“Nikkei Glocal” is a news magazine published by Nikkei Inc.’s Research Institute of Industry and Regional Economy, aiming to foster creative regions. Congress Corporation has been contributing a series of articles to the magazine since April 2013, entitled “Conventions – Let’s win it this way!”

The “Nikkei Glocal” seminars are geared for subscribers and this time the audience consisted primarily of regional assembly members and government officials. Takeuchi gave a lecture on the topic of “Small and medium-sized cities’ bids for conventions – The secret to success amidst intensifying competition.”

There is a growing awareness of the benefits of bidding for and hosting conventions, including creation of business opportunities and the ripple effect through the economy. Projects are underway to expand convention facilities in various areas of the country and Takeuchi highlighted the surprising potential that small and medium-sized cities in fact possess, and conveyed points on how they can utilize this to their advantage when tackling convention-related activities, in view of the increasingly fierce competition among cities.