‘Mountain biking for an inclusive and sustainable Europe’
The annual IMBA Europe summit was held on June 17th as an online event for the second year running (and hopefully the last). The summit was a great success, with engaging keynote presentations and inspiring panel discussions with leading experts across all facets of mountain biking. Those who attended the summit were highly engaged with the conversations between speakers and panelists, which we hope provided attendees with new found inspiration and knowledge about our sector.
The first part of the summit included two keynote speakers, starting with Mr Peter Fischer, Policy Officer of Green Sport for the European Commission. Mr Fischer delved into the main priority areas of the new ‘Work Plan for Sport 2024’ which were highlighted as;
- Protect integrity and values in sport
- Socio-economic and environmental dimensions of sport
- Promotion of participation in sport and health-enhancing physical activity
You can watch the full 10 minute presentation from Mr Fischer via this link.
Leading the discussion on the importance of outdoor sports role in the new EU Work Plan for Sports and how this relates to IMBA Europe’s new strategy to 2025 was IMBA Europe’s President, Thomas Larsen Schmidt, with moderation from Kevin Mayne, CEO of Cycling Industries Europe.
You can watch the short presentation by Thomas via this link, as well as the panel discussion between Mr Fischer, Thomas Larsen Schmidt and Kevin Mayne.
The second part of the summit was divided into three interactive panel discussions covering the following topics. You can access the links to each panel discussion by clicking on the title link.
1. Working towards a diverse and inclusive mountain biking community in Europe.
- Aneela McKenna- Founder of Mor Diversity, diversity, inclusion & wellbeing expert
- Stefan Lönngren -Project manager at Cykelfrämjandet / Stigcykling for children and young people with NPF
- Brook Hopper – Global Marketing Manager at Giant / Liv Cycling
2. The preconditions to allow for sustainable growth in mountain biking.
- Morten Kamp Schubert – Founder of Mountain Bike United
- Martin Wyttenbach – Head of Environmental Planning Research Group at ZHAW Zurich University of Applied Sciences
- Clement Doby – Decathlon / Head of Mountain biking
- Matthew Pierce – Patagonia / Sports Marketing Manager
3. Investing in mountain biking friendly places.
- Mathilde Skov Kristensen – Assistant researcher, University of Southern Denmark
- Diana Garcia Trujillo – Master in Sustainable Tourism Destinations and Regional Planning, Ostelea Tourism Management School , co-author of ‘When we can travel again’
- Lars Wraee Jensen- Project leader DIRTT (Developing Inter European Resources for Trail building Training) and driving force behind the regional MTB development project Tråkk ‘n’ Roll in the Hallingdal region.
We hope to see you in person at our 2022 IMBA Europe Summit!