Skip to main content

Hybrid Technologies and Formats as Innovative Drivers for CO2 Reduction of a Global Event Industry

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
SDGs in the European Region

Abstract

With the COVID-19 crisis, a long continuous rise in the event industry has come to an abrupt end, both in terms of the number of event formats held and the number of participants. When event and meeting formats become largely virtual or hybrid – as now disruptively forced by the COVID-19 pandemic – new opportunities arise to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal for climate action (SDG 13) and ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns (SDG 12) by reducing at least some of the business travel CO2 emissions. Various innovations, such as regionalized hubs, as a variant of hybrid event formats, with a mix of digital and face-to-face meetings, offer options for the business models of a heterogeneous event industry. Based on digital tools, such as virtual reality, augmented reality, and mixed reality, as well as AI-based matchmaking tools, improved solutions for interaction and immersion are developing, which could then have an effect on terms of experience orientation and a reduction in visitor numbers. Such digital tools to be understood in the sense of a hybrid technology can then be a relevant factor in a future event industry which do not compromise the ecological and social and economic dimensions of sustainability.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Argyle M (2013) Bodily communication, 2nd edn. Routledge, London/New York

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Bathelt H, Turi P (2011) Local, global and virtual buzz. The importance of face-to-face contact in economic interaction and possibilities go beyond. Geoforum 42(5):520–529

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Belkhir L, Elmegli A (2018) Assessing ICT global emission footprint: trends to 2040 & recommendations. J Clean Prod 177:448–463

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boshnakova D, Goldblatt J (2017) The 21st century meeting and event technologies: powerful tools for better planning, marketing, and evaluation. Academic, Oakville

    Google Scholar 

  • Bowdin G, Allen J, Harris R, McDonnell I, O’Toole W (2012) Events Management. Routledge. Oxon. New York

    Google Scholar 

  • CAICT (2017) Virtual reality/augmented white paper. CAIPT. https://www-file.huawei.com/-/media/corporate/pdf/ilab/vr-ar-en.pdf. Accessed 2 Oct 2021

  • Case R (2015) Event impacts and environmental sustainability. In: Page SJ, Connell J (eds) The Routledge handbook of events. Routledge, Oxon/New York, pp 362–384

    Google Scholar 

  • Civardi C (n.d.) Making industrial exhibitions green. A literature research on the LCA of physical virtual exhibitions. https://www.v-ex.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Sustainability-Report_Whitepaper.pdf. Accessed 20 Apr 2022

  • Climate Watch (2022) https://www.climatewatchdata.org/countries/DEU?end_year=2019&start_year=1990. Accessed 16 Oct 2022

  • Courth M (2021) Extended reality world im Zoo Amnéville. Event Partner 5:36–37

    Google Scholar 

  • Creutzburg R, Hagen D, Hasche E (2021) Virtual reality, augmented reality, mixed reality & visual effects: new potentials by event Technology for the Immanuel Kant Anniversary 2024 in Kaliningrad. In: Hagen D, Krasnov E, Gaeva D, Barinova GM (eds) Challenges by cultural and sport mega-events: socio-economic and environmental effects. Proceedings of international conference, December 17, 2020, pp 52–62

    Google Scholar 

  • Creutzburg R, Hagen D, Hasche E (2022) Application scenarios and usability for modern 360 degree video projection rooms in the MICE industry. Electron Imaging 2022(3):206-1-206-14, pp 1–9

    Google Scholar 

  • Doni F, Gasperini A, Soares JT (2020) SDG 13–climate action: combating climate change and its impacts. Emerald Publishing Limited, Bingley

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • EITW (Europäisches Institut für TagungsWirtschaft GmbH) (2022) Meeting- & Event Barometer Deutschland 2021/22. Die Deutschland-Studie des Kongress- und Veranstaltungsmarktes. Frankfurt am Main, Wernigerode. https://www.gcb.de/de/secure-downloads/?fid=50336&expires=1658408263&signature=f1c074f03d9b963fcf19ef1765491b40. Accessed 3 May 2022

    Google Scholar 

  • Eurofound (2019) Digital age – virtual and augmented reality: implications of game-changing technologies in the services sector in Europe. https://euagenda.eu/upload/publications/untitled-262817-ea.pdf. Accessed 14 Apr 2021

  • European Environment Agency (EEA) (2021) https://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/data/data-viewers/greenhouse-gases-viewer. Accessed 18 Oct 2022

  • Events Industry Council (2022) Principles for sustainable events. https://www.eventscouncil.org/Portals/0/EIC%20Documents/Sustainability/Principles%20for%20sustainable%20events.pdf?ver=2019-01-18-123244-787. Accessed 13 Oct 2022

  • Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (ed) (2018) 2018 cultural and creative industries monitoring report. Summary, Berlin

