The Maastricht Exhibition and Convention centre (MECC) reversed an €800,000 loss in 2012 with modest profit in 2013. The venue, which last year split from parent company Amsterdam RAI, credits the improvement to the stringent reorganisation in 2012 paired with significant sales growth in 2013.
The team at MECC Maastricht venue says the growth in revenues was achieved by focusing on higher margins, upselling and purchasing savings. In their words. withdrawing from the auspices of Amsterdam RAI left the MECC with room to create a new corporate climate.
It was Alderman John Aarts who advocated a takeover of the MECC shares owned by Amsterdam RAI.
“When we took over the MECC, most people expected it to be a financial black hole,” he says. “With a positive end to the first fiscal year, it seems quite the opposite is true. The MECC is once again a true Maastricht company. It will take years of careful planning to attract new companies, conferences and tradeshows to the city, but we’re working hard to achieve this.”
The MECC offers a third of the RAI’s floor space, 30,000sqm in a city of just 120,000 inhabitants, but as business development manager Kiki Reijner indicates, there are many perks not possible in a capital city. These include access to local government, financing and other factors crucial to the successful marketing and execution of an event. “You can be sure you’re making the client feel welcome. There are closer connections with local government and possible suppliers, as well as subsidies,” she says.
The venue is home to several long-established exhibitions, including the annual European Fine Art Fair, organised by The European Fine Art Foundation, and eight-year-old European regional summit Biomedica.
In 2013, the MECC hosted a record number of international conferences, with a particularly sharp rise in the number of international multi-day medical conferences. The International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA), one of the barometers for the conference field, ranked Maastricht as the third conference city in the Netherlands after Amsterdam and Rotterdam. The MECC and the city are striving to become the second ranked meetings city in the country.
Aarts remains convinced the MECC’s efforts will be reflected in solid numbers in the years to come. “The entire city will benefit from the MECC thanks to new employment opportunities in the hospitality, retail and supply sectors. Along with the Maastricht Aachen Airport, the MECC is one of the region’s key economic drivers.”
Doings things differently
The 2014 edition of Biomedica, a networking event that focuses on creating innovative ideas, concepts and collaborative partnerships within the scientific and business communities, will be run differently by the newly independent MECC.
The event, which takes place on 17 and 18 June 2014, will for the first time be organised by Maastricht University.
Biomedica’s slogan for 2014 is ‘Where Business Meets Science’, a reversal of the original slogan, indicating the event’s focus on business. “There is significant demand in the regional business community for innovations that are of sufficient interest to produce and market,” said an MECC spokesman. “At the same time, scientists are keen to see their research results used in practice.”
More than 30 researchers and entrepreneurs will be presenting themselves at the event with the aim of inspiring collaboration in the field of research and development. An additional 50 presentations on the research and development of diagnostics, biomaterials, medical instruments and devices will be held by knowledge institutes and businesses.
Biomedica has been a successful Euro region summit for eight years now. The Netherlands (Maastricht University, TU Eindhoven), Germany (RWTH Aachen University, Forschungscentrum Jülich) and Belgium (University of Liege, Catholic University of Leuven and Hasselt University) take turns organising the event, which draws thousands of scientists and entrepreneurs from the field of life sciences.
This was first published in issue 75 of CMW. Any comments? Email cmw@mashmedia.net
