Italy welcomes the World Expo in 2015, one of the world’s largest events and arguably the greatest showcase of national industry and exports that a company could wish for. The country is still reeling from the effects of the global financial crisis and exports into new markets will play a major role in returning Italy’s economy to buoyancy.
Which is why recent discussion on the purpose of the Italian Trade Commission (ICE), a public body responsible for assisting small-to-medium enterprises with their international campaigns at trade shows and events, became a hot topic at Fondazione Fiera Milano’s International Forum on the Exhibition Industry at Milano Congressi (pictured), Italy, on 26 March.
The ICE is the body behind Italy’s national pavilions, established to provide an international platform for companies, typically SMEs, in need of assistance. If international exhibitions give a voice to companies looking to develop international business, public or quasi-public sector bodies like the ICE help them shout a little bit louder.
But what happens when that support goes to Italian exhibitors or organisers trying to make money in other markets, fuelling events that do little to benefit Italy’s local economy and exhibition industry through business tourism? Isn’t there a risk such public sector support actually damages local industry; that regional and national government should be working with organisers to boost the exhibition industry at home?
The perils of overseas profits
Speaking at the event in Milan, president of Italian exhibition association Comitato Fiere Industria (CFI), Gian Domenico Auricchio, made the point that in Italy today, export is a need rather than a desire for many companies.
“By transporting our excellence abroad, or signing joint ventures in other countries, we expand our trade fair districts and bring national brands online in the form of trade fairs,” he said. “Ninety per cent of SMEs in Italy see trade fairs as their only tool for achieving this. Our companies would not be able to grow without big trade fairs.”
It’s a factor that has led many organisers based in Italy to launch events abroad in order to grow their own company and meet the demands of Italian exhibitors keen on establishing partnerships abroad.
But Adalberto Corsi, president of the Comitato Fiere Terziario (CFT), had a word of warning for organisers looking to make their money from events abroad, drawing attention to the implications that making money from exhibitions abroad has for industry back home. Industry growth, he says, isn’t dependent on helping trade missions abroad, but on bringing that business to Italy.
“There is a lack of internationalisation at our trade fairs,” he conceded. “And while some may view this as a straightforward issue to address, it’s actually a very complex one. Internationalisation has nothing to do with de-localisation. It’s one thing to launch abroad, it’s another thing to totally relocate.”
Corsi’s view is that territory plays a fundamental role in the appeal of an exhibition. He believes it’s the territory around the area – Milan in this case – that defines an exhibition.
“Think of the tourism part of the equation: the hotels and restaurants. Can you imagine how a simple trade fair can help develop an entire country? This issue concerns me because we are focused only on organising events in those territories where it’s easy to do so. But this is totally wrong; we must defend our own territory.”
Corsi believes Italy must not take its regions for granted and that selling its destinations more effectively will bring business from abroad.
“People say trade fairs bring people to Milan, but Milan brings trade fairs to Italy,” he continued. “When we organise fairs, ministers all say nice things; that trade fairs can contribute to the benefit of the country, that almost all tourism is generated by trade fairs and that trade fairs play a very important role in the development of the country. But at the moment the ministers do not do anything, and they do not respond to us.”
Leopoldo Franza, from the Department of Enterprise and Internationalisation at Italy’s Ministry of Economic Development, said improving international perception of the Italian exhibition industry is key to bringing more international organisers, exhibitors and visitors to Italy.
“Trade fairs are of real value to our country and I believe the Italian exhibition industry should be repositioned to a certain extent,” he said.
“We’ve tried on the one hand to consolidate our position, and on the other to highlight areas of interest that have been voiced by the regions.
“We do not want to fuel a cannibalisation of our industry by supporting businesses abroad, we want to promote regional internationalisation as well.”
Franza added that a standardised measure of quality for events back home would do much to appeal to international companies. “We’re working on a system to track trade fairs and assess them. Giving them a quality label or a trust mark could add something to the name of a trade fair on some level.”
Fiera Milano CEO Enrico Pazzali observed the Ministry of Economic Development primarily supports businesses going abroad at the expense of those looking to enrich the offering at home.
“Sometimes we’re embarrassed by [organisers and exhibitors] looking to go to Germany or France; places just one hour from our city,” he said. “They should only be helped to go abroad where there are difficulties associated with doing so. Funding competitive trade fairs in Hannover, Frankfurt or Paris when we’re trying to encourage our trade fairs to become tools for economic growth should not happen.”
To overcome this, Pazzali claimed the ministry should work on trade agreements that support the export industry rather than funding trade fairs abroad.
It’s a point Franza said he understood, adding that the ministry is simply responding to the demands of local companies. “We go where people ask us to go. But of course we want to ensure Italian trade fairs become tools of industrial policy.”
It will be interesting to see if the ministry makes that distinction and spends its money wisely.
Any comments? Email exhibitionworld@mashmedia.net
