November 2008


International association and corporate events have a significant impact on the local and national economy, and conferences at the ACV are forecast to generate a total of around EUR 130 million in induced GDP — the same amount as in 2007, the record year to date.

Thomas Rupperti, CEO of the venue’s operator IAKW, said: “2009 is set for a repeat of our strong showing in the association market in 2007. So far, we have heard nothing to the contrary. As for the ‘stand-alone’ corporates and the local business market, it may well be that budgets will be pruned in the next few months.”

Highlights of 2009
As in previous years, the European Congress of Radiology (ECR) is expected to attract 18,000 radiologists when it returns in March. Another regular tenancy, the European Geosciences Union (EGU) General Assembly will back for the fifth time when 7,000 geophysicists converge on Vienna and the ACV in April. May and June will be big months for medical conferences. Next year’s second-largest medical event after the ECR will be the European Federation of National Associations of Orthopaedics and Traumatology (EFORT) Congress, which will be attended by some 8,000 orthopaedists. Other spring bookings are the European Society of Human Genetics (ESHG) Conference with 2,500 attendees, the Austrian Society for Gynaecology and Obstetrics with 500, and the International Psycho Oncological Society (IPOS) with 2,000.

During the autumn the ACV will host the European Congress on Optical Communication (ECOC), with 2,500 delegates. The related exhibition will fill all the exhibition halls as well as space in the main building. In October the Austria Center will be welcoming the Electrochemical Society (ECS) meeting and the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine (ESICM) Annual Congress, as well as the European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery (EACTS) Annual Meeting. Attendances of about 4,000 are anticipated at both of the latter two events.

The undisputed highlight of the autumn calendar will be a blockbusting corporate meeting. Microsoft will be taking the entire ACV for a week, for an event that will draw 4,000 attendees. One of the reasons why the ACV won this booking was the large number of small rooms that are suitable for presentations. Few venues anywhere in the world can rival the ACV for the variety and flexibility of its facilities — and this comes with no need for special partitioning.