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Shaping the Electronic Design Industry for a Sustainable Future
Sustainability is increasingly important to our attendees and exhibitors, as well as to our community as a whole. Operating DesignCon gives us many opportunities to improve our impacts environmentally, socially, and economically in Silicon Valley. Our team is driven to make our event more responsible and to also play a key role in helping our market improve its own sustainability.
Our company, Informa Markets Engineering, is committed to creating a welcoming and inclusive environment for our entire community, reducing our environmental impact at every level, and embedding those values in all of our business practices.
Second Harvest of Silicon Valley
No one should go hungry – Together we can create a sustainable support system. In partnership with Second Harvest of Silicon Valley, a member of Feeding America, DesignCon has launched a virtual
fund drive.
What DesignCon Is Doing
1. Eliminating Single-Use Carpet – We have discontinued single-use carpeting on the expo hall floor, replacing it with recycled or carpeting that will be re-used at another event, to reduce the carbon emissions associated with the event.
2. Reducing Printed Materials – We eliminated a printed event guide in favor of a digital version along with using digital platforms, such as the Smart Event digital resource and mobile app
3. Running Sustainable Exhibitor Contests– We award prizes to exhibitors who recycle, repurpose, and reduce their exhibit material
4. Recycling Printed Signage – As an annual event, we make sure to develop printed materials that can be reused
5. Utilizing Digital Signage – We replaced traditionally printed signage with digital options where possible
6. Surveying Exhibitors and Attendees – We research exhibitor and attendee views on our progress and survey audience travel patterns for participation at DesignCon
What Exhibitors Can Do To Reduce Signage Waste
1. Encourage less printing and provide more information digitally when it comes to booth literature, fulfilling requests via email and website referrals
2. If you must print, create reusable non-dated signs that can be used year after year
3. Avoid foam core signs and request recyclable material such as cardboard signage
What Exhibitors Can Do To Reduce Booth Waste
1. Request sustainable options from GES
2. BYOF!- Avoid carpet and bring your own flooring, like puzzle foam flooring that can be reused at all your shows
3. Break down ALL cardboard boxes and put in the correct recycling bin
4. Request additional booth bins for recycling and compost collection
5. Use only compostable or recyclable service ware for samples and give-a-ways
6. Use the stickers provided at the Exhibitor Services desk to mark your materials for recycling or donation
7. Set a goal to leave no trace behind by shipping out all booth properties and packing materials and donating extra giveaways
What Guests Can Do To Reduce The Carbon Footprint
1. Water Conservation
- Participate in your hotel’s Linen ReUse Program – you can often earn Rewards points for participating
- Take shorter showers to save water and time
2. Waste Reduction
- Use a refillable water bottle and coffee cup at DesignCon
- Take only what you need at food functions
- Download the official mobile app and refer to the digital event guide
- Ask for a recycling bag for your hotel room if one isn’t in place
3. Energy Conservation
- Turn off lights and thermostat when leaving your hotel room
4. Air Quality/CO2 Impact
- Carpool to DesignCon or take public transport to/from the airport and to/from hotel
- Eat vegetarian or vegan at least one meal per day OR make the commitment to eat meat free ALL WEEK
Our Three Pledges
1. Inspiring Sustainable Development
Our first aim is for our events to inspire sustainable development. This is about the sustainability of the industry that our event serves. With focus on our content and partnerships, we inspire our attendees, exhibitors, and event teams to deliver a sustainable event.
2. Running an Environmentally Responsible Event
Our second aim is to run our events in an environmentally responsible manner. The key is considering how we can reduce our carbon footprint through energy efficiency, consideration of our energy use, waste reduction and our procurement choices.
3. Running a Socially Responsible Event
Our third aim is to run our events in a socially responsible manner. This requires us to think about the impact we have on the local community and whether we are being a good neighbor. It also includes how we consider the welfare of everyone at our events, how we do business in an ethical and safe manner and how we promote equality and accessibility.
DesignCon Is Powered By Renewable Energy
- We are pleased to announce that as a part of our continued commitment to the sustainability of our event, we made the switch to 100% renewable electricity for our event. This resulted in our electricity use being carbon neutral, preventing the additional creation of CO2, and therefore significantly reducing our carbon impact.
- We also recognize that it’s not just about the way we produce our events, but recognizing that we have a role to play in providing a space to work in partnership together with our markets to inspire the sustainable development of the industries we serve. This is an ongoing process for us and we’re looking for ideas of how we can improve.
- More information about our work so far can be found here including our latest sustainability reports.
FasterForward
FasterForward is DesignCon and Informa’s approach to sustainability, moving faster to become a zero waste and net zero carbon business. A series of activities and commitments carried out between 2020-2025 will ensure our events become ever more sustainable, delivering a truly positive impact to the markets we serve. We will also actively help our partners, customers, and wider markets to achieve the same.
Our FasterForward commitments include:
- Become carbon neutral across our events by 2025
- Halve the waste generated through our events by 2025
- Become zero waste and net zero carbon by 2030 or earlier
- Embed sustainability inside 100% of our events by 2025
See the full list of commitments and find out more
Contact and Share Your Story
Would you like to work with us on the sustainability of our event? Would you like to share your own story and efforts?
Got an idea? Contact the event team or reach out to Informa’s sustainability team for more information: [email protected]
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