Exhibition Centre Liverpool

Exhibition Centre Liverpool is preparing to open its doors for the world’s leading business event when the International Festival for Business (IFB) arrives in the city. More than 30,000 international delegates are expected to attend the three week long festival in the venue.  The entire event is expected to generate £265m in economic value.


Exhibition Centre Liverpool will be transformed into a business hub with exhibitors, specially constructed seminar rooms and hospitality areas.  Key features include the Great British Showcase with the best of British manufacturing, design and innovation; the Blue Skies speakers stage with12 high profile business leaders giving keynote speeches, a full programme of innovative and diverse day events and Market Street, where innovative businesses can sell their cutting edge products.  The halls will include a Meet Your Future Deal lounge and a Specialist Advisors Lounge.

The city’s iconic waterfront will be lined with beach huts for live music, workshops and performances by artists, poets, performers and creative entrepreneurs.  A trail of 20 huts will start at the exhibition centre through the Albert Dock and onto the main thoroughfare of the Strand. 

Bob Prattey, chief executive of The ACC Liverpool Group, home to Exhibition Centre Liverpool, Echo Arena and BT Convention Centre, said: “Exhibition Centre Liverpool will become the hub for IFB and, while events are our industry, this is the largest concentration of separate events taking place under one roof during a three week period that we have ever hosted.  It is of course business as usual in our convention centre and arena with the British Society of Gastroenterology, the British Association of Urological Surgeons, Elton John and Barry Manilow just some of the events taking place in the rest of the venue.

“IFB2016 will give us the opportunity to welcome a global audience to our venue and to the city’s magnificent waterfront.  We are working closely with the IFB team to ensure the festival is spectacular and is a worldwide event the UK can be proud of.”

The festival is being delivered in partnership with UK Trade & Investment, the GREAT Britain Campaign and with the support of the UK Government.  Official partners include HSBC, BT and Google.  Attracting business people and entrepreneurs from around the world, it will focus on three different themes – manufacturing; energy and environment as well as creative and digital.

It follows the inaugural International Festival for Business, which took place in 2014 and resulted in £280 million of trade and investment deals.  

Ian McCarthy, IFB2016 festival director, said: “This festival is the biggest event of its kind in the world and it is the definitive marketplace to make connections, do deals and inspire you to challenge the way business is done – to innovate, change and grow in a world that never stands still.

“There will be practical business activities, trade events, specialist investment advice and business matching. There will also be the world’s most inspiring speakers and showcases of the most innovative products and services.

“IFB2016 is the natural next step for businesses that want to grow domestically or internationally. There is nowhere else that brings all this content and all these opportunities together, under one roof this year and there is nothing else like it in the UK. IFB2016 is simply a must-attend event”

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