Extending the lifetime of an event: the success of Fresh Digi Plaza on the internet The first edition of Fresh Rotterdam, the new fresh platform for the fresh-product chain, took place last week in Ahoy. For the first time it featured the Fresh Digi Plaza, a specially themed pavilion where the latest developments in information technology were depicted – all the way from the greenhouse to the check out till – in a theatrical setting. A shop, a computerised storage unit and a complete distribution centre were all recreated on the floor of the fair, and fifteen guided tours were provided for 400 visitors. The pavilion was designed and set up thanks to a partnership between AIM Nederland, GS1 Nederland and Frug I Com.
		Harrij Schmeitz, the coordinator for the Plaza, says: “Setting up a practical theatre of this kind, using all types of narrowcasting technology, communication, scanning and auto-identification is an enormous task. More than 40 technology companies and ten fresh-food companies worked together on this. It was during the development stage that we hit upon the idea of using the internet as means of extending the lifetime of the theatre. This was a challenge that my eyes® was willing to take on. The result: not just an amazing theatre in Ahoy, but also on the web (www.freshdigiplaza.nl).
This gives visitors and other interested parties the opportunity to acquaint themselves with the possibilities that exist for creating a digital ‘fresh-product chain’, not just during the exhibition itself, but long after it has finished as well. www.freshdigiplaza.nl was developed with the help of DNN technology and the associated content management systems. This enabled the various parties involved to create their own content for the plaza, from their own places of work, at the same time. Harrij Schmeitz says, “In the theatre we tell the tale of the digital fresh-product chain – a tale in which all the technology displayed in the theatre and on the website is already applied in the everyday practice of the fresh-product industry. However, there is not a single chain in which all technology is applied in a completely integrated fashion. The challenge for the fresh-product chain is therefore whether this is to remain a dream, or is it going to turn into a dream opportunity. If you look at the internet as means of sustaining this kind of idea, then this approach is definitely an opportunity.”