Integrated Systems Events has signed a five-year contract with the RAI Centre, securing the location of the Integrated Systems Europe show in Amsterdam until 2016. Expansion space for the exhibition during this time will be provided by Hall 8, which will become available to ISE from the 2013 show onwards, and by temporary pavilion structures, which are already used during other shows at the RAI, such as IBC. Mike Blackman, managing director of IS Events (centre of picture), stated that ISE’s Amsterdam location was a key factor in the show’s success. “We’ve got have a location that’s easy to get to – we find it easy to draw people in here, because they feel comfortable,” he said. He added that 650 million people are able to reach the city within three hours’ flying time. ISE will continue to run in the week when the first working day in February falls – although the show itself will sometimes be entirely in January (in 2013, for example, the dates are 29-31 January). Blackman said that there were no current plans to extend the exhibition beyond three days, although IS Events was aware of exhibitors’ concerns about whether this gave them enough time to engage with increasing numbers of visitors. One possibility, he added, might be to extend the show’s opening hours. It was also announced that the ISE Show Train – an exhibition onboard a specially equipped train – will visit five German cities at the end of October this year. This is intended as a proof of concept, said Blackman; in 2012 the ISE Show Train will visit a number of European countries. www.iseurope.org
