Cisco Live’s smart move to Amsterdam for 3-year tenancy

Smart City Amsterdam will be hosting the annual European edition of the Cisco Live! event over three years from 2021. Organisers chose RAI Amsterdam as the venue for an event expected to attract 18,000 visitors from around the world over the three-year period starting in January 2021. Multinational technology conglomerate Cisco anticipates that more than 40% of the visitors to its 2021 Cisco Live! Europe will be entirely new to the event. Moreover, many are expected to be CxOs and executives. This shift in the type of visitors from tech-oriented to business/management is a reflection of Cisco’s strategy, which is strongly focused on strategic services. The choice of Amsterdam was based on factors including the Netherlands being known for its excellent digital infrastructure and active and successful start-up ecosystem. Amsterdam Smart City is also one of the most successful smart city projects in the world and the event fits well into the municipality’s digital agenda. RAI Amsterdam says its vision and ambition in the field of digital innovation connects well with Cisco’s vision and ambition as well as its social Cisco DVN (Digitale Versnelling Nederland, Digital Acceleration Netherlands) programme. Cisco has deployed the DVN programme to stimulate innovation in the Netherlands through a range of business and social initiatives. Furthermore, RAI Amsterdam will offer advanced digital possibilities in 2021 which will place new, advanced services and facilities at the service of visitors to high-tech events such as Cisco Live!. “The Netherlands and Smart City Amsterdam provide an impressive degree of stimulation in terms of innovation, ensuring that both large and small companies have everything they need to grow,” says Edwin Prinsen, Managing Director of Cisco Netherlands. “Given its premium facilities and our excellent co-operation over recent years, RAI Amsterdam is without doubt the best choice for Cisco Live! Europe. I will be very proud to welcome thousands of visitors here over the next three years.” RAI Amsterdam is also working with Cisco on the deployment of a large-scale Wi-Fi 6 wireless network environment. This will ensure that the RAI is the first exhibition and conference venue in the Netherlands to switch to the new Wi-Fi 6 standard. Services will include 8K video streaming. “Events and conferences at RAI Amsterdam are all about stimulating innovation,” points out RAI Amsterdam CEO Paul Riemens. “This is why we are fully focused on creating the best possible conditions for entrepreneurship, knowledge exchange and value creation. This helps us enable event organisers to achieve their objectives.”