The ISE strengthens its commitment to Barcelona with more than 58,000 attendees

The Integrated Systems Europe (ISE), a leading trade fair in the audiovisual sector, has closed its 2023 edition exceeding all expectations and registering an attendance of 58,107 attendees from 155 countries, a record figure since its arrival in the city in 2021. An intense fair activity that has been seen beyond Fira Gran Via, with a frantic week for sectors such as hotels, restaurants, and leisure. The exhibition has asserted itself this week as the new protagonist of Barcelona's fair calendar, flexing its muscles against the eternal leader, the Mobile World Congress (MWC).

With crowded aisles and stands from Tuesday until this Friday, ISE has left behind its first testimonial edition in Barcelona and has also managed to surpass last year's, with an attendance of 43,700 congress participants. This confirms that the decision to leave Amsterdam, its previous location, to grow in Barcelona, was a success, although it has not yet managed to surpass pre-pandemic figures, with more than 81,000 congress participants in 2019.

"It has been an extraordinary week. We have had an unprecedented influx of visitors and have showcased a large amount of content," said its general director, Mike Blackman, who expressed particular gratitude for the attendance of the King and the President of the Generalitat, Pere Aragonès. Although institutional representation is taken for granted at major fairs here, in Amsterdam, they never received such a degree of recognition.

The exhibition has achieved these results by recovering its usual calendar, at the beginning of February, and contracting the largest exhibition area it has ever had, with a total of 56,870 square meters distributed in six pavilions. Nothing comparable to the 4,000 square meters it occupied in 2021 and also surpassing the 45,000 square meters distributed in five pavilions last year.

In addition, the Catalan industry has also taken advantage of the fair. "The balance we make is spectacular," says the president of the Audiovisual Cluster of Catalonia, Miquel Rutllant. According to Acció's calculations, local exhibitors expect to generate more than eight million euros in business volume in the coming year, and 43% have already closed an agreement during the days the congress lasted. The seventy Catalan companies present in this edition have held more than 8,000 meetings, 58% with foreign companies.

With the dates of the next edition already noted in the agenda, from January 30 to February 2, 2024, exhibitors have already started contracting their space this Friday and reservations have skyrocketed. "We foresee that next year there will be many more people and more exhibitors," says Rutllant.