Royal Jaarbeurs wins two international awards for sustainability and digital innovation
Event venue and organiser in the Netherlands is recognised for sustainable and smart initiatives
Utrecht, 14 November 2022 – Today, Royal Jaarbeurs will be presented with two international awards at the annual UFI Global Congress. UFI is the global association of event venues and organisers. Jaarbeurs won the UFI Sustainability Award for making its catering selection more sustainable and for the way it combats food waste. In addition, Jaarbeurs won 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 towards becoming 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 fields of sustainability and digitisation are internationally recognised. And we are certainly not stopping here; in the coming period, we will announce more great initiatives.”
Sustainability Award for greener hospitality and combatting food waste
Jaarbeurs was presented with the Sustainability Award for its sustainable menu design and how it manages to reduce its food waste. Jeroen van Hooff: “By 2023, we want to save at least 900 tons of CO2 a year in our hospitality activities. Among other things, we have switched to a mainly vegetarian food range in our restaurants (90%), in the conference and meeting rooms (80%) and at the trade shows and events (50-90%). Any left-over food is sold through the ‘Too Good To Go’ initiative and packaged food products are donated to the Food Bank.. We also have our own composting machine that produces nearly 83,000 kg of compost a year. The remaining emissions are offset by planting 8,800 trees every year. We are constantly looking for valuable collaborations with organisations that want to come with us on our journey towards 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
Jaarbeurs will also receive the Digital Innovation Award today, for developing the Jaarbeurs Live app. This app is part of a major digital transformation program, aimed at giving visitors and exhibitors the very best ‘customer experience’, both now and in the future. The Jaarbeurs Live app can be used both at events organised by Jaarbeurs itself and at events organised at Jaarbeurs by other parties. Jeroen van Hooff: “The app works like an indoor Google Maps and lets visitors navigate the halls on their own mobile phone. In addition, the app allows visitors to put together a personal program, find exhibitors and buy and save their tickets. During the event, among other things, they can see which areas are crowded and find the best route to go to a specific exhibitor or area. The initial reactions from visitors and exhibitors are positive: people find the app easy to use and “are happy with the ease of having all information of the event in one place.”
