A successful premiere: UrbanTec 2011
The congress trade fair UrbanTec made a successful debut from 24th to 26th October 2011 in Cologne as the Koelnmesse presented the first separate event dedicated to providing a cross-sector overview of urbanisation - a key topic for the future. The exhibiting companies and congress participants at the UrbanTec 2011 expressed their satisfaction with the premiere and numerous representatives from politics, industry, economy and science strongly encouraged the Koelnmesse to develop the event into the leading platform for dialogue by underlining the need for common action to meet future urban challenges.
The participants at UrbanTec included 55 exhibiting companies from four countries, about 900 participants and visitors from 20 countries within the congress and the exhibition running in parallel as well as more the 100 media representatives from 16 countries. The participants with stands in the exhibition area in Hall 7 at the Cologne exhibition centre included 12 major German industrial companies: Siemens, Lanxess, Bayer MaterialScience, Daimler AG, Strabag Real Estate, TÜV Rheinland, TÜV Nord Cert, RWE, E.ON, RAG Aktiengesellschaft, DHL and PWC. Also represented were joint participations from Brazil, Russia, Switzerland, the government of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, and from the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft branch in Cologne.
The companies presented technological solutions for all areas of application in urban life — including from the segments construction engineering, energy, health and hygiene, mobility and logistics, resource recovery/urban mining, related services, and information & communication.
Top level support for UrbanTec was provided by Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) in its role as the patron of the event, and the Federation of German Industry (BDI), which served as a partner in the realisation of the congress programme.
At the official opening of UrbanTec, Gudrun Kopp, Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, pointed out the importance of sustainable development of cities, particularly in rapidly growing major cities in developing countries and emerging markets. “The development policy goal of creating the conditions needed for sustainable urban development coincides ideally with the leading role played by the German private sector in offering innovative solutions for cities,” said Kopp.
The premiere of UrbanTec attracted interest from around the world. A total of about 900 congress participants and trade fair visitors from 20 countries attended the event. Represented in Cologne were, for example, visitors and delegations from China, Brazil, Argentina, Russia and Germany’s neighbouring European countries. At the UrbanTec congress, which was attended by leading professionals, international experts gave presentations shedding light on the global effects of urbanization and identified the political conditions needed to realise technological solutions. The main themes of the UrbanTec congress were “Infrastructure”, “Mobility and Logistics” and “Buildings”. The speakers who travelled to Cologne for the event included the renowned US political consultant Jeremy Rifkin; Professor Klaus Töpfer, formerly Executive Director of the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) and now Executive Director of the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS); Dr. Roland Busch, Member of the Managing Board of Siemens AG and CEO of the Infrastructure & Cities Sector; and Prof. Hans-Jörg Bullinger (President of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft).
Koelnmesse sees valuable potential in “urbanisation” as a future key topic and is positioning UrbanTec as an annual congress trade fair in the market. Therefore the event will take place again in Cologne from the 24th to 26th October 2012. The promising launch of UrbanTec in October 2011 and discussions with numerous decision makers from industry, politics and from national or international authorities reassured the Koelnmesse to hold the convention annually. From the 24th to 26th October the UrbanTec is back with expanded und targeted topics and an outlook on the latest trends and solutions for urban development.
