Page 11 - Parquet International December 2013

ture”, as Negri calls it, “but even so,” he adds, “the fair was compact, occupying the same space as last year – over 65 thousand m2 of exhibition space – with the presence of the same number of companies as in the previous edition. A common challenge and, at the same time, a wager that Made won”.
Those efforts seem to have paid off, as “the number of foreign companies has grown considerably”, thus confirming the organisers’ intention to continue along this route. “What’s more, this year we had visitors of great quality. Nowadays, only people with real needs visit fairs, one can no longer afford to waste time and re- sources, and this has led to targeted
and high quality contracts.”
Every two years
As of this year, Made expo has be- come a biennial event. Negri points out that this new direction was one of the goals expressed right from the very start by the Made Technical Committee, a group of 45 large com- panies tasked with providing gener- al indications. However the previous
five yearly editions were needed to build up the fair. “Made expo is now a properly recognised event and this is, for me, a great success. Of course I believe that the decision to hold it every two years will be much appreciated, both in terms of rationalised in- vestments (which are currently difficult to sustain) and in terms of the greater time available for com- panies to develop and present their new products and proposals.” Future editions will, therefore, con- tinue to be held in October, but on odd years. More specifically, the next edition will be held at the same time as the 2015 World Expo. s