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.
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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
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