Work gets underway on the Basque Ecodesign Meeting 2017, to be held in Bilbao on 19 & 20 September

Under the slogan “Better Products and Services for a New Circular Economy”, the Basque Ecodesign Meeting-BEM2017, one of Europe’s most important ecodesign meetings, will be held in Bilbao (Bizkaia) on 19 and 20 September. It is organised by the Basque Ecodesign Center, a private-public partnership initiative involving the Basque Companies CIE Automotive, EDP Naturgas Energía, Euskaltel, Eroski, Gamesa, Iberdrola, Ormazabal Velatia, Orona, Vicinay Sestao, along with Ihobe and  SPRI – the publicly-owned companies of the Basque Government-, and the main industrial clusters of the Basque Country.

A wide range of different sectors of activity will be represented at the BEM2017. Special mention should be made of the machinery, electric-electronic, renewable, transport and mobility, packing and packaging, food, ICTs, construction material, and furniture and fixtures sectors, among others. This ecodesign forum will attract nearly five hundred company representatives in the realm of strategic decision-making and interested in introducing ecodesign and product environmental innovation in the policies of their organisations to obtain competitive advantages. Professionals and technicians from the field of product and service industrial design, the university and the public administration will also be taking part.

“This year’s event will analyse ecodesign’s contribution to the shift to a circular economy and what it means for companies. The event will also be an opportunity to recognise the SMEs of the Basque Country that apply ecodesign and the organisations that support it as associations, or the sectoral clusters,” stressed Iñaki Arriola, the Basque Government’s Minister for the Environment, Territorial Planning and Housing.

Furthermore, BEM2017 will be a meeting point where experts in the field of industrial product design can discover the latest ecodesign legislative and regulatory trends in Europe, along with future trends.  The business and environmental improvements achieved by companies of the Basque Country in the last two years thanks to ecodesign and product ecoinnovation will be showcased.  There will also be a focus on best practices and experiences of trail-blazing international organisations, along with the new business opportunities that ecodesign can contribute to the business fabric of the Basque Country.

BEM2017 will be held at the Euskalduna Conference Centre in Bilbao (Bizkaia) on 19 and 20 September. The plenary sessions and thematic forums will be held on the first day and the second day will be dedicated to sectoral forums. Registration to attend the session is free-of-charge and is through the Ihobe website.