Beyond Asia: MECC Maastricht, Cheshire’s Brilliant Science and Dubai Business Events

Artist impression of improved MECC
Artist impression of upgraded MECC

The Netherlands: massive €49m upgrade for MECC Maastricht
The Netherlands’ MECC Maastricht is set for a €49 million (US$56 million) upgrade, with expansion works kicking off in June. Deputy for Economic Affairs and Knowledge Infrastructure for the Province of Limburg, Joost van den Akker, said: “The renovation of the MECC will give the area yet another boost which will not only provide us with a more attractive conference centre, but the entire Brightlands philosophy about the area will take on substantially more added value.”

He expects the city to be able to reap the rewards of the investment from 2021 onwards, being able to “better service organisers of international conferences lasting several days”. The cost of the upgrade was initially budgeted at €35 million, but the winning construction bid came in more expensive. The Limburg Province and municipality of Maastricht have had to each invest €6.8 million themselves to make up the difference.

UK: Chester university wins cyber security conference bid
The 19th European Conference on Cyber Warfare and Security (ECCWS) has chosen Chester as its 2020 location, following a bid led by Thaddeus Eze, senior lecturer in cyber security at the University of Chester. The bid was put together in conjunction with Marketing Cheshire’s Brilliant Science project. The 2020 event will take place at the University of Chester and be attended by approximately 120 delegates.

The 2019 event will take place later this year in Coimbra, Portugal, while previous events were hosted by Oslo, Dublin and Munich.

UAE: Al Safeer Congress Ambassadors recognised for supporting 31 bid wins
Dubai Business Events presented awards to 22 member organisations at the fifth annual Al Safeer Congress Ambassadors Programme appreciation ceremony last month. Over 200 ambassadors attended the awards event, including doctors, scientists, industry experts, business leaders and government officials from across the city.

In 2018, the Al Safeer Congress Ambassador Programme supported in securing 31 international association conferences set to be hosted in Dubai, which represent 65 per cent of the association conferences awarded to the city over the course of the year. The events won are projected to attract over 39,500 industry-specific professionals and experts to Dubai from around the world. In total, the city is gearing up to host over 51 ambassador-assisted events in 2019 and beyond, with over 71,000 delegates expected to attend.

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