trade fair

This cultural trade fair of Mediterranean shores’ traditions will reach its 15th edition, organised in the Central Catalonia city of Manresa in early November. The 15th edition will be held from November 8th to 11th. It is a market for music, theatre and dance professionals, with shows for all ages and held on stage or on the street. This year, 104 groups will perform in more than 250 shows. The Israeli singer Noa will offer a concert together with the Napolitan ensemble String Quarter. The Catalan Sardana orchestra, Cobla Sant Jordi, will play with the Flamenco guitarist Niño Josele. Also, the fair will have a meeting space for professionals.

From October 15th to 17th, Barcelona will host Seafood, the largest show in southern Europe in the field of marketing fishing products. In its first edition, the show will feature nearly 300 exhibitors, 40% of them international, as well as many representatives of exhibiting companies and processors of seafood.

The President of the Catalan Government, Artur Mas, travelled to Massachusetts and New York to promote Catalan businesses and present Catalonia as one of the main biotechnological clusters and tourist destinations in Europe. In addition, Ernst & Young presented their report on life sciences companies and research centres in Catalonia, which indicates that almost 30% of this sector’s turnover in Spain comes from Catalan businesses.

The 27th edition of the Electric Vehicle Symposium (EVS) –the benchmark world congress for this sector- will take place in the Catalan capital, taking over from Los Angeles in organizing the EVS27. Barcelona beat Paris and Geneva in the fight to organise the event, which is a chance for local electric mobility companies to create international synergies.

Four days on the Gaudí catwalk and over 230 national and international exhibitors in the Gran Via fairground reaffirmed the convention as the quintessential meeting of the bridal industry worldwide. The Catalan designer Rosa Clarà was chosen another year to open the four days of catwalks at the ‘Pasarela Gaudí Novias’. Exports from Catalan wedding products made the industry generate a turnover of 10% more than in 2010. Currently, the industry is opening to Mexico and China.

The People's Republic of China is this year’s special guest at the 30th edition of the Barcelona International Comic Fair, which runs from May 3rd to 6th at the Fira de Barcelona. An exhibition will showcase the most important works in the history of Chinese comics. Furthermore, this edition is turning the spotlight on robots, dedicating its main exhibition both to entertaining and exploring the relationship between robots and comics, cinema and literature.

The 21st edition of Catalonia’s International Tourism Fair takes place between April 20th and 22nd in Barcelona. In this annual trade fair, the sector displays its best offers and trends. This year sport tourism, wine tourism and the camping sector are some of the main attractions. More than 200,000 people are expected to visit the event. Tourism represents 12% of Catalonia’s GDP, employing more than 400,000 people. The Catalan tourist industry welcomed 23.5 million visitors in 2011 and earned €11.3 billion; estimates for 2012 expect figures to increase by 7%. National Geographic included the Costa Brava as one of its top 20 destinations worldwide.

The Catalan capital will be the guest city in the 2013 edition of the ‘Salon du livre’ in Paris, the most important book fair in France. Barcelona is the stage where narrations take place and it is a centre of literary production, the capital of Catalan literature and of the most important editorial centres of books in Spanish.

The 2012 Alimentaria Exhibition welcomed 40,000 international visitors, which represents 29% of the 142,000 attendees. It represents an 11% increase compared to the last such event in Barcelona in 2010.

Virtual desks, automatic cash points, a new packaging line or consulting services on innovation are some of the Catalan products displayed at CeBIT. This is the Europe’s biggest trade fair on digital industry. It is being held in Hannover from March 6th to March 10th.

The main trade fair on mobile phones and technology in the world brought together 11% more participants than the 2011 edition and more than 1,500 companies, including the main multinationals in the sector. Barcelona was declared the Mobile World Capital last summer and will organise this top international event until at least 2018. The 2012 congress had a direct economic impact of €300 million for the city and Catalonia’s economy. The CEO of the organising company, John Hoffman, said that the 2012 MWC “has been a success in all aspects”.

Alimentaria 2012 is one of the most important trade fairs in the world focusing on food and drinks. It is organised in the Catalan capital every two years. The next edition will be held between March 26th and March 29th, reducing its length from 5 to 4 days. However, the trade fair maintains the exhibition space and the number of exhibitors and participants.

During four intense days, the ceremonial hall of the old Palau del Rei (King’s Palace) of Barcelona, the Saló del Tinell, became a catwalk full of glitter, aromas and, above all, glamour.

This year's edition Mobile World Congress will be the first after Barcelona was officially declared the Mobile World Capital, and the organising city of this annual event until at least 2018. The MWC will start on February 27th with the motto “Redefining mobile”. More than 1,400 companies will be present and organisers expect to break last year’s records. There will also be three times more Catalan companies.

Barcelona’s independent fashion fair kicks off this week, running from Wednesday 25th to Saturday 28th. The fall-winter 2012/2013 collections of prestigious brands and designers such as Desigual, Pierre Cardin or Mango will be presented in the centre of Barcelona’s Gothic Quarter in the Plaça del Rei (King’s Square) and the Saló del Tinell, inside the former King’s Palace.