Yongin City Signs MICE Promotion Agreement with Spain's Largest Convention Company NEBEXT

Mayor Sang-il Lee "Fostering Convention Industry Linked to Semiconductor Belt"

Yongin City in Gyeonggi Province announced on the 29th that Mayor Lee Sang-il, who is on a business trip to Spain, signed a 'Business Agreement for the Promotion of the MICE Industry' with NEBEXT, the largest local convention specialist company, on the 28th (local time).

Lee Sang-il, Mayor of Yongin (right), and Sylvia Aviles, Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) of NEBEXT, are holding up the agreement after signing a memorandum of understanding on the 28th (local time) to promote the MICE industry.
[Photo by Yongin City]

NEBEXT recently organized HIP (Horeca Professional Expo) in Madrid and is responsible for planning large-scale conventions to be held locally in Spain, such as the construction-related exhibition 'REBUILD Expo,' Southern Europe's largest 4th Industrial Revolution-related expo 'Advanced Factories,' the food industry exhibition 'Food4 Future - Expo FoodTech,' and the logistics exhibition 'Pick & Pack for Food Industry.'

The agreement includes cooperation to promote Yongin's MICE industry and mutual collaboration to enable companies, associations, and institutions from Yongin to participate in various exhibitions held in major Spanish cities such as Barcelona, Bilbao, Madrid, Malaga, Seville, and Valencia.

The signing ceremony was attended by Mayor Lee and the city delegation, along with NEBEXT's Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Silvia Aviles and Director Josep Jonas Cortes.

This business agreement aligns with Yongin City's strategy to foster the MICE industry. Yongin plans to attract MICE industry facilities such as convention centers and hotels around the stations of the GTX (Great Train Express) Line A in addition to high-tech companies including semiconductor materials, parts, and equipment firms in the Platform City (830,000 pyeong) under development in Giheung District.

Mayor Lee said, "One of the necessities for Yongin, which aims to form the world's largest semiconductor ecosystem as a single city, is convention facilities and hotels," adding, "The agreement with NEBEXT, which plans the largest B2B (business-to-business) events in Spain, will greatly help the city's future MICE industry development."

CMO Aviles responded, "As Yongin develops, the need to hold conventions in fields such as semiconductors will increase, so we will help ensure that the MICE industry is well fostered in Yongin through this agreement." Earlier, CMO Aviles also guided Mayor Lee and his delegation during their visit to HIP in Madrid on the first day of their Spain trip.

Meanwhile, Mayor Lee's delegation visited Activa, Barcelona City's economic development agency, and the Municipal Institute of Information Technology (IMI) to receive briefings on smart city policies and technologies.

Activa is an economic development agency under Barcelona City responsible for talent development, digital education, and urban remodeling. It played a central role in transforming the Poblenou area, which was densely packed with aging textile factories, into a complex of residential, cultural, industrial, and educational spaces, leveraging the momentum of the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.

IMI is an institution composed of over 270 private IT experts that provides IT services to the Barcelona City Council and its affiliated public enterprises, promoting the city's smartification through ICT strategy planning and implementation.