Farnborough Event invites Creative Industry Stakeholders to shape Sustainability Research

A free, one-day event at Farnborough International Exhibition & Conference Centre is inviting organisations from across the creative industries supply chain to contribute directly to new sustainability research and collaborative action.

The session, titled Driving Supply Chain Collaboration Across the Creative Industries, will run on Wednesday 18 November from 9:30am to 3:45pm and is being delivered in partnership with the Farnborough venue by research-oriented collective ChainHuggers.

Event Overview and Industry Invitation

The Farnborough gathering is positioned as a working forum for venues, contractors and production suppliers that support live events and wider creative sectors. Participation is free of charge, with the organisers aiming to remove barriers to attendance for smaller suppliers as well as larger organisations.

Attendees are being asked to help shape research-backed approaches to environmental and sustainability challenges that affect complex event and production supply chains. The emphasis is on joint problem-solving and on surfacing practical insights from those directly involved in delivering projects on the ground.

Role of ChainHuggers and Research Focus

The event is the latest initiative from ChainHuggers, a collective that positions itself around research-led collaboration on sustainability. ChainHuggers was founded by Elizabeth Allan and Ian Bancroft, together with additional collaborators focused on improving how the creative industries manage environmental impact across interconnected suppliers and partners.

By convening stakeholders in a neutral setting, ChainHuggers aims to gather structured input that can inform ongoing and future sustainability studies. The Farnborough programme is designed to capture lived experience, operational constraints and existing good practice, providing a real-world perspective that complements academic or policy-driven research.

Supply Chain Collaboration Across Creative Industries

The event title underlines a specific focus on supply chain relationships. Creative industries often rely on intricate networks of technical suppliers, fabricators, logistics providers, venue operators and specialist contractors to deliver exhibitions, conferences, live shows and branded experiences.

Driving Supply Chain Collaboration Across the Creative Industries is set up to explore how these relationships can support more sustainable outcomes. This includes how data, responsibilities and expectations are shared between venues, contractors and production companies, and how collaboration can help reduce environmental impact without undermining operational delivery.

Participation from Venues, Contractors and Production Suppliers

Organisers are targeting a broad mix of attendees from across the event and creative production ecosystem. The invitation specifically highlights three groups whose input is central to the research goals:

• Venues: Operators and managers of event spaces, who set infrastructure standards and influence procurement and operational practices.

• Contractors: Organisations providing construction, technical services, logistics and on-site support across events and installations.

• Production suppliers: Companies delivering staging, audiovisual, scenic, decor and other creative production services.

By bringing these different roles together in a shared forum, the event intends to uncover where alignment already exists and where new forms of collaboration might be needed to progress sustainability goals.

Farnborough International Exhibition & Conference Centre Partnership

Farnborough International Exhibition & Conference Centre is acting as the host venue and partner for the initiative. The partnership provides a large-scale, purpose-built setting that is familiar to many in the exhibitions, aviation, technology and business events communities.

Holding the event in a live venue environment allows discussions to be grounded in day-to-day operational realities such as power, rigging, logistics flows, waste management and visitor experience, all of which intersect with sustainability considerations.

Research-Backed Change and Practical Outcomes

The Farnborough session is framed around shaping “research-backed change” for the creative industries. While detailed outputs have not been specified, the organisers indicate that insights gathered from participants will feed into structured sustainability research and inform subsequent initiatives.

The format is expected to prioritise exchange between practitioners and researchers, with the aim of turning workshop findings into actionable knowledge that can be shared more widely across the sector. This could include identifying barriers to progress, highlighting replicable practices and clarifying where further data or study is needed.

Relevance for Event Technology and Production Communities

For event technology and production organisations, the focus on supply chain collaboration aligns with ongoing discussions about how technical decisions, equipment lifecycles and operational workflows affect environmental performance. While the programme details have not been outlined in full, the involvement of production suppliers and contractors suggests that AV, staging and technical production teams will be part of the conversation.

By situating the discussion in a research context, the event offers a channel for practitioners to ensure that their operational realities are reflected in emerging sustainability frameworks and guidance that may influence future project planning, procurement and reporting.

Event Timing and Accessibility

The one-day format, running from 9:30am to 3:45pm on Wednesday 18 November, is structured to allow for travel within the same day for many UK-based participants. The free admission model lowers the cost barrier for smaller businesses and independent suppliers who may have limited training or development budgets.

With a single-day schedule, the event concentrates its activities into a compact programme that is intended to be intensive but accessible, encouraging active participation throughout the workshop-style sessions.

Ongoing Industry Engagement

Driving Supply Chain Collaboration Across the Creative Industries continues ChainHuggers’ series of research-driven engagements with the sector. By convening stakeholders at Farnborough International Exhibition & Conference Centre, the group is seeking to sustain momentum around sustainability topics that require joint action rather than isolated initiatives.

The organisers position the event as an opportunity for those working within the creative and live events supply chains to influence how future research is framed and to ensure that the resulting recommendations are grounded in operational practice.