Global event suppliers get organized

Leading global event suppliers have formed a new association to better address their capabilities and promote the possibilities of the industry on the international marketplace. The Association of Global Event Suppliers (AGES) intends to build a strong relationship with governmental bodies and organizers of large events to define and apply suitable standards and procedures to contribute to cost-effective solutions and to increase the safety and quality of the event infrastructure programs.

The challenge

Cities and countries around the world hosting large international events must provide a substantial number of specific facilities, infrastructure and technical installations to meet the increasing requirements of athletes, the media, sponsors and other stakeholders so as to guarantee a safe and smooth operation of their events. These facilities and infrastructure are often unique with respect to size, quantity and location, and quite often do not fit into an established and sustainable urbandevelopment program. Organizers are increasingly faced with the challenge of findingappropriate yet cost-effective solutions and developing a true legacy plan for their large-scale events.

Temporary infrastructure (overlays) is used to adapt new facilities, upgrade or remodel existing facilities, or even as temporary sports facilities, and can contributesubstantially to meeting the objectives of organizers of large events. Temporary infrastructure has increasingly become an important and indispensable factor for organizers to develop a suitable legacy plan. During the 2012 Olympic Games in London, for example, close to US$ 1 billion was spent on temporary infrastructure. This is the reason why suppliers from the established and emerging industry of global events management believe that the time is right to form this association.

About AGES

AGES is a not-for-profit organization based in Switzerland which has been recently constituted to act as a label for quality and reliability in temporary infrastructure provision for major events. At present, 20 global event suppliers representing all

overlay working categories have joined AGES. Together, they provide services and infrastructure worth more than one billion euros annually. The association represents market leaders and front runners in the development of new products and services who are active in more than 50 countries in Europe, America, Asia, and the Middle East.

The vision of AGES is to be the unified voice and representative of the international event supplier industry and to become a partner to governmental bodies, key stakeholders and organizers of large sports events in order to address the capabilities

of the industry and to develop a roadmap to create procedures, standards, protocolsand other tools to facilitate interaction and business with the event suppliers, and through this contribute to lowering the burden on future organizers.

The members of AGES have adhered to an activity plan to achieve the objectives as defined in the Mission Statement. Furthermore, with large events being awarded to emerging countries, AGES understands its educational responsibility and will support organizers with including local event suppliers in the delivery process.

AGES has already received positive feedback from governmental bodies which support this initiative. The association is therefore convinced that its activities will contribute to finding sustainable and cost effective infrastructure solutions. Hopefully, this will reduce the risk of creating more white elephants.

For more information, please visit www.ages.international or contact Daniel Cordey, Chairman of AGES at daniel@ages.international or by telephone at +41 79 407 06 06.

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