally recognised experts and young researchers to exchange experiences, establish contacts between research teams and stimulate the development of scientific cooperation. The scientific programme of ICEM19 included eight plenary lectures, 14 keynote lectures and 139 presentations delivered by participants from 27 countries worldwide. The total number of on-site participants at the event exceeded 200, which given the current situation should be considered a significant success.
The international conference ‘Space Climate Symposium’, organised periodically in various parts of the world, was hosted for the first time in the Central and Eastern Europe region. It created an unprecedented chance for more participants from our region, especially students from Eastern European countries, allowing them to promote their research on solar-terrestrial connections.
Under the banner of TERMIS_EU 2022, researchers and scientists from all over the world had an excellent opportunity to network and deepen their knowledge in the growing field of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. One day of workshops and four days of the congress at the ICE Kraków Congress Centre were a time of very intense work for around 800 participants.
In mid-September, the annual ACI Customer Experience Global Summit took place in Kraków with the theme: Re/humanising the airport experience. The conference, organised by the International Airports Council, was hosted by the John Paul II Kraków-Balice International Airport. The ACI Customer Experience World Conference is the world's most significant event dedicated to improving airport user experience, bringing together more than 400 aviation industry experts.
In April, the Auditorium Maximum UJ hosted the 29th edition of the international Quark Matter conference. The hybrid event attracted 1010 participants: 394 on-site and 616 remotely, representing Europe (54%), the Americas (28%), Asia (18%) and Africa (0.2%). Quark Matter focuses on studying the properties of nuclear matter subjected to extremely high temperature and density conditions. The conference provides a platform for exchanging experiences between theorists and experimentalists from around the world. One of the theoretical lectures was given by Frank Wilczek, the winner of the 2004 Nobel Prize.
The International Ceramics Congress convenes in Europe every six years. Its 9th edition took place at the ICE Kraków Congress Centre and brought together almost 1,000 delegates from all over the world. The event is a platform for exchanging ideas and visions of the future in ceramics and inorganic materials.
The ICE Kraków Congress Centre also hosted the 30th International Congress of the EAES European Association for Endoscopic Surgery, a significant event for the surgical community. One of the leading topics was robots used in surgery, which can begin to reduce the risks faced during surgery.
From 4–8 July 2022, the 21st Conference of the European Association for Potato Research (EAPR) took place at EXPO Kraków. Since 1960 the conference has been held every three years in various European countries, but this was the first time it was held in Kraków. Eurostat data from 2020 shows Poland ranks second among EU countries in potato production. Numerous panels covered all the relevant topics related to the potato: from basic and applied research, cultivation, advice, and the application of new technologies to the technical and economic aspects of its production, storage and processing.
The Auditorium Maximum of the Jagiellonian University in Kraków hosted the European Technical Coatings Congress ETCC on 12–14 July 2022. ETCC 2022 presentations covered the latest scientific and technical developments in paints, coatings, raw materials, building materials, adhesives, and related technologies and concepts.
The IEEE 12th International Conference Nanomaterials: Applications & Properties brought together around 300 experts from the nanomaterials sector. Topics covered included materials engineering, biomedical engineering and medicine, theoretical simulations, electrochemistry, catalysis, thin films, characterisation and more.
The Kraków Convention Bureau team was also involved in the acquisition and/or realisation of: the 6th Polish Congress of Genetics; the International Workshop on Operator Theory and Applications IWOTA 2022; the Union of European Neonatal and Perinatal Societies UENPS Neonatology Conference; and the Powertrains, Fuels & Lubricants Conference & Exhibition organised by SAE International.
Inspection visits, fam trips
On 3 May, the ICE Kraków Congress Centre hosted esteemed influencer Mariska Kesteloo – a passionate storyteller who travelled across Poland in a camper van. In 2022, she was in the top 10 most influential innovators of the meetings industry and the top 30 TOP influencers of the MICE industry on LinkedIn. During the meeting with Mariska, KRAKÓW NETWORK members attended a lecture on influencer marketing in the MICE industry.
We co-organised visits for the congress organisers ICCA, EAS, ROTARY Club, EPOS, EAES, ACI, APIMONDIA as well as the World Lutheran Federation to prepare or acquire congresses for future years.
Working with Travel Bidder, the KCB team engaged in post-tours for foreign congress organisers worldwide. At the same time, cooperation with the Foreign Centre of the Polish Tourist Organisation in Paris resulted in a visit to Kraków by 20 representatives of offices specialising in organising business travel from the French market in December.