More than 80 major events have now been confirmed for the International Festival for Business 2016.
Organisers say the core festival programme is now complete and that they expect in excess of 30,000 delegates to attend during the three-week event in June this year.
Thousands of business people in the North West are expected to visit Liverpool to take advantage of the international networking opportunities which the festival will offer.
Many more will be attending to visit the GREAT British Showcase which will be showcasing the best of UK business innovation.
And thousands of visitors attached to official overseas delegations will also attend the festival.
Confirmed events include the World Broadband Alliance’s Wi-Fi Global Congress 2016 (the world’s leading wi-fi event), TedX and the much respected ACCELERATE event, which provides a unique accelerator for growth, motivation and an opportunity to connect businesses.
IFB2016’s Meet Your Future Deal programme will be the world’s biggest ‘meet the buyer’ event of the year, with companies taking part in 6,000 face-to-face meetings with potential new customers, suppliers, innovation and technology partners and investors as part of the.
There will also be 1,000 appointments with experts as part of the Meet Your Specialist Advisor programme.
Specialists from a host of world-leading organisations will take delegates through every step of the export or business growth journey, providing bespoke advice that will help companies make the most of IFB2016’s opportunities. Specialist advice ranges from market research to tax, the tender process to logistics and banking to legal.
The second International Festival for Business takes place in Liverpool in June 2016, with activity clustered round three themes: manufacturing, creative and digital, and energy and environment.
The festival is supported by the UK government, main partners HSBC and BT, media partners Bloomberg and The Times, plus festival supporters ARUP, DLA Piper, DONG Energy, Heathrow, PwC, Siemens and Virgin Trains.
Festival Director Ian McCarthy said:
“Our aim is to ensure the festival provides both a thoroughly practical experience for businesses, through events and digital matching and inspiration and exposure to new ideas through the Great British Showcase and engaging speaker programmes.
“The main festival programme is now complete but we will be revealing further details in due course about a host of international business personalities who will be taking part in a range of presentations as part of the Blue Skies speaker programme.
“The quality of the events and calibre of delegates attending means the Festival will offer unrivalled opportunities for connecting with potential new customers and collaborators for UK businesses.
“The Meet Your Future Deal programme alone will see some 6,000 face-to-face meetings organised by our team on behalf of businesses looking to buy and sell goods and services.”
Former South African president FW de Klerk, Lord Jim O’Neill and Liv Garfield, the Liverpool-born CEO of Severn Trent Water who is one of only six female FTSE 100 CEOs, have already been confirmed for the Blue Skies speaker programme.
Businesses wishing to find out how they can take advantage of IFB2016’s Meet Your Future Deal programme should register to join the IFB2016 Business Club at www.ifb2016.com to ensure they are kept up to date when further details of the programme are revealed in March. A range of other business services which Business Club members will be able to access will also be revealed early next month.