Sept 29, 2016

Steven Beckers to address world’s number one leisure marine show

RAI Amsterdam, organisers and hosts of the METSTRADE Show, have announced that the opening ceremony of this year’s edition of the three-day show will include a keynote speech by the renowned architect Steven Beckers. He will address the topic of ‘Circular Economy: Towards a positive impact on the recreational marine industry’ during the traditional Breakfast Briefing in collaboration with ICOMIA on the first morning of the METSTRADE Show.

Hundreds of invited guests and dignitaries will gather to mark the start of the world’s largest B2B show for the marine leisure industry and find out who has won the prestigious DAME Design Awards. Becker’s attendance and speech highlights the leading role played in terms of sustainability by the METSTRADE Show, which runs from Tuesday November 15 to Thursday November 17.

Leveraging on experience

As President of the Implementation Centre for Circular Economy in Brussels, Steven Beckers has had a distinguished career in the field of sustainability. As an accredited cradle-to-cradle architect/consultant since 2007, he has a broad knowledge of this biometric approach to the design of products and systems. Beckers is also founding partner and Chairman of Lateral Thinking Factory Consulting and the Building Integrated Greenhouses company, as well as being co-founder of Local Solutions Development Group, an NGO active in Ethiopia.

His speech during the opening of the METSTRADE Show will include an introduction to the circular economy, where resources are kept in use for as long as possible and products and materials are recovered and regenerated at the end of service life. Beckers will leverage on case studies and examples from other industries and recreational fields to highlight the benefits in terms of finance, self-sufficiency, economy of functionality (boat sharing, marinas used out of season, licensing and leasing products), demography and the environment.

Sustainability a key theme throughout the week of the METSTRADE Show

As recycling can be seen as the starting point for circular economy, this presentation will dovetail well with the Sustainability In the Marine Industry conference, which will be held on 14 November in RAI Amsterdam. The sustainability theme is also echoed throughout METSTRADE itself in a wide variety of ways. An extra Environmental Initiative Award category has been added to the IBI METSTRADE Boat Builders Award. The InnovationLAB platform will include an area on the topics featured during Beckers’ keynote. Many exhibitors will be unveiling pioneering new eco-friendly products and services. And the Material Xperience exhibition area will zoom in on how lightweight materials can inspire designers and yards in sustainable boatbuilding.

About the METSTRADE Show

The METSTRADE Show is the world’s largest trade exhibition of equipment, materials and systems for the international marine leisure industry. It is organised by RAI Amsterdam in association with ICOMIA (International Council of Marine Industry Associations). Three dedicated specialist pavilions are part of the METSTRADE Show: the SuperYacht Pavilion, the Marina & Yard Pavilion and the Construction Material Pavilion. In 2016, the METSTRADE Show will be held from 15 to 17 November in RAI Amsterdam Convention Centre.