Good practice:

A professional fair in the biomass sector

In 2006 the sector of biomass in south Europe started to demand a way for showcasing the biomass technologies and application. AVEBIOM, the Spanish Association of Energy Valorization of Biomass, decided to organise a fair for the bioenergy sector in Valladolid, with the support of the Castilla y León Regional Government.
Currently the fair is biannual and gathers more than 15 thousand professionals from bioenergy and related sectors. These is the presence of 30 countries and 500 trademarks, with a total of 30.000 m2 of exhibitions and live technical demonstrations, as well as more than 300 stands. In the same days, there are a lot of parallel events, a biomass congress, monographic seminars, workshops, slots for meetings, poster exhibitions. It is calculated that the fair generates an economic impact of € 10 M in the city of Valladolid.
The fair event is an excellent thermometer of the situation of the sector, so while years ago it was more oriented to electricity generation, in recent years it has been consolidated towards biomass boiler facilities preferably.
From the beginning, the fair has had a strong orientation towards the foreign market, both towards Latin America and towards the European Union, and there is a special guest country every year.
The inauguration of the fair is always supported by high level authorities at regional and national level.

It has a cost of € 3 million fully financed by the fair itself without the need for any public help. However, in the first editions it had a public aid of € 600.000 from the Region and it was organised annually.
The resources include: a very big building space for fairs, easy transport connections

- The 2019 edition was the 12th. The fact that it is already in its 12th edition tells us that it is a fully consolidated fair
- Consolidated as a reference fair in southern Europe and Latin America
- Currently the fair does not need any public financial help; fair costs are covered by biomass companies or stakeholders, collaborators and media

At the beginning, there was a lack of support, even from the media. Once the sector discovered the benefit of the fair as showcase for its bioenergy products, the fair became a success.

It is important to support the renewable energy sector not only with investment grants, but with commercial measures.
The presence of the media at this fair may be more effective than a subsidy programme to motivate an entrepreneur or building owner to choose to install a biomass boiler.
The dissemination of technological improvements in a purely commercial environment is one of the best incentives for innovation in the sector.
In order to transfer such type of initiative, it is necessary to have a policy regional support, not only the market demand.