ICCA and Chengdu Launch CIMERT to Build Intellectual Capacity

ICCA today has signed an agreement with Chengdu Municipal Bureau of Exposition (CCPIT Chengdu), MeetingsChina and Chengdu University on a joint research cooperation project and officially launched the “Center of International Meetings Research and Training Supported by ICCA” (abbreviated as CIMERT).

This multi-party deal brings four organisations ranging from government, association, media and educational institution for an integrated project delivery. It covers a five-year period until 2023 and commits all four organisations to work together to promote joint research initiatives in the areas of capacity building, personnel industry development program, knowledge dissemination, data collection as well as market analysis.

The signing of this new cooperation agreement marks ICCA’s first partnership on launching a research center whose scope covers the following:

• Enhancing mutual cooperation on capacity building and human capital development in the meetings industry;
• Resource integration of international conferences in the Asia-Pacific region;
• Promote and strengthen China’s positioning in the meetings industry and undertake relevant economic studies for industry advocacy;
• Building Chengdu into a premier convention destination.

CIMERT is located at the School of Tourism and Cultural Industry, Chengdu University. A professional research and training center for international meetings - CIMERT will play a central role in undertaking comprehensive research projects both at national and international levels to collect international meetings data, produce research outputs as well as generating local industry reports.

At the signing ceremony, ICCA CEO Senthil Gopinath commented, “The establishment of CIMERT covers scope to introduce joint research initiatives which recognise our deep shared interests and values. We have seen that major cities in China have made impressive strides forward in the meetings space and ICCA views this partnership with Chengdu as a win-win collaboration. As the Asia Pacific region’s development landscape is continuously evolving, we want to strengthen our cooperation with our members in Chengdu to roll out more initiatives to drives intellectual growth.”

He continued, “The establishment of CIMERT in Chengdu is part of ICCA’s  3-year strategic plan to further strengthen our footprint in China.”

Chen Fu, Director Chairman of Chengdu Municipal Bureau of Exposition (CCPIT Chengdu) said, “As a national central city and the capital of Sichuan province, Chengdu is not only famous for giant panda, but also well placed as a meeting hub. We are honored to collaborate with ICCA, MeetingsChina and Chengdu University. There are great synergies among the four organisations, we hope that CIMERT will harness educational and meetings resources to strengthen as well as develop regional knowledge and innovation capacity, which will be beneficial to the MICE sector worldwide. We at CCPIT Chengdu Council will provide all the necessary support to ensure the success of this initiatives.”

The major thrust of the establishment of CIMERT is to create a platform for ICCA and Chengdu in the field of meetings research in China, which includes the release of conference of global cities convention and exhibition competitiveness index; research distribution; statistical analysis and industry data share; enhanced support to Chengdu-based events, which will culminate with a high-level conference called “CEO Summit.”