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Our commitment to sustainability
Shaping the laboratory industry for a sustainable future.
At Informa, we achieve sustainable commercial success through thoughtful market focus and superior results for our customers. Being a sustainable business is central to how we run our events, how we make decisions and how we do business every day.
Our continuing evolution is fueled by insight, innovation, and collaboration. We are proud of our commitment to having a positive environmental and social impact on both the communities and industries we work within.
Building the future
We know how sustainability is increasingly important.
Running Medlab Middle East gives us lots of opportunities to improve our impact environmentally, socially and economically in our region. We want to make the event more responsible and play a role in helping the market improve its own sustainability through connecting people with the networks and knowledge they want to help solve the big challenges in the laboratory sector.
Our initiatives
Labpreneur – Medlab Middle East's first ever start-up competition
Lab Sustainability Awards - to applaud laboratories for their sustainable efforts
LabQ - inter-collegiate quiz competition for aspiring university students
We are powered by Renewable electricity
We use Better Stands to run our shows
53% increase in premium sustainable stands
We recycled 383 kgs of carpet
Improved gender balance ratio
Better stands and sustainable options
At Medlab Middle East, we are committed to delivering a sustainable event for both exhibitors and attendees. Disposable, single-use stands account for around 80% of the total waste from our event,which is why we are launching the Better Stands programme.
Better Stands is about moving away from the use of disposable stands to not only vastly reduce waste, but also improve the ease, quality, safety and sustainability of the exhibitor experience at our events.
If you're unsure of where to start? Consult our Better Stands procurement guide for help when choosing a reusable stand.
Our three aims
ECONOMICAL
ENVIRONMENTAL
SOCIAL
1. Help our markets through inspiring sustainable development
We focus on:
- Prioritise partnerships with local entities and associations to enhance the event's content offerings and features - Labpreneur, a start-up competition that showcases the latest discoveries and visionaries aiming to transform the future of laboratory medicine.
- Launched new tracks focusing on sustainability in the clinical lab and introduced Lab Sustainability Awards, a scientific poster competition that aligns with the UN SDG quality education for all.
- LabQ, an inter-college quiz competition open to senior graduating college and university students in the UAE.
- Engaged with our partners, attendees, and exhibitors by communicating sustainability initiatives through detailed signage, exhibitor manuals, FAQs, and a show app.
2. Run the event in an increasingly environmentally responsible manner
We focus on:
- We take pride in being powered entirely by renewable electricity.
- Promoting the use of public transport, and partnering with Dubai Municipality to ensure recycling measures are in place.
- The percentage of premium sustainable stands increased by 53% compared to 2022 (2023 - 1141.5m2, 2022 - 537m2).
- We introduced free water refills for attendees and distributed reusable water bottles to reduce plastic waste.
- We adopted a range of digital solutions to replace printed materials and reduce waste.
- Our commitment to sustainability extends to our staff, who wear T-shirts made from recycled plastic bottles.
- The event has recycled 383 kgs of carpet and all hanging banners are made from recyclable fabric.
- The food and beverage team sourced all ingredients locally and seasonally, offering a variety of food options, including vegetarian, vegan, kosher, and lean proteins, using eco-friendly materials for packing.
3. Run the event in a socially responsible manner
We focus on:
- Medlab Middle East took various initiatives to support the local community, by collaborating with local partners such as the Saudi Quality Council, Emirates Medical Association, and universities.
- Students were given free tickets to the conference and food waste was donated to food banks.
- To promote attendees' health and wellbeing, we introduced the 'Step Challenge' to encourage daily movement of attendees on the show floor, and 'The Village,' a designated area for visitors to network and relax.
- The event's commitment to social sustainability extended to ensuring diversity and inclusion was considered, particularly when hiring temp staff and recruiting speakers to the congress.
- The team improved gender balance and ethnic diversity with an increase in the number of female speakers and speakers with multicultural backgrounds in the agenda.
How can you support sustainability
We are working with exhibitors, event partners and attendees to make Medlab Middle East a sustainable event. As part
of this plan, we have developed suggestions and tips for building a successful laboratory event.
