"What was important to us was to attract international visitors, and it looks like we managed to do that. In addition, the feedback we have received from exhibitors was also positive," explains Thomas Mur, director of Fiera Bolzano, the body which organised the fair.
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Thomas Mur, Director of Fiera Bolzano.
Exhibitors came from 20 different countries and visitors came from 70 different countries. "This was made possible thanks to the work carried out with ICE-Istituto italiano per il Commercio Estero. We managed to involve 100 foreign buyers and journalists and even organised a tour in China, which is a very interesting market."
"The central role given to business during the international convention is what provided an international aspect, especially considering it takes two years to organise the convention and we involve all stakeholders."
Then there is also the integration with the territory - foreign journalists were struck by this sector's passion for the territory and by the high-quality of its productions. "We would like to improve hospitality so that visitors do not even have to ask themselves whether to come back or not."
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A moment during Interpoma 2016.
Interpoma is characterised by two elements that make it stand out from the other Italian fairs - it is organised every two years and is dedicated to one single product.
"We decided to organise it every two years because innovation does not usually happen every year. Companies need to have time to develop and present new products and solutions. The choice to focus only on apples was not an easy one to make, as exhibitors were interested in the event, but visitors weren't. Over the years, we went from 6 thousand to 18 thousand visitors. We are indeed focused on only one product, but we talk about it from all points of view."
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A moment during Interpoma 2016.
What was new during this edition was the BZ Loves Apples series of events at the Interpoma Innovation Camp.
"We were actually quite surprised by the number of people who took part in the Innovation Camp. We sent out our invitations and our partners believed in this format. It is a starting point for something we want to develop even outside Interpoma. It will definitely be repeated and we would like to turn into something of a community. Generating ideas every two years is not enough."