The 21st AC Forum Annual Meeting and General Assembly took place in Messukeskus Helsinki January 16-18, 2020. In January each year, AC Forum holds its Annual Meeting focusing on developments in association management and congress organisation. The Annual Meeting is hosted by a different European city each year.

The Associations & Conference Forum (AC Forum) is Europe’s only networking platform established exclusively for and by associations with salaried staff and organising congresses in-house. AC Forum provides a platform for exchange of knowledge, expertise and experiences amongst association peers facing comparable challenges in the association and congress industry. Most members stem from the health field, but membership is open to associations in various disciplines.

The 2021 International European Light Microscopy Initiative (ELMI) conference has been decided to be organised in Turku. The conference welcomes research centres providing light microscopy services and equipment, as well as companies in the field from Europe and elsewhere around the world to Turku. ELMI is a scientific conference intended particularly for managers and other personnel of light microscopy service units. The companies will not participate in the conference solely as sponsors, but rather as significant partners. The event is mainly directed at European operators in the field, but it is open to participants from around the world.

The planning of the scientific programme and recruitment of the speakers are currently ongoing. At least artificial intelligence, machine learning, and big data, as well as super resolution microscopy and other special technologies, will be present in the themes of the conference. ELMI will be hosted by the University of Turku and Åbo Akademi University, and particularly their shared units Turku Bioimaging and Turku Bioscience Centre. The conference will be organised in close cooperation with European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC) in biology and medical imaging, Euro-BioImaging.

U14
Hotel U14 is a new Finnish-owned boutique hotel located only a few steps away from the beautiful Esplanadi Park and the Market Square. The hotel opened on March 9th and it offers its guests a contemporary hotel with inspiring décor and a cozy ambiance, combined with upscale hotel amenities. The hotel accommodates a total of 117 rooms, pleasant meeting rooms, a high quality and joyful restaurant, a distinctive cocktail bar, sauna and gym. Sustainability is a big part of the daily life at U14. This mindset rules everything they do and everyone they work with. This shows throughout the hotel from the bathroom amenities to the local ingredients used in the restaurant.

GRAND HANSA HOTEL
Grand Hansa Hotel brings back a piece of the history of central Helsinki to the student-owned city block as the hotel will open its doors at Kaivopiha in 2022. The new hotel will feature 224 rooms. A hotel has been operating in the New Student House building since 1912: Hotel Hansa operated between 1924-1968. The Finnish Primehotels Oy has entered a franchising agreement with Hyatt and will be operating Finland’s first The Unbound Collection by Hyatt luxury hotel.

Leading universities, specialised hospitals and research institutes help attract international congresses to Finland. Finns are experts in the fields of technology, biochemistry and medicine, among others.

Finland Convention Bureau provides complimentary information, consultation and assistance to all congress organizers and meeting planners.
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