The world’s leading Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation event has set its sights on Edinburgh for 2016 favouring the Scottish capital’s recently expanded Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC) over competitor facilities in Barcelona, Berlin, Geneva, Munich and Yokohama.
The six-day event, SPIE 2016 Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation from 26 June – 1 July 2016 will have exclusive use of the recently expanded EICC and is expected to attract 2,000 international delegates. In addition, Karin Burger SPIE’s Europe Manager is also returning with SPIE Remote Sensing, Security and Defence events in 2016 and 2020 in a move that positions the EICC and Edinburgh city as a leading European partner for SPIE, the International Society for Optics and Photonics.
Announcing the triple event award SPIE Event Manager, Rob Whitner said: “We have been watching EICC with our advisors since our highly successful event there in 2012. The expanded facility combined with a one city approach to meeting the needs of our delegates gave Edinburgh the edge over competing bid cities”.
Welcoming the news EICC Chair, Councillor Gordon Munro said: “It’s always gratifying when a plan comes together and our partnership for business tourism in the city is gathering momentum. Since the start of the year EICC and Marketing Edinburgh’s Convention Bureau have together announced new contracted events that are forecast to deliver a £14m economic impact in the city region. Our confidence in EICC and Edinburgh as a global events destination is reinforced with every business win of this scale and particularly when won against world class opposition.”
Marketing Edinburgh’s Convention Bureau Head of Business Tourism, Lesley Williams added: ”Our offer to the world of accessible Edinburgh coupled with a one city approach to bidding for major events is putting us in contention more often and keeps us hungry for success”
SPIE was advised in awarding future events to EICC and Edinburgh by US based agency Conference Direct.
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