TTGmice's weekly round-up of MICE developments outside of Asia-Pacific.
Canvas Planner wins IBTM Event Business Accelerator programme
IBTM World has crowned Canvas Planner the winner of its inaugural Event Business Accelerator (EBA), a newly-launched business mentorship and investment programme for young entrepreneurs.
The winner was announced at a graduation ceremony following two days of live pitching to potential investors at IBTM World 2019, which took place at the Fira Gran Via Barcelona in November.
Canvas Planner is a tool which helps to improve remote digital performance by combining digital whiteboards called canvasses with tasks in order to create a visual and collaborative approach to task management. The founders, Nanna Ulsøe and Jane Houlind Ulsøe, received a 5,000 euro (US$5,534) cash prize to help develop and scale the product to the meetings and events industry.
Ed Poland, Hire Space co-founder and chief operating officer, who sat on the judging committee, commented: “We decided to pick Canvas Planner as the winner of Event Business Accelerator because of its user-friendly and scalable product offering, which was outstandingly pitched by Jane Ulsøe on the Accelerate stage. We’re excited to see how the company will grow, both within the meetings and events industry, and beyond.”
Luxembourg unveils national CVB
The European city of Luxembourg has launched a national CVB – Business Events Luxembourg – as it looks to business events to drive the image and visibility of the Grand Duchy on the international stage, while contributing to economic development of the country.
The new Luxembourg CVB was set up by the government and the City of Luxembourg in a 50/50 investment.
Francois Lafont, CEO of Business Events Luxembourg, has said the bureau would play a “crucial role” in securing business events for the destination, with an emphasis on associations from its key economic and research sectors. He added that one of its main goals is to enter ICCA’s top 50 list of destinations worldwide, as well as double the number of international congresses.
Casa De Campo presents new event space
Luxury Caribbean resort Casa De Campo in the Dominican Republic has opened a new event space, Marina Riverside Centre.
The Marina Riverside Centre boasts an open-air tent design allowing for indoor and outdoor space, and has the capacity for up to 1,360 guests.
Set on the shores of the Chavon river, the function space is surrounded by river-edge views of both the Caribbean Sea and the nearby marina. It been designed to offer maximum security and exceptional privacy if needed, while being able to host late night events without impacting other resort guests.
The 2,830ha luxury resort currently features two large conference venues totalling 1,765m2 of dedicated meeting facilities, with numerous smaller outdoor and indoor venues also available on-site.
