The ICE Krakow Congress Centre awarded the Meeting Star Award statuette! With 4,96 points scored, ICE Krakow came top for the second consecutive year, beating Austria Centre Vienna and the Basque Convention Centre among others.

Organisers of the contest from the Slovenian Kongres Magazine and Conventa stress that the functional design is a huge advantage of ICE Krakow. They also appreciated the Krzysztof Penderecki Auditorium, which they described as a gem in the crown of the Congress Centre. ‘The intelligent design of ICE Krakow is a perfect combination of fixed-arrangement congress halls with multifunctional rooms such as the Chamber Hall. Additionally, designs such as the Krakow Network* developed by representatives of the Krakow MICE industry position the Centre at the very top of our list. Few congress centres worldwide have demonstrated such agility, resilience and diligence to the industry as a whole’, the organisers stressed.

 ‘It is true that there are more spacious and larger congress centres; however, the entire ICE Krakow Congress Centre is uniquely balanced and convincing. All these aspects put together make this centre the best of the best. What is more, event organisers will feel at home there. It is not an accident that the ICCA chose ICE Krakow as the venue of their World Congress in 2022 that proved to be hugely successful. We can wholeheartedly recommend the venue if only because you will pay much less for room hire than in more popular congress centres’, Meeting Star Award organisers argue.

Meetings Star Award is a contest organised since 2009 whose jury consists of mystery participants in congresses who anonymously visit events organised in venues in Central and Eastern Europe, evaluate the even production process and the work of project teams. Having inspected the venue, they submit their findings and the photo and video documentation to the competition organiser. The distinction awarded to ICE Krakow strengthens Krakow’s brand as an attractive and modern European metropolis. The award also affects interest in the venue itself, translating realistically into the number of rentals or attracting major events, which in turn has a positive impact on Krakow’s economy.

Celebrating its eighth birthday last October, the venue has hosted 1,100 events since its inception, which were attended by 1.35 million people. The ICE Krakow Congress Centre is a business and cultural showcase of the city. Located in the very centre of Krakow, it makes the organisation of various events possible. As a multi-venue facility, it can host as many as three events on the same day. The Krakow5020 company has been the operator of ICE Krakow since September 2022.

‘I am happy that ICE Krakow is winning valuable awards because it means that the work we do every day is not only important but also noticed by external experts. I only want to add that this award is not only for the facility but also for all those employed to serve the ICE Krakow Congress Centre who work every day to really make our venue a useful visiting card of the city’, Izabela Błaszczyk, Krakow5020 President, the operator of ICE Krakow, stressed.

ICE Krakow Congress Centre has repeatedly been awarded in industry competitions. In its eight years of operation, it has won awards such as, e.g. the Meetings Star Award (2015 and 2016), A’Design Award (2015), The Plan Award (2015), Gold Meetings Star (2019, 2020, 2021) and MP Power Award (2014, 2017, 2020, 2021) as well as ICCA Best Marketing Award (2021).

KRAKOW NETWORK protocol was developed by representatives of Krakow’s MICE industry as an introduction to the common operating strategy for years 2021-2023 with subsequent updates of records planned. It contains a set of good practices and recommendations to be applied in the new post-pandemic reality, defines a list of key strategies to make further development of the meetings and event industry possible. The document is available under this link.

Krakow5020, the operator of ICE Krakow and the hybrid studio located in it, is a municipal company established by the President of the City of Krakow responsible for the building and management of the city’s image and its promotion in cooperation with numerous partners. The main objective is to strengthen the brand of Krakow as a European metropolis that is attractive, open and tolerant, a city with the global cultural heritage and a thriving academic centre. Business co-ordinates and new hospitality are the buzzwords underlying the idea of Krakow’s development in areas such as the economy, innovation, science and culture. The company is also responsible for the city platform VOD PLAY KRAKOW, PLAY KRAKOW NEWS, projects such as the Krakow Network and Power of 4, the ICE Classic and Good Morning ICE Krakow cycles, the management of a concept store in the Wyspiański Pavilion and the InfoKrakow Official Municipal Information Network. The name of Krakow5020 refers to the location of the city that lies at the intersection of the 50ºN parallel of latitude with the 20ºE meridian.