Koelnmesse is investing in Bergamo. FSB, the Sports Forum, is set to begin

Italia appears to be playing an increasingly strategic role in the development plans of Koelnmesse, one of Europe’s and the world’s leading trade fair groups, which, through its Italian branch, yesterday launched a new event – the third to be organised at the Bergamo exhibition centre – called FSB Forum Italy.

Dedicated to the sports facilities, leisure areas and public spaces sector, this new event draws on the experience gained in Germany by FSB, the trade fair which ‘for over fifty years has brought together international expertise in the sector and fostered a dialogue involving professionals and institutions from many countries’, as Gerald Böse, CEO of Koelnmesse, noted yesterday whilst speaking at the opening of the event in Bergamo, which for two days is hosting over 160 companies from 17 countries, with a format that, alongside the exhibition itself, also features conferences and workshops dedicated to sports facilities, urban planning and landscape architecture, offering opportunities for professionals, local authorities and companies to update their knowledge and exchange ideas, organised in collaboration with Move City Sport, Topscape Paysage, Seimedia and Ais (Association of Sports Facilities).

“Our group organises around 80 trade fairs every year, in Cologne and across all the major international markets, including Italia, bringing to each country the formats or sectors most relevant to the local market,” explains Thomas Rosolia, managing director of Koelnmesse Italia, who confirms the central importance of Italia for the German group, highlighting in particular the joint venture with Fiere di Parma, established in 2016, which organises events such as Cibus Tec and Labotec, and the recent partnership for the international development of Tuttofood, effectively creating a strategic synergy with Anuga, one of the world’s most important trade fairs for the food supply chain.

Bergamo, too, is playing an increasingly central role in Koelnmesse’s strategy in Italia, where the group has recorded very strong growth in recent years (+75.3 per cent in 2025), exceeding the overall average (+24.5 per cent). “We launched the International Hardware Fair Italy in 2023, dedicated to hardware, which takes place in alternate years to the long-standing event in Cologne,” explains Rosolia. “In 2024, we also launched Interzum Italy, an event dedicated to components and technologies for the furniture and interior design industries, again held alternately with Cologne. And now we are launching this new event, in which we have great faith, because there is no event in Italia dedicated to sports facilities, despite the fact that 80 per cent of such facilities are obsolete and despite the growing interest, including from public authorities, in investing in recreational areas and spaces dedicated to physical activity and wellbeing.”

Sports facilities, traditionally associated with competitive or recreational sport, are in fact taking on an increasingly broader role: sports pitches, gyms, playgrounds and leisure areas are increasingly seen as social hubs – places capable of fostering wellbeing, bringing people together and creating opportunities for communities of all sizes.