As Vivid Sydney concluded, the power of the festival as a business event anchor has been confirmed with Sydney securing the 9th Conference on Creativity and Cognition (C&C) to coincide with the event in 2013.

Deputy Premier and Minister for Trade and Investment Andrew Stoner MP said the 2013 C&C event, which will attract 250 artists, scientists, designers, educators, researchers and practitioners to the harbour city for four days, echoes the ideas at the core of Vivid Sydney.

C&C seeks to understand human creativity in its many manifestations, to design new interactive techniques and tools, and to use computational media technologies to explore new creative processes and artefacts in all human endeavours ranging from arts to science and design to education.

“Almost 40 per cent of Australia’s creative industries are based in NSW, and Vivid Sydney has done an exceptional job of shining an international spotlight on our local talent,” Stoner said.

“From a business event perspective, our creative credentials and the incredible platform of Vivid Sydney are proving successful in attracting high-calibre global creative events to our shores.”

Sandra Chipchase, CEO of Destination NSW, which owns and manages Vivid Sydney, said, “Vivid Sydney provides a platform for creative industry events, to sell technology and products, exchange information and research at business seminars, and at the same time provides entertainment for the public.”

“Partnering with these additional creative industry conferences and events is an excellent example of leveraging an existing event to drive additional business outcomes and was a natural evolution for Vivid Sydney.”

The 9th Conference on Creativity and Cognition joins the International Symposium on Electronic Art 2013, which has selected Sydney for its event next year and will also run alongside Vivid Sydney. Both of these events were secured with the assistance of Business Events Sydney (BESydney).

“Securing events such as C&C to run alongside Vivid Sydney is a huge coup for our city and State. The benefits extend beyond the boost to the visitor economy. These events attract the world’s leading thinkers, creators and innovators to our shores, spurring valuable trade and investment opportunities, building international networks for our local professionals and breeding innovation and new ideas,” Lyn Lewis-Smith, CEO of BESydney, said.

BESydney is continuing to work with Destination NSW to grow the number of business events that coincide with Vivid Sydney during coming years. Asian corporate business is another market the bureau is targeting. BESydney showcased Vivid Sydney to a group of Korean corporate meeting planners in late May and hosted a famil for high-profile Chinese planners during the event’s final weekend.