There is a slid hinte of optimism in the international trade fair landscape. In April, the 'Auto China' was held again in Shanghai – the first physical trade fair we have seen for a long, dry period. We are still a long way from that in Europe, but with increase in available vaccines, increasing willingness to vaccinate and the lifting of vaccination prioritization, we are optimistic for the future.

The year is flying by and the on-demand phase of IGW Digital is now over! In the three months in which all contributions were available as on-demand videos, we were able to record a good 550 new registrations on the platform. Now that all contributions are offline, the International Green Week website will also be switched over to IGW 2022.

The International Green Week appears with a new key visual. As every year, our B2B appearance gets a new look. For the next year, the slogan 'Natural Connection' will accompany us - a statement that stands for the exchange among each other, be it in person or perhaps digitally again, but always as a basic need, so to speak as the most natural thing in the world (see newsletter header).

At the end of March, the decision was made for Messe Berlin to develop a new digital platform together with Corussoft. The result will be a modular system for all our events. Corussoft has been a specialist in this field for two decades and already works for some large trade fair companies and has already been used by us for ITB Berlin NOW. With the new platform we will be able to react to the different requirements of the projects and our customers.

Even though the official Earth Day already took place on April 22, our team agreed: Everyday is Earth Day.

The theme of the German Earth Day campaign: Every Bite Counts - Protect What You Eat - Protect Our Earth, Live Consciously and Sustainably - Organic, Regional, Fair could also take place as a presentation at the IGW.

The topic of 'sustainable nutrition' is a central theme for many of our exhibitors, partners, associations and visitors. For example: at IGW Digital we had a contribution from the Bundesverband der Regionalbewegung e.V (german only) on the topic of 'Regionalization in the Food Industry' and the Senate Department for Justice, Consumer Protection and Anti-Discrimination (german only) in Berlin submitted the film 'Berlin Food Strategy' with the focus: regionalization in the food industry, where, among other things, nutrition education is also discussed.

On the website of Earth Day Germany you will find comprehensive information on the topic as well as a newsletter with projects, such as the app togoodtogo.de (german only), which also participated in this year's Startup Days at IGW Digital. It's worth a visit: www.earthday.de

In the last few months, our newsletter community has almost tripled in size! We are very pleased that you are all part of it. A good reason to get to know our readers better, because we want to know what interests you, so that we can use your feedback to make our communication even more targeted in the future.

To this end, we have launched a survey: short and crisp - it will take less than 2 minutes to complete. The evaluation of the answers will of course be exclusively anonymous:

The global society is facing major challenges. The growing population of the planet must be fed in a fair and sustainable manner. Producing enough food causes new, different problems which harm the climate.

Germany's leading capital newspaper “Der Tagesspiegel” invites decision-makers from politics and diplomacy, industry and associations, NGOs and start-ups to come together to discuss food security and technological achievements in the field of novel food and farming.

Register now for free for the virtual World Food Convention on June 24th 2021 - "Science for the society – How to secure food in a sustainable way"