    Google Scholar 

  • GCB (German Convention Bureau e. V.) (2020) Innovation catalogue 4.0. Future meeting space. Frankfurt/Main. https://gcb.de/de/trends-inspiration/future-meeting-space.html. Accessed 17 Oct 2021

  • Getz D, Page SJ (2020) Event studies: theory, research and policy for planned events, 4th edn. Routledge, Oxon/New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Hagen D (2021) Sustainable event management: new perspectives for the meeting industry through digitalization? In: Filho WL, Krasnov E, Gaeva D (eds) Innovations and traditions for sustainable development. World Sustainability Series. Springer, Cham, pp 259–275

    Google Scholar 

  • Hagen D (2022) Perspektiven der Netzwerkbildung in der Kongress- und MICE-Industrie im Spannungsfeld zwischen Digitalisierung und Nachhaltigkeit sowie neuen Geschäftsmodellen. In: Zanger C (ed) Events und Wege aus der Krise. Stand und Perspektiven der Eventforschung. Springer Gabler, Wiesbaden, pp 19–206

    Google Scholar 

  • Halkos G, Gkampoura EC (2021) Reviewing the 17 sustainable development goals: importance and progress. Munich Personal RePEc Archive https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/105329/. Accessed 10 Aug 2022

  • Hall CM (2012) Sustainable mega-events: beyond the myth of balanced approaches to mega-event sustainability. In Event Manag 16:119–131

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hauptfleisch T (2016) Eventification. Framing the ordinary as the extraordinary. In: Pernecky T (ed) Approaches and methods in event studies. Routledge, London/New York, pp 36–52

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Hischier R, Hilty L (2002) Environmental impacts of an international conference. Environ Impact Assess Rev 22:543–557

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hogg T (2020) The art and business of VFX for TV and streaming. In: VFX Voice, Summer 2020, p 51

    Google Scholar 

  • Holmes K, Mair J (2018) Events, festivals and sustainability: the Woodford festival, Australia. In: Brinkmann R, Garren SJ (eds) The Palgrave handbook of sustainability. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, pp 583–597

    Google Scholar 

  • Jones ML (2017) Sustainable event management: a practical guide. Routledge, Oxon/New York

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • McGowen C (2020) Cloudhead games: VR multi-Tasker and storyteller. In: VFX voice, summer 2020, p 87

    Google Scholar 

  • Neugebauer S, Bolz M, Mankaa R, Traverso M (2020) How sustainable are sustainable conferences? – Comprehensive Life Cycle Assessment of an international conference series in Europe. J Clean Prod 242:118516

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • R.I.F.E.L. e. V. (Research Institute for Exhibition and Live-Communication e. V.) (2020) Die gesamtwirtschaftliche Bedeutung der Veranstaltungsbranche. Berlin

    Google Scholar 

  • Rogers T (2013) Conferences and conventions. A global industry, 3rd edn. Routledge, London/New York

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Storper M, Venables AJ (2004) Buzz: face-to-face contact and the urban economy. J Econ Geogr 4(4):351–370

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • United Nations (2015a) Millennium Development Goals | UNDP. https://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/sdgoverview/mdg_goals.html. Accessed 10 Aug 2022

  • United Nations (2015b) The 17 goals. https://sdgs.un.org/goals. Accessed 10 Aug 2022

  • United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) (2021) Tourism for SDGs. http://tourism4sdgs.org/. Accessed 10 Oct 2022

  • WCED (World Commission on Environment and Development) (1987) Our common future. United Nations. Accessed 5 Oct 2021

    Google Scholar 

  • Wreford O, Williams NL, Ferdinand N (2019) Together alone: an exploration of the virtual event experience. Event Management 23(4-5):721–732

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yung R, Khoo-Lattimore C (2019) New realities: a systematic literature review on virtual reality and augmented reality in tourism research. Current issues in tourism 22(17):2056–2081.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zenk L, Smuc M, Windhager F (2014) Beyond the name tag. In: Lutz B (ed) Wissen nimmt Gestalt an – Beiträge zu den Kremser Wissensmanagement-Tagen 2013. Donau-Universität Krems, pp 215–225

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Dirk Hagen .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Section Editor information

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2023 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

Hagen, D. (2023). Hybrid Technologies and Formats as Innovative Drivers for CO2 Reduction of a Global Event Industry. In: Leal Filho, W., Dinis, M.A.P., Moggi, S., Price, E., Hope, A. (eds) SDGs in the European Region . Implementing the UN Sustainable Development Goals – Regional Perspectives. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-91261-1_43-1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-91261-1_43-1

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-91261-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-91261-1

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Earth and Environm. ScienceReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Earth and Environmental Sciences

Publish with us

Policies and ethics