Emota named Impact Team of the Year at the C&IT Impact Awards

Some wins feel particularly special.

Being named Impact Team of the Year at the C&IT Impact Awards is one of them.

This award is not about a single project, a standout event or one successful campaign. It recognises the collective impact of an entire team and the difference they are making across clients, projects and the wider industry.

In a category that celebrates teams creating measurable change, being named Impact Team of the Year is recognition of the influence this team is having not only on projects, but on the future direction of the exhibitions industry itself.

Our Global Exhibitions & Environments Team has spent years challenging wasteful industry norms and proving that reducing environmental impact does not mean compromising on creativity, experience or results.

To see that work recognised with one of the industry’s most respected awards is a huge achievement and one that every member of the team should be incredibly proud of.

Why this award matters

The exhibitions industry has long been associated with high levels of waste, short-lived builds and significant carbon emissions.

A few years ago, our team decided there had to be a better way.

What started as a shared frustration with industry norms evolved into a different approach to exhibition design and delivery. One that puts sustainability at the centre of decision-making from the very beginning, rather than treating it as something to consider at the end.

Today, that thinking is helping shape more sustainable exhibition programmes for clients around the world.

The scale of that impact is significant.

Our 65-strong Global Exhibitions & Environments Team delivers more than 300 exhibition booths each year across 200 global congresses for 27 clients. The team works with some of the world’s leading pharmaceutical, biotech and life sciences organisations, helping them balance audience engagement, business objectives and sustainability ambitions.

What began as an internal challenge is now influencing how exhibitions are designed, delivered and measured across the industry.

Delivering measurable impact

Awards like this are ultimately about impact. Not intentions. Not ambitions. Results.

One of the reasons this recognition means so much is that it reflects measurable change delivered at scale.

Using industry-leading measurement platforms aligned to global standards, the team tracks and reports carbon emissions, waste reduction and wider sustainability outcomes across projects.

Through this approach, Emota has helped clients achieve:

• Carbon reductions of up to 70%
• Waste reductions of up to 98.44%
• Material reuse rates of up to 96.8%
• Cost savings of up to 40% compared with traditional approaches
• Significant reductions in transport, installation and operational requirements

Crucially, these gains have been achieved without sacrificing effectiveness. Projects continue to deliver exceptional visitor engagement, audience interaction and commercial outcomes at some of the world’s largest healthcare congresses.

Building a different approach

At the heart of the team’s work is Enviroplan, Emota’s award-winning methodology for sustainable exhibition design.

Rather than treating sustainability as an afterthought, Enviroplan embeds it into every decision from concept through to delivery and reuse.

Built around principles of material circularity and evidence-based decision making, it helps teams:

• Build less
• Build to last
• Build cleverly
• Build to reuse

The approach has enabled clients to reduce waste, lower carbon emissions and create more sustainable exhibition programmes without compromising creativity, audience engagement or business impact.

Along the way, the team has pioneered innovations including structural cardboard construction and new approaches to reusable exhibition assets, helping turn sustainability ambitions into practical solutions.

Impact in action

The team’s impact can be seen across a growing portfolio of award-winning projects.

Recent examples include a next-generation exhibition experience for AstraZeneca at ASCO, a pioneering cardboard booth for Inizio at ASCO, and an immersive sustainability-led environment for AstraZeneca at ERS.

Different audiences. Different objectives. Different solutions.

What connects them is a commitment to finding better ways of designing and delivering exhibitions.

The people behind the award

While we’re delighted to receive this recognition, this award belongs to every member of the Global Exhibitions & Environments Team.

From project leadership, content strategy and creative design through to technical delivery, production and logistics, sustainability has become a shared responsibility embedded across every role.

It also reflects the collaboration of our clients, partners and suppliers who continue to challenge convention and embrace new ways of working alongside us.

Looking ahead

Winning Impact Team of the Year is a moment we’ll be celebrating for some time.

Not simply because of the trophy itself, but because of what it represents.

It recognises years of hard work, collaboration and innovation. More than that, it recognises a team that refused to accept that exhibitions had to be delivered the way they always had been, and proved there was a better alternative.

The exhibitions industry still has enormous opportunities to reduce waste, lower emissions and create more responsible experiences at scale.

As expectations around exhibition sustainability continue to evolve, we remain committed to helping clients create experiences that deliver meaningful impact for audiences while reducing impact on the environment.

We’re excited about what comes next.

But for now, we’re taking a moment to celebrate an incredible achievement.

Congratulations to our Global Exhibitions & Environments Team on being named Impact Team of the Year at the C&IT Impact Awards.