Credit: Farvest
Chronicle.lu recently had the opportunity to speak with Charlotte Boutelier, Managing Director of Farvest, about the upcoming edition of ICT Spring, which is returning to Luxexpo The Box in Luxembourg-Kirchberg on Thursday 29 and Friday 30 June 2023.
Commenting on the growth of ICT Spring over the years and the return last year to a 100% in-person format (after two years of COVID-19 measures), Charlotte Boutelier explained that the event first took place in 2010 “with the ambition of gathering high-level experts from the financial and the IT sector in order to create synergies and showcase the latest products and innovations of Luxembourg’s market”. She elaborated on how the event has “grown exponentially to become a centrepiece of Luxembourg’s event calendar and one of the top European tech conferences” bringing together international professionals. She noted that the scope has broadened over the years to showcase Luxembourg as “a land of great opportunities, a gateway to Europe and a vibrant and dynamic financial but also digital ecosystem”.
During the 2020/2021 pandemic years, the aim was to adapt the event format “to ensure the quality and the continuity of the event while creating a room for businesses to connect together at a time when there was a shortage of opportunities” amid many cancelled/postponed events. Charlotte Boutelier noted that hosting a digital event differs entirely from organising an in-person event. The organisers had decided to “rethink” ICT Spring as a “real TV show” to retain the attention and involvement of viewers. The organisers later analysed the success of this format but noted that “nothing can replace human interactions and the power of sharing with a community”.
Nevertheless, the pandemic and accelerated digitalisation impacted both how businesses and people work. Charlotte Boutelier explained how the organisers “knew we had to propose a new format and bring a new breath of life.” She noted that the challenge of organising an event for more than a decade is “always to reinvent it and to meet the expectations of the clients”. Last year’s in-person edition brought together more than 3,500 visitors (also known as “springers”), 114 exhibitors and over 200 speakers. This edition was based on five pillars: themed zones in the exhibition area which explore several key sectors; international pavilions to welcome new delegations every year; workshop sessions/side events to enable companies to host their own session/product demonstration; a TV show to interview and leverage the participation of international experts coming specifically for this event; a new event application to allow visitors to connect with one another and set up meetings. This was paired with a strengthened partnership with the Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce, as well as longstanding support from the Luxembourg Government. Charlotte Boutelier described this new format as “a great success”, adding that “the feedback was very good and we can now leverage [the success of] last year to offer a new value proposition”.
Elaborating on this year’s choice of theme, “Time for Change”, Charlotte Boutelier noted that the programme is designed to “address challenges businesses face [across] industries in order to foster the sharing of expertise and to create synergies among professionals across sectors”. She added that “Time for Change” is “the common thread of the conference programme, highlighting the ever-growing digital world and how it is redesigning businesses, work culture and life in the years to come”. The theme touches on sustainability, artificial intelligence (AI) and technological innovations such as blockchain and Web3. “This is also a wink to our own initiatives in embodying the change we want to see including offering a new breath of life, favouring diversity throughout the conference programme and taking a step forward to sustainability in working to receive the Green Business Events label [which promotes sustainable and inclusive professional events]”.
Preparation for this year’s programme started in November 2022 and saw the organisers meet with leaders of large companies and officials “to validate them and ensure it addresses strategic topics for Luxembourg and for them”. Charlotte Boutelier emphasised the importance of the content “in attracting professionals and creating rooms for them to feature their latest projects and bring visibility to the great efforts made to answer the markets’ needs”. In addition to the ever-important fintech and digitalisation strands of ICT Spring, this year’s programme particularly focuses on the topics of sustainability, cybersecurity and talent shortages; Charlotte Boutelier described the latter as potentially “one of the most worrying topics, as all businesses across sectors are impacted”.
Further details (programme, registration, etc.) about ICT Spring 2023, for which Chronicle.lu is a media partner, are available online at http://www.ictspring.com/.
