17 Oct 2023

New Change Starts Here Strategic Agenda For BESydney

Media Releases
View of the Harbour Bridge from the side at The Rocks in Sydney on a sunny day

Business Events Sydney (BESydney) has unveiled its new Change Starts Here strategic agenda aimed at sharing the depth of possibilities for powerful global change when hosting business events in Sydney.

BESydney is shifting the business event narrative, with CEO Lyn Lewis-Smith explaining, “We want our business events delegates to meet the people, enjoy the place and discover a shared purpose, in Sydney,” she said.

After years of research demonstrating the knowledge and economic value of business events above and beyond tourism direct expenditure, BESydney is expanding its research program to include Social Impacts. The program is designed to co-create and then measure the social impact or legacy of business events held in Sydney - from environmental changes, government legislation, delegate development to health improvements.

The Change Starts Here program highlights the changemakers and industries in Sydney that have the power to influence global change for good in Health & Life Science, Technology & Innovation, Finance & Professional Services and will extend to Science & Engineering and Defence & Aerospace.

“Business events are a powerful platform for tackling and solving the difficult problems in our world through the exchange of knowledge and ideas, the pooling of resources and solutions that come from collaboration between a diverse range of global participants,” said CEO BESydney, Lyn Lewis-Smith. “BESydney wants to be part of the solution and we know that Sydney offers a unique environment that is welcoming, inclusive, safe, sustainably focused and delivers solutions through innovation,” she said.

For Associations and corporations in these sectors, a new suite of downloadable eBooks puts a spotlight on Sydney’s credentials and the opportunities that exist by hosting business events in Sydney. More information is also available in a new video series and website content.

Sydney and Australia are innovators at heart – producing enabling technology platforms for global phenomenons like Google Maps and Wi-Fi, and life changing innovations such as the medical application of penicillin, the first electronic pacemaker and the ultrasound scanner to list but a few.  Today Sydney’s changemakers at Tech Central are at the forefront of research and commercialisation of new solutions to global problems in sustainability, medtech and deep tech. 

At Westmead Health and Innovation District they are providing solutions to the antimicrobial resistance via Phage therapy, pioneering an international research program that documents the proteome of human cancer and setting up a viral vector facility to trial therapies for infection and genetic disorders.

While Sydney’s Finance & Professional Services industry leads the way in regtech, fintech and are early adopters of contactless payments.

BESydney’s social impact program behind this strategy has already enjoyed early recognition taking out the inaugural Global Destination Sustainability Movement Impact Award for destination management organisations committed to legacy and impact through business events in October this year.

Image: Destination NSW