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Humanitarian aid event AidEx kicks off from 19 - 20 October, providing the logistics sector with a unique platform to engage directly with buyers from the humanitarian aid community.
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There will be over 200 key suppliers of emergency and relief products representing their field at the event, including Airfloat MPS, Scan Global Logistics and Peters and May demonstrating good representation from the logistics industry. Procurement managers, logistics personnel, operational staff, supply managers, technical advisors and research consultants are encouraged to attend.
In addition to the exhibition, AidEx will include an educational Conference, demonstrations and workshops, along with a range of other features. It is the only humanitarian aid event of its kind in Europe.
AidEx event director Nicholas Rutherford commented: "With an increased scrutiny of foreign aid budgets, the humanitarian aid industry is under pressure to deliver improved efficiency throughout their work. That provides an opening for suppliers and manufacturers to respond to that need. AidEx will grant businesses the opportunity to network with key charities and NGOs attempting to achieve this and enable them to make new contacts within the industry."
Innovation from exhibitors
d.light - stand F46
At AidEx, d.light will be showcasing its high affordable and durable solar lighting product launched this year, called the d.light S1. The solar light can be charged in direct sunlight in a few hours during the day and then used at night. It has been designed specifically to allow an upgrade from dim, dangerous and polluting kerosene lamps to clean, safe and bright light.
Freeplay Energy Ltd - stand F16
Freeplay Energy Ltd manufactures a wide range of alternative energy products and distributes them throughout the world. Using human, solar and any other available energy to power rugged, portable electric products, it replaces conventional battery-powered systems that are wasteful, costly or unavailable.
At AidEx the company will be demonstrating its Lifeline Encore and the sub-compact Companion Assist radio and flashlight among other products.
GAC - stand D09
Having recently formed the GAC Humanitarian Aid Team, GAC provides integrated shipping and logistics services to meet the needs of the sector. Headquartered in Dubai, the company employs over 9,000 people in more than 300 offices. Its primary aim at AidEx will be to bring its services and experience in shipping and logistics to the attention of the community and to learn more about the specific needs and objectives of the attending organisations.
Globalstar - stand C40
Globalstar offers mobile satellite voice and data services to commercial and recreational consumers in more than 120 countries around the world.
The company's products include mobile and fixed satellite telephones, simplex and duplex satellite data modems, the SPOT family of mobile satellite consumer products including the award-winning, SPOT Connect™ and flexible airtime service packages.
Key Travel - stand E17
Key Travel will be showcasing its suite of travel risk management services for humanitarian workers at AidEx. Services such as traveller tracking, incident monitoring and universal medical cards are offered as part of its 'wellbeing suite' and designed to help humanitarian organisations monitor risks, track employees and communicate with them in a fast and efficient way.
Kjaer & Kjaer - stand E36
Kjaer & Kjaer has provided transport solutions to the international aid and development sector for more than 40 years. The company is launching a new vehicle at AidEx; Ford's new 'best in class' pickup, alongside a ground-breaking Ford warranty programme to provide customers with a complete 'peace of mind' package.
Toyota Gibraltar Stockholdings (TGS) - stand F26
TGS will showcase the latest Toyota Eco-Drive Simulator on its stand at AidEx. Visitors will be invited to evaluate their eco driving skills using the simulator to travel as far as possible in a game scenario using only 0.1 litre of fuel. Whilst the simulator programme takes less than five minutes to complete, there are valuable lessons to be learned - with tips collected and passed on to others in the area of logistics and fleet management.
Vestfrost Solutions - G45
At AidEx, Vestfrost Solutions will be featuring its solar-driven vaccine refrigerator, MKS 044. The WHO approved refrigerator uses Green SolarChill Technology where all energy is obtained through solar panels and stored in a natural icebank without the use of energy storage batteries. It provides reliable temperatures for nearly five days without sunrays. It has no operating costs, is eco-friendly and is safe and easy to use.
To ensure that the NGO community has the opportunity to meet hard-to-find suppliers from developing regions, AidEx will also include a Local Supplier Zone, providing 50 suppliers from one region with free financial help to cover stand, travel and accommodation costs. This will put charities and NGOs in touch with hard to reach suppliers - without this, they would be unable to have a presence at the show. This year the region is sub-Saharan Africa and companies include Debre Berhan Blanket Factory, Q Drum (Pty) Ltd, Omedad Plc and Kariba Textiles Ltd.
More than just an exhibition
A practical programme of Conference sessions will get to the heart of the issues faced by the humanitarian community today. With a line up of prominent speakers, the free programme is designed to encourage debate and an exchange of ideas.
The programme will kick-off at 10.00 on Wednesday 19 October with a session on Major donors' perspective - a look at their short and longer term vision of value for money, accountability and transparency when funding humanitarian relief supplies and logistics. Speakers include Toni Frisch, Ambassador, Deputy Director-General, Head of Humanitarian Aid Department and Head of the Swiss Humanitarian Aid Unit (SHA).
At 11.15, Amjid Illahi, Procurement and Logistics Manager from Islamic Relief Worldwide will chair a session for the Heads of Logistics: What are the keys to increasing the efficiency and effectiveness? What are the short and long-term priorities and strategies? Representatives from UNICEF Supply Division and Action Aid will make up the panel and
Birgitte Olsen, Head of Logistics Department, at Geneva IFRC will introduce the session.
At 13.00, Professor Luk van Wassenhove, Head of Humanitarian Research Group at INSEAD Business School will chair a session titled Humanitarian/commercial partnerships in action: latest feedback from parties involved in the Logistics Emergency Team (LET) and Logistics Cluster where they will focus on effective communication and best practice specialisation and coordination among other topics. Representatives from UPS, the UN Food Programme and Damco will act as panellists.
