Exhibitors at the EDGE (Expo Demo Green Europe) shows – Demo- Dagen (Holland), Demo Groen (Brussels), IOG SALTEX (Windsor) and Salonvert (France) - will this year for the first time compete for the EDGE Innovation Award in two categories – for the Construction & Maintenance of open spaces (including machinery and equipment), and for the Design & Supply of Amenities (including consumables, street furniture, playground equipment and plants). There will also be a special prize for environmental excellence and sustainability.
The winners of each category nationally (which includes Internet-based voting for products displayed at Demo-Dagen) will then be judged internationally, and the overall winners announced in November at the 2010 IOG Industry Awards and National Conference at the SWALEC Stadium, Cardiff on November 25.
The Awards scheme – which will be administered by Demo-Dagen organiser SALC – is the latest result of the show organisers’ EDGE collaboration that is designed to:
- Maintain the high standards of these leading events;
- Establish a pan-European partnership that will develop an increased profile for exhibitors across all four markets; and
- Share best practice of event planning and management.
EDGE’s current chairman is Michel Christiaens of Fedagrim, Belgium (organiser of Demo Groen/Demo Vert), who comments: “With thousands of products on display each year at these shows, the industry’s seemingly insatiable appetite for innovation is clear. With the EDGE Innovation Awards, the Europe-wide open space industry now has a much-deserved scheme that will showcase this groundbreaking talent.”
Attracting circa 63,000 visitors between them, the displays at the four shows cover, for example, grounds care machinery, commercial vehicles, landscaping equipment and materials, trees, plants and turf through to safety surfaces, play equipment, stadium and sports ground equipment, as well as forestry and arboricultural, recycling and waste management.
The shows are:
Demo-Dagen, Papendal, Holland
Averages 250 exhibitors and 30,000 visitors biennially at the National Olympic Sportscenter in Papendal.
Demo Groen – Demo Vert, Brussels
Approximately 100 exhibitors attract 4,500 visitors to this biennial event at the Parc de Laeken.
IOG SALTEX, Windsor
Staged annually at Windsor Racecourse, IOG SALTEX attracts 460 exhibitors and around 13,500 visitors.
Salonvert, France
Staged in Saint-Cheron near Paris (in even years) and holding regional events in South East and South West France (odd years), the Salonvert series attracts around 350 exhibitors and 15,000 visitors/ 6,000 for regional events.
The audiences for these events are similarly wide-ranging across the open space management spectrum – extending, for instance, from grounds staff and local authority parks and leisure officers, through to contracts managers, leisure facilities manager, landscapers, gardeners, architects and designers, arborists, estate managers and horticulturalists.
IOG SALTEX 2010 will be held on September 7-9 at Windsor Racecourse, Berks, and will embrace fine turf and sports surfaces, turf maintenance equipment, children’s outdoor play and safety surfacing, landscaping, contractors, commercial vehicles, outdoor leisure and facilities management, as well as software and security equipment. The show is attended by open space management professionals and contractors – from groundsmen and greenkeepers through to play officers, architects, designers and surveyors as well as local authority and outdoor leisure facility managers. Visit www.iogsaltex.co.uk for more information.
