Junior Chamber International to take 2022 European Conference to Bruges

Bruges has been selected as the host city for Junior Chamber International’s (JCI) 2022 European conference and, already, many Bruges- and West Flanders-based companies have focused their activities around the theme of the congress: ‘Food for generations’. For two years, JCI Bruges and JCI Houtland worked together closely with Visit Bruges Convention Bureau to prepare the bid for this major congress, expected to attract 2,000 attendees. It will be one of the first events to take place in the new Bruges Meeting & Convention Centre. Alderman for Tourism, Philip Pierins, described the win as “a major boost for congress tourism in our city”. Bruges, via JCI Belgium, had presented its candidacy for hosting the 2022 conference in June, during the digital general meeting of JCI Europe, attended by 250 members. The Bruges area is home to numerous companies focusing on innovation in agriculture, fisheries, food production, and food processing. In keeping with its daily mission to strengthen the economic fabric, JCI wants this conference to offer innovative companies a platform to promote themselves. The intention is to work together with the industry to define trajectories around four themes: Sustainable Food Production, Nutrition, Gastronomy and Heritage. Many European countries still think of Belgium as the country of beer, chips, chocolate and waffles. “We are proud of these culinary assets,” says Jonas Maes, leader of the team that will be realising the project. “However, the four defined pillars will help us appeal to a wider audience and create a link with companies based in West Flanders. We are also integrating the annual network event B2BnB and invite partners such as De Hanze Business, Voka and Unizo to organise a business forum at the conference. Business and networking are in JCI’s DNA.”