On Oct. 23, at 11 a.m. CST,  the ITA-Italian Trade Agency in collaboration with FederUnacoma is organizing a video conference to present to American  businesspeople the EIMA International project for 2020 with the digital preview and for 2021 with the traditional showcase in Bologna.

The ITA-Italian Trade Agency has always supported Italian industries to help them in their internationalization process. It intends to increase the efforts to support the agricultural machinery sector by receiving and supporting the EIMA International exhibition project, which includes two phases: from Nov. 11-15, 2020, the EIMA Digital Preview, a virtual preview of the event, and from Feb. 3-7, 2021, EIMA International, the first agricultural machinery event after the lockdown, to be held in Bologna, Italy.

In order to connect the demand with the supply in a very complex situation dictated by the pandemic, ITA will collaborate with FederUnacoma, the Italian Federation of agricultural machinery manufacturers and direct organizer of both events, to organize the B2B meetings both in the digital version of November 2020 and in the physical edition of February 2021.

Less than a month from the start of EIMA Digital Preview — the online preview of EIMA International, the great agricultural machinery festival held at the Bologna exhibition Feb. 3-7 2021 - the preparation of the exhibiting companies' spaces and the registrations of visitors and businesspeople to the digital platform are under way at full speed.

It was announced by FederUnacoma, the Italian federation of agricultural machinery manufacturers, which is the direct organizer of both events. "The Preview takes place online November 11-15, on the same days when the physical review was initially scheduled, before it was moved to February due to the COVID-19 pandemic", the federation explains. "Participation in the EIMA Digital Preview, the first agricultural machinery event in the world entirely mediated with digital platforms and technologies, is free, says the Federation, and is open to all companies taking part in the traditional event in February".

Every one of the approximately 1,600 industries that have already formalized their attendance at EIMA 2021 has at its disposal a virtual stand. Using text, images, videos and 3-D graphics, they can present in an attractive way their leading models and innovations and their product catalogue to the event's virtual visitors, with the option of interacting with them. A specific section of the platform, called "Agorà", is dedicated to streaming events and conferences, as well as webinars on the main topics of technological innovation, research in the agro-mechanical field, applied electronics, and green space design.

Considering the importance of the American market for Italian industry, for EIMA Digital Preview the United States was included in the countries from which to select operators to hold B2B meetings through the "Fiera Smart 365" platform, managed by ICE.

The combination of the digital preview and the physical review, underlines the Federation, serves the sector at a time when the demand for machinery is potentially very high and businesses need an event that brings together once again the technologies produced by the sector's industries with the needs of agriculture in different areas of the world.

Especially in the United States, despite the COVID-19 emergency, in the first nine months of 2020 the tractor market showed signs of great dynamism with about 219,000 registered vehicles, 15% more than in the same period last year. The USA is also one of the main destination countries for the Italian export of agricultural technologies. In 2019, Italian exports of tractors to the United States amounted to a value of 87 million euros (fourth market for Italian industries after France, Germany and Spain), while agricultural machinery - following a growth trend that started in 2017 - amounted to 400 million euros (second market after France). Meanwhile, the first six months of 2020 recorded a decline in exports of both tractors and agricultural machinery, but this is a contraction resulting from the lockdown of March and April. The great importance that Italian agricultural machinery has for US agriculture is also evidenced by the growing appeal of EIMA International for the American market's businesspeople. In fact, the exhibition has seen the number of American visitors grow considerably - more than tripled over time - reaching an all-time high (976) at the 2018 edition, thanks to the organizational and financial intervention of the ICE Italian Trade Agency.

For U.S. businesspeople, the physical edition of EIMA International, the first agricultural machinery exhibition after the lockdown, offers all the targeted services that over time have contributed to the success of the event. These services include B2B meetings organized on the basis of their interest in the various product types, as well as interpreting and support services, and above all, the event offers great attention to safety. "The health protocols aimed at the prevention of COVID-19 are already established by national and regional regulations, such as access controls, body temperature check at the entrance, sanitation of the premises, and the use of Apps to regulate the flow of visitors inside the pavilions are already planned and perfected. Other measures, tailored to the specific characteristics of an exhibition such as EIMA International, explains FederUnacoma, are being reviewed by the "Technical Group of Safety Experts", set up by BolognaFiere and FederUnacoma with the aim of offering the most rigorous safety standards in the world of trade exhibitions."

Click Here to register for the presentation.