Copenhagen Legacy Lab Raises its Game with Industry-first Framework for Events

© VisitCopenhagen

In a first for the international events industry, Wonderful Copenhagen’s Copenhagen Legacy Lab has expanded its legacy framework for congresses to include events and has successfully piloted the first event legacy activities. The process will ensure a strategic approach to creating long-lasting positive impact from international events held in the Danish capital.

International events have – just like congresses – the potential to create positive impact and societal value that go far beyond the event itself but to ensure that destinations and organisers realise the full potential, it is crucial to take a systematic approach to event legacy.

With its updated legacy framework, Copenhagen Legacy Lab has developed a process in which the lab identifies legacy opportunities related to specific events. Once the opportunities and potential have been mapped out, Copenhagen Legacy Lab presents them to the organisers and relevant stakeholders, followed by activities and workshops developed and facilitated by the lab together with the organisers.

“With our new event legacy framework, we are able to maximise the positive effects of international events in Copenhagen. Creating positive impact from events and congresses is not coincidental nor random, but rather a result of a systematic process,” says Kit Lykketoft, Director of Convention at Wonderful Copenhagen.

Launched in 2019, Copenhagen Legacy Lab was one of the first initiatives to work strategically with congress legacy. Since the beginning of 2023, the lab has focused on international events as well – an area that Wonderful Copenhagen began working on in 2021. To date, Copenhagen Legacy Lab has worked with international events such as the Badminton World Championships in 2023 and Copenhagen Gaming Week in 2024.

While the Badminton World Championships proved a great opportunity for the Danish water sector to strengthen its position in Asia, Copenhagen Gaming Week provided a unique platform for developers and companies to showcase and large-scale test new games on industry professionals and visitors at the event.

Based on these events and years of experience from working with congresses, Copenhagen Legacy Lab has laid the foundation for the event legacy framework. The development phase has not been done in isolation but with valuable input from Danish event stakeholders from various sectors to represent different perspectives.

“The industry feedback and extensive experience that we have built from working strategically with congress legacy for five years have given us a unique position to work with legacy in an event context. We know from events such as the Badminton World Championships and Copenhagen Gaming Week that the value created knows no limit if you approach it the right way and with the right stakeholders from the start,” explains Kim Mejnert Frydensbjerg, Head of Events at Wonderful Copenhagen.

The new event legacy framework will be rolled out in full for the first time in connection with the 2024 ISA World SUP & Paddleboard Championship, which will take place in Copenhagen in September 2024. Copenhagen Legacy Lab has been working with the local organising committee (Surf & SUP Danmark) from the initial planning phase, and the process has involved a wide range of stakeholders, including all of Denmark’s 19 tourism boards. The key focus has been to develop a national stand-up paddle guide to brand Denmark as an outdoor destination during the upcoming tournament and to attract more SUP enthusiasts.

“It’s been a very positive experience working with the Copenhagen Legacy Lab team. They helped set the direction for our legacy activities and showed us that an event like ours has the potential to generate positive impact in sectors and ecosystems outside our own. Having a set framework has enabled us to stay on track throughout the planning stage and ensure that the legacy efforts don’t drown in logistics,” says Michael Lindberg, CEO at Surf & SUP Danmark.

Copenhagen Legacy Lab will continue to work with legacy in an event context. In addition to the 2024 ISA World SUP & Paddleboard Championship, the new legacy framework will rolled out in connection with other Copenhagen-held events in the future.