5 Italian tradeshows you must not miss in 2018

5 Italian tradeshows you must not miss in 2018

1. Homi – Milan – January and September 2018

Homi, the lifestyle tradeshow, will take place, as usual at the very beginning of the year and immediately after summer, in Milan. The scheduled dates for the upcoming editions are January 25th to 28th and September 7th to 10th. This tradeshow has come to be one of the most anticipated events for international interior designers and lifestyle brands. The main event is home to mainstream brands as well as emerging and independent designers hoping to make a name for themselves on this market. Homi rewards creativity in every field, dividing the space of their exhibition into different thematic areas. Among the highlights of the upcoming editions there are kitchen design and fashion & accessories design. HOMI counts international buyers among its regular attendees: most of these buyers either have or are hoping to establish a connection to the Italian trading agency (ITA – ICE).

2. Salone del Mobile – Milan – 17 – 22 April 2018

Milan’s international furniture fair has been a key event for international designers all the way through its 57 editions. Its most prized strength lies in upholding the business side of interior design as much as the creative one. For a few years now, Milan’s furniture fair has chosen to reward the most deserving young talent in the industry. Aesthetics that coexist with technology, tradition that combines with innovation and internationalisation: these are the goals towards which the Salone del Mobile strives every year. And when it comes to technology in interior design, this event also focuses on sustainable innovation, promoting research and rewarding solutions that meet the needs of contemporary lifestyles while preserving our collective environment. As in the last edition, a major focus this year will be on smart home technology and on the new opportunities of connected and responsive domestic spaces that improve our comfort, promote aggregation and create an emotional connections with our domestic environment. 2018 will also mark the 21° edition of the SaloneSatellite, a special event for designers under 35. This year’s theme will be “Africa/Latin America: Rising Design” and it will host some of the most interesting talents from these continents.

3. Vinitaly – Verona – 15 – 18 Septemer 2018

Wine is internationally perceived as an essential component of the Italian identity and Vinitaly is one of the world’s leading food&wine tradeshows. For years, it has been instrumental in promoting Italian wines worldwide, supporting independent producers and helping the internationalisation of their businesses. The main highlight of this edition will be the renewed catalogue database, which is designed to be a practical business tool, granting visibility to attendees and exhibitors and facilitating the creation of new connections and creating growth opportunities. Among the services that Vinitaly offers to its exhibitors, the most interesting is the translation, included in the attendance fee, of their presskits and presentations into English and Chinese. This is a very practical way of giving buyers what they want: clear, usable, accessible information in a familiar language, in a way that does not penalise exhibitors based on their origin and language.

4. Fiera del Levante – Bari – 8 – 16 Septemer 2018

This is one of the oldest and most prestigious tradeshows in Italy, and possibly the first to be born with an international focus. The Fiera del Levante comprises a rich calendar of events throughout the year, but the main one is the international exhibition that takes place in September every year, and that accounts for about 50% of all the exhibitors (1000) and visitors (over 200.000) of the entire tradeshow. The history of this event, which has greatly influenced its current set-up, is strongly connected to the maritime traditions of Southern Italy (and of Bari in particular). The region of Apulia has always looked towards the Mediterranean, trading goods with its vast markets, promoting the mingling of cultures and people that contributed to shaping the complex identity of the southern regions. This tradeshow is a hub of international trade, open to all fields: from design to food, from technology to agriculture. Every player aiming at entering the Mediterranean market will find the right platform in this remarkable event.

5. SMAU – Milan – 23 – 25 October 2018

SMAU is an innovation-focused tradeshow with a long and distinguished history: it started in 1964 and it still is one of the most relevant European tradeshows for innovation and new technology. It recently extended its area of influence by adding an increasingly rich and international Roadshow. It is SMAU’s mission to create connections between companies and digital service providers that can help them make optimise their productive processes or distribution channels. Over the years, SMAU has accomplished this in many ways, mainly creating a viable platform for young tech startuppers to meet investors, accelerators and incubators that might help them scale up and develop their projects. SMAU is the go-to tradeshow for innovators with unique projects as well as representatives of public and private institutions, from the public administration and from private businesses that wish to make the most of their work and their time by implementing the most advanced technology available. Lately, the focus on digitalisation has driven all of the events, together with a definite aspiration to internationalisation.