Press Release
Bremen, 6th December 2019: From 25th to 27th March 2020, the 35th International Cotton Conference will be taking place in the historic Town Hall of the Hanseatic city Bremen. The motto of this global meeting of the international cotton industry will be “Passion for Cotton!” After all, the passion for cotton connects people from textile industry, cotton trade and retail.
During the 2020 conference, the Bremen Cotton Exchange and the Bremen Fibre Institute (FIBRE) as organisers are offering a Young Professionals Programme for the first time. The aim is to introduce “generation future” to the complex and globally interconnected world of cotton and textiles and to offer first hand insights. The programme is tailor-made for prospective experts respectively students and job starters for example from trade, acquisition, design, product management or textile engineering of cotton.
In order to promote an effective transfer of know-how, a specific additional agenda besides the conference programme has been developed expressly for the target group. “The programme for the YPs promises contacts and discussions with top-class specialists and insiders from all steps of the value-added chain. Concurrently, it aims at opening a view to working procedures of the future,” as Elke Hortmeyer from the Bremen Cotton Exchange and Axel Drieling from the Bremen Fibre Institute explain. The Young Professionals Programme starts on Tuesday, March 24th and ends on Thursday, March 26th.
- On every day of the programme, the young professionals can be accompanied by mentors if required. The mentors offer an introduction to the cotton conference, answer questions about conference topics and arrange contacts with experts.
- As early as March 23rd, the development forum ICAspire will take place. It includes a networking dinner and is organised by the International Cotton Association (ICA). Interested participants of the Young Professionals Programme are also welcome.
- The official Young Professionals Programme will start on March 24th with a Bremen Creative Seminar. Participants will be given the task of designing the cotton world of the future in the fields of production, processing and retail.
- During the opening of the conference on March 25th, the participants of the programme will be introduced to the conference guests, initiating a lively exchange of experiences.
- Leading figures from the world organisations, for example from the International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC), the International Textile Manufacturers Federation (ITMF), the International Cotton Association (ICA) and from Cotton Incorporated will be available for discussions with the newcomers and help setting up future scenarios. This means that specialists from cotton farming, but also from processing and from research will be present.
- On March 26th, the young professionals will present the results of their creative seminar. Afterwards, there will be time for informal conversation and networking in pleasant atmosphere during the Bremen Cotton Night in the Bremen Ratskeller.
Find more information and registration forms on the conference website:
https://cotton-conference-bremen.de/young-professionals-programme/
The International Cotton Conference is open for qualified visitors from Wednesday; March 25th. At the beginning, key notes from competent speakers will outline the status quo and the challenges of the industry. The following thematically structured sessions are characterised by top-level speeches on branch specific questions along the supply chain. The topic of circular economy and the view on the life cycle of cotton from different perspectives will run through the whole programme like a common thread.
The organisers are expecting up to 500 participants from around 40 countries, with science and practice equally represented. The 35th International Cotton Conference is at the core of the Bremen Cotton Week. It offers meetings of cotton and textile associations as well as the conference “Sustain” in cooperation with the daily newspaper Weser-Kurier. This year´s “Sustain” will deal with future questions of the textile retail sector and with its importance for the vitality of city centres.
We will continue to give further information about more key contents of the Cotton Week and the Cotton Conference in further press releases. Current news about the conference and programme details are also available on the website of the conference:
www.cotton-conference-bremen.de
Young Professionals Programme – download press release
Further Information and Contact:
Bremen Cotton Exchange
Elke Hortmeyer, Director of Communications and International Relations
Tel.:+49-421-3397016 E-mail: hortmeyer@baumwollboerse.de