Conference Matters 143

INTERVIEW

'You can

formulate

an end goal

but be sure to leave it open-ended'

First edition “We haven’t quantified any objectives for the first edition. We just wanted to create a solid edition and lay a foundation on which we could build. In the end, 600 attendees showed up.” Now that Recharge Earth was on the map, it prompted a collaboration with the Rugge dised Smart Cities and Communities event, which showed and presented the results of this European initiative during its second edition. “Then, more partners joined in,” says Dujardin. “You’ll often find parties waiting to see how the first edition went.” Room for newcomers Prior to the third edition, we decided that energy market newcomers should also have a platform. The Innovation Expo was set up for this purpose,

With Recharge Earth, Rotterdam Ahoy develo ped its own new conference. Founding partners and gradual growth are important conditions to develop a concept, says exhibition manager Pieter Bas Dujardin.

It makes sense for the Port of Rotterdam and its industry, which includes many energy-related businesses, to create its own portfolio for the international trade fair and conference company. For example, as trade fair manager, Dujardin has the Maintenance NEXT and Safety&Health @Work trade fairs in his portfolio. City and region “We’re always looking for themes that match city and region themes, and the energy transition is definitely one of them,” says Dujardin. “For exam ple, the Port of Rotterdam must develop into the hydrogen hub of Europe. Our preliminary study showed that there was room for an event around this theme.” Together with the city of Rotterdam, the idea was explored further to arrive at a concept.

University for Science, The Hague as the seat of national politics and business, and Rotterdam, with its port and industry.” The councillors’ best piece of advice was to make it a distinctive event, with the main focus on the quality of the conference programme. According to them, it also had to be a place where all the energy transition stakeholders could meet. When planning the first conference, Dujardin relied on the partners’ market contacts as well as their own network of trade fairs, which Ahoy has been holding for many years. Prior to the first edition in September 2021, the one and a half-metre corona regulations presented some challenges. However, it was one of the first opportunities for people in the energy chain to see each other in person.

“At that stage, we didn’t yet have a product or proposal on paper. We started looking for the right stakeholders to fine-tune the concept together,” adds Dujardin. These early partners formed the advisory board that influenced the final design of the event. “We have an advisory board for every in-house production. They bring in outside knowledge to ensure that the content meets the needs of the target group.” Advisory board Recharge Earth has a 12-member advisory board that includes, in addition to the municipality, the Port of Rotterdam, energy company Eneco, Netbeheer Nederland, and the Delft University of Technology. “The advantage of our region is that we have three significant pillars of the energy sector near each other: Delft with the Technical

'The award process also helps maintain strong ties with the knowledge institutes'

By Edwin Nunnink

In September, the two-day Recharge Earth conference had its fourth edition in the Rotter dam Ahoy Convention Centre (RACC). It’s a conference we developed in-house that focu ses on accelerating the energy transition. “There were already several knowledge events and fairs that focused on sub-themes such as heat, hydrogen and wind energy, but none that focused on the entire energy transition,” explains Pieter Bas Dujardin of Ahoy.

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