At 14.00, there will be a Spotlight on medical supply chain logistics in the emergency context, chaired by Pierre Boulet-Desbareau from Médecins Sans Frontières. The last decade has shown a series of emerging additional constraints that make the support of independent humanitarian and medical operations even more challenging. The objective of this session therefore is to raise awareness of these challenges and then to identify how to overcome them and propose better logistics support to assist populations in danger.
To complete the day's Conference sessions, Timothy Large, from Thomson Reuters Foundation will lead a session on Profiling and optimising your emergency response capacity as a multi-sectorial humanitarian and development aid organisation. This will look specifically at disaster risk reduction strategies, profiling, auditing and pre-positioning stock and preparing for tax and customs' bottlenecks with representatives from UNICEF Supply Division and GIZ - Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Technische Zusammenarbeit GmbH making up the panellists.
On Thursday the 20 October, representatives from Sightsavers International, Lifesaver Systems Ltd and Shelterbox will look into Driving innovation and investing in the market: working with OEMs to ensure that humanitarian aid supplies are cutting edge as well as fit for purpose. It will focus on the UN's role in pushing market advancement and building strong R&D relationships with suppliers across all sectors and balancing the green agenda with the practicalities of the humanitarian supply chain, among other areas.
This will be followed by a session at 11.15 on Corporate Social Responsibility: what are the objectives and criteria for involvement by big commercial organisations in humanitarian aid and development work? Peter Bakker, Ambassador against Hunger for the World Food Programme and former CEO of TNT will provide a keynote speech, with panellists from Microsoft, GlaxoSmithKline and ArcelorMittal discussing the topic in further detail.
Finally, at 12.45 a session on Improving the safety and security of aid operatives in the field - shared experiences and new initiatives will complete the Conference sessions.
This will debate how well safety and security standards are being met within agencies and NGOs, and how information and communications technology is being used.
Free Aid Donor Advice Clinic
With the rules and regulations relating to funding liable to change regularly, AidEx
will provide visitors with the chance to have a one-to-one meeting with national and international organisations involved in providing funding, such as DG ECHO.
Free Workshops
Free workshops and events will also allow attendees to obtain practical advice and input on many aspects of their jobs. The programme will include field hospital case studies, traveller security, cutting travel costs, Haiti case studies from the field and asset disposal. They are 45 minutes in total and no booking required. These will run alongside a range of training events on the security of humanitarian aid workers in the field, logistics, stockpiling and High Density Storage (HDS) warehousing systems.
Live Demonstrations
AidEx will also offer visitors the chance to see how new equipment is operated. There will be a schedule of live demonstrations by suppliers of essential products for the purposes of humanitarian aid and disaster relief, which include traveller security, fleet management and radio demonstration.
Aid Innovation Challenge
The event will provide a platform for both manufacturers and budding designers and engineers to pitch life-changing inventions in a Dragon's Den style format to a panel of experts from the humanitarian aid community, including Trevor Baylis (inventor of the Wind-up Radio) and Michael Pritchard (founder of Lifesaver Systems).
Visitors will be able to question the entrants about their concepts which aim to improve the delivery of aid, with judges announcing the winners at show.
Humanitarian Hero of the Year Award
The Humanitarian Hero of the Year Award will recognise individuals within the humanitarian aid community who have shown tireless commitment to their role in the sector. Decided by public vote, the winner will be announced at AidEx on the evening of 19 October.
Some of the organisations already signed up to visit include Concern Worldwide, Caritas Europa, the World Food Programme, World Vision International and Sightsavers.
You can also keep up-to-date with the latest news from AidEx on Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter.
-ends-
Notes to editor:
Conference Programme
Wednesday 19 October
10.00 - 11.00
Major donors' perspective - what is their short and longer term vision of value for money, accountability and transparency when funding humanitarian relief supplies and logistics?
11.15 - 12.45
Heads of Logistics & Procurement: What are the keys to increasing the efficiency and effectiveness? What are the short and long-term priorities and strategies?
13.00 - 14.00
Humanitarian/commercial partnerships in action: latest feedback from parties involved in the Logistics Emergency Team (LET) and Logistics Cluster
14.15 - 15.15
Spotlight on medical supply chain logistics in the emergency context
15.30 - 16.30
Profiling and optimising your emergency response capacity as a multisectorial humanitarian and development aid organisation
Thursday 20 October
10.00 - 11.00
Driving innovation and investing in the market: working with OEMs to ensure that humanitarian aid supplies are cutting edge as well as fit for purpose
11.15 - 12.30
Corporate Social Responsibility: what are the objectives and criteria for involvement by big commercial organisations in humanitarian aid and development work?
12.45 - 13.45
Improving the safety and security of aid operatives in the field - shared experiences and new initiatives
Where and When
Brussels is the ideal location - easily accessible and a centre and focal point for many NGOs and inter-governmental organisations. It is the capital of the European Union
and the city headquarters of DG ECHO.
Travel to Brussels
AidEx will be held at Brussels Expo. Located in the Heysel district of the city,
Please click here for more information about Brussels Expo.
About AidEx:
AidEx is a new exhibition and Conference aimed at helping the humanitarian aid community improve the delivery of aid. The exhibition is dedicated to the supply of essential services and equipment for disaster relief and longer-term humanitarian aid, while the Conference will explore key issues facing the sector. This exciting new event will be held from the 19 - 20 October 2011 at the Brussels Expo, when it will be the largest Conference and exhibition of its kind - bringing together charities, leading non-governmental organisations (NGOs), governmental and intergovernmental agencies and the entire humanitarian aid community from around the world.
AidEx has committed to working with the Inter-Agency Procurement Group (IAPG), to ensure the event meets the needs of its members
Contact Information
Kate Clarkson
Storm Communications
7 The Arches
Chancel Street
London
SE1 7AD
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