February 2, 2022 | By Bronwen Largier
Adelaide will host evokeAG, an emerging event in the agrifood technology sector in Asia Pacific, in February 2023.
After attracting over 1,400 attendees from 20 countries to its last event in 2020, held in Melbourne, the Adelaide event is expected to attract over 2,000 delegates.
“As always competition for the event was fierce but Adelaide’s win of evokeAG indicates by how much Adelaide is now recognised as a first-class destination for large scale tech business events across many sectors including agrifood,” said Adelaide Convention Bureau Chief Executive Damien Kitto.
The event will explore key issues in the agrifood sector around topics including biosecurity, crop disease, soil, energy, irrigation, carbon farming, waste control, extension practice, rural women, young farmers and precision agriculture.
The South Australian Government is sponsoring the event, with Adelaide Convention Bureau also playing a key role in bringing the event to the city.
“These delegates will bring SA some 8,000 bed nights and this equates to a spend on hotels, restaurants and winery visits by business event delegates of more than $600 a day while a tourist brings in a far more modest $179 a day,” said Kitto.
“Of course, that is only the short-term benefit. Business events have a vital economic tail and the SA Premier has stated the event is expected to create 70 jobs and $7.4 million [in economic impact].
“That is without taking into consideration the jobs and economic boost to the state from knowledge transfer, research collaborations and business partnerships that make up the economic tail from the business event.”
The event was first held in Melbourne in 2019, but the pandemic has seen events in Perth and Sydney for 2021 and 2022 cancelled.