in Panama, lists his country’s meetings assets, for example, he includes its accessibility, many new international hotels, and plans for a new convention center, scheduled to open in 2015. He also mentions Panama City’s charm and the coun- try’s natural beauty — and emphasizes its intellectual assets, including its position as a center of international finance and logistics, and the collaboration taking place at the City of Knowledge, an international complex for research, education, and innovation built in the former Panama Canal Zone. With an economy growing at 10.6 percent, the fastest in the world, Orillac described Panama City’s newly flourishing meetings industry as poised to go “from the Little League to playing in the majors.”
SEARCHING FOR SOLUTIONS
“The Knowledge Economy” was the theme of the IMEX Politicians Forum, held at IMEX 2012 in Frankfurt, Germany, last May, where leaders gathered with meetings industry executives to discuss the role that meetings can play not only in generating jobs and fueling industry, but also in find- ing solutions to the biggest problems and challenges that face governments. Among the speakers was Isabel Bardinet,
CEO of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC), who told the audience: “Meetings are the most efficient medium for research and development that has ever been found.” Bardinet discussed how she makes the decision on where
to hold ESC’s annual Congress, which has the same impact, she said, “as if a mid-sized town drops down for five days on top of a city.” Each year, approximately 40,000 attendees col- lectively will use 100,000 hotel room nights. But Bardinet urged destinations to look beyond those
figures, to numbers that are of even greater concern to her organization: the millions of deaths caused each year by cardiovascular disease, as well as the billions of dollars spent annually to treat heart disease. When she looks at destina- tions, she seeks out those that will look to magnify ESC’s impact — because its annual Congress helps determine how many doctors will have access to innovations in treatment. When you begin to talk about the impact of the disease and the search for solutions, Bardinet said, “We’re far, far away from coffee cups and hotel rooms.”