Through the partnership between QOOT Cluster and the Italian Trade Agency (ITA) , four QOOT Cluster members, Robinson Agri, Debbane, Unifert, and Biomass, participated in a five-day exhibition in Italy, at the Bologna Exhibition Centre from October 19 till 23, 2021 entitled International Exposition of Machinery for Agriculture and Gardening (EIMA) . The members were able to acquire additional knowledge of the Italian market, promote co-operation, and immerse themselves in the latest novel technologies.
EIMA, stronger than anything
The world exhibition of agricultural machinery sweeps away all uncertainties linked to the health emergency and makes an impact with exceptional numbers. After five days, the exhibition closed yesterday afternoon with 270,700 visitors, 25,900 of whom from abroad, a result that makes EIMA a “top” international event not only in the specific sector of agricultural machinery, but also in the landscape of trade shows in absolute terms. Not only was the number of visitors remarkable, but also the quality of the public, largely made up of businesspeople interested in new products and the purchase of technologies suited to the most diverse agricultural settings.
The cultural part of the exhibition was also very rich, with a total of 116 conferences and seminars on technical and political topics. “EIMA wanted to go ahead this year, despite the inevitable defection of exhibitors and visitors from some countries that are still in a health crisis,” comments Alessandro Malavolti, president of FederUnacoma, the association of Italian manufacturers that is organizing the event, “and despite the skepticism of all those who were aiming to suspend it until November 2022. “The data have proved us right and the 2022 edition will not be for us the ‘restart’ edition but the ‘reconfirmation’ one, the consecration of an event that in the most difficult year has given an extraordinary proof of strength”.
“On the eve of EIMA we had already indicated as a good result the threshold of 160 thousand visitors, that is, about 50% of those who had participated in the record edition of 2018 – added Simona Rapastella, general manager of FederUnacoma – while the final data indicate an attendance of 85% of the last edition before the pandemic, a result that seems ‘miraculous’, but which in reality is the result of a great deal of work by the structure, of our determination to highlight the value of EIMA on the international exhibition scene, and of the exhibiting companies that followed us”.
Gianpiero Calzolari, president of BolognaFiere, also commented on the success of the exhibition: “We are particularly proud of the results of EIMA 2021 that bear witness to a widespread trend of economic recovery after the pandemic emergency. These are results that also underscore the importance of an extremely high-tech sector that is strategic for the objectives set by the green deal. Agriculture has a fundamental role to play in the ecological transition, and the operators in this sector are the main protagonists. Today, agricultural machinery is an essential tool for an increasingly important role in agriculture, as the event testified. A heartfelt congratulations to FederUnacoma for the organisational commitment that has led to this success”.
The next edition is therefore scheduled for November 9-13, 2022, when the city of Bologna – which on the eve of this EIMA welcomed the event in the voice of its mayor Matteo Lepore – will be ready to welcome the great people of EIMA once again.
Adapted from: EIMA
