Royal Dutch Jaarbeurs wins two international awards for sustainability and digital innovation
Utrecht event venue and organiser receives recognition for sustainable and smart initiatives
Utrecht, 14 November 2022 - Today, Royal Jaarbeurs will receive two international awards at the annual UFI Global Congress. UFI is the global association of event venues and organisers. Jaarbeurs wins the UFI Sustainability Award for making its hospitality offering more sustainable and for the way it combats food waste. Jaarbeurs also wins the international UFI Digital Innovation Award for its new indoor navigation app: the Jaarbeurs Live app. Jeroen van Hooff, CEO Jaarbeurs: "We are continuously taking steps to be Europe's most sustainable and smart event venue and organiser by 2030. I am incredibly proud that the steps we have taken so far in the field of sustainability and digitalisation are recognised worldwide. And this will certainly not stop here, in the coming period we will announce even more great initiatives."
Sustainability award for greener hospitality industry and combating food waste
Jaarbeurs receives the sustainability award for the way it designs its menus in a sustainable way and manages to reduce its food waste. Jeroen van Hooff: "In 2023, we want to save at least 900 tonnes of CO2 in our hospitality industry on an annual basis. Therefore, among other things, we have made the range vegetarian in our restaurants (90%), in the conference and meeting rooms (80%) and at the fairs and events (50-90%). We sell leftover food through Too Good To Go and donate packaged food to the Food Bank. We also have our own composting machine, which produces almost 83,000 kilos of compost annually. We offset the remaining emissions by planting 8,800 trees a year. We are constantly looking for valuable partnerships with organisations that want to join us in fulfilling our sustainable ambition. A great example is the collaboration we recently started with Dopper in the fight against disposable plastic."
Digital innovation award for new indoor navigation app
Today, the Utrecht Jaarbeurs will also receive the digital innovation award for the development of the Jaarbeurs Live app. This app is part of a major digital transformation programme aimed at giving visitors and exhibitors the very best 'customer experience' now and in the future. The Jaarbeurs Live app can be used both at events organised by Jaarbeurs itself and at events organised by other parties at Jaarbeurs. Jeroen van Hooff: "The app works as a kind of indoor Google Maps and lets visitors navigate indoor with their own phone. The app also allows visitors to put together a personal programme, find exhibitors and buy and save tickets. During the event, among other things, they can see which places are crowded. The first reactions from visitors and exhibitors are positive: people find the app clear and find it convenient to be able to see all the information at a glance."
