From awareness to action
Building on the 2023 Copenhagen Risk Assessment White Paper, the 2026 Copenhagen Risk Navigator initiative shifts the conversation from high-level awareness to practical application. Its purpose is not simply to map the risk landscape to the current realities, but to help the entire eco-system around business events better understand, prioritise and mitigate risk through more structured collaboration, clearer responsibility and usable tools.
The Risk Navigator was developed through a multi-phase research process. It drew on more than 20 recent reports on global risk management, in-depth interviews with specialists – many from outside the business events sector – and an international survey of byers and suppliers. The research was validated through a steering committee including Copenhagen Convention Bureau, FERMA (The Federation of European Risk Management Associations) and RIMS (Risk and Insurance Management Society, Inc.), and was submitted to a peer review. The project was steered by GainingEdge and it is endorsed by a broad collection of industry organisations.
The blind spot associations cannot ignore
What the research reveals is what Copenhagen Convention Bureau describes as a “blind spot” paradox. The industry is strategically risk-aware, but operationally under-equipped.
In other words, risk is now firmly on the agenda at leadership level, yet the tools to act on it consistently in day-to-day planning are still missing in many organisations. That gap is especially true for associations whose events are often mission-critical platforms for knowledge exchange, advocacy, scientific progress and professional alignment.
Some of the findings are striking. Only 13% of planners currently use scenario planning or stress-testing tools, even though 64% would like to. Similarly, 64% are looking for better staff training and stronger partner collaboration to improve resilience. On the supplier side, 56% want better governance structures and indicators to monitor risk, while only 22% have these in place. The findings suggest that organisations are not ignoring risk, but they are not equally well prepared to manage it.
A leadership issue
Bettina Reventlow-Mourier, Deputy Convention Director at Wonderful Copenhagen, encourages the sector to work on a fundamental shift in mindset. “In today’s uncertain business environment, understanding, prioritising and mitigating risk should no longer be optional,” she says. “Associations, destinations, corporates and the entire supplier chainshould start proactively treating event risk management as a core business discipline and elevate risk from an operational concern into being a leadership priority.”
This is where the shift becomes tangible. Risk is no longer just a delivery concern; it increasingly shapes strategic choices about partners, markets, formats and locations. For associations to stay mission-driven in a fractured world, those choices need to be made with resilience in mind from the outset. Reventlow-Mourier makes that explicit: “Risk should be embedded in strategy, governance, planning and daily operations, and not something that is handled when things go wrong.”
Compliance is not the only problem anymore. The issue is not whether an organisation has filled in the required forms or reviewed the insurance clauses. The issue is whether it has built the capacity to anticipate disruption, assign ownership and adapt without compromising purpose, mission or values.
What this means for destination selection
For associations, this shift has direct consequences for event planning and destination choice. Safety and security remain essential, but they are no longer sufficient on their own. Geopolitical stability, regulatory predictability, financial resilience, local coordination capacity and partner readiness all matter more than they did a few years ago.
The research also shows that different parts of the ecosystem prioritise different things. Planners tend to focus on place safety, security and geopolitical risk when selecting a host destination. Suppliers look more closely at financial viability and commercial exposure. That difference suggests that resilient planning depends less on avoiding risk altogether and more on creating a shared framework for evaluating and managing it.
This is where the Copenhagen Risk Navigator is intended to be practical. One of its central outputs is a comprehensive Risk Management Toolkit designed specifically for the business events industry and aligned with the current risk landscape. Structured around 14 tools, and presented through accessible Risk Tool Cards, it is meant for use across the full event lifecycle, from early planning and procurement to live delivery and post-event review. The ambition is to give planners, suppliers and destinations a common language and a more actionable basis for decision-making.
Resilience without losing purpose
Staying neutral should not mean becoming passive. Associations should be prepared enough to protect the integrity of the mission under changing conditions. Resilience now means that they have to build the internal capability to navigate complexity.
That is why Reventlow-Mourier also stresses the need for “structured risk assessments, clear ownership and mitigation planning across the entire event lifecycle” and for “integrating risk analysis into strategic choices such as markets, partners, formats, and locations, without compromising purpose, mission and values”.
More on the Copenhagen Risk Navigator – including the report findings and practical tools – will be revealed at ICCA Association Circle and during IMEX Frankfurt. The official launch is May 20th.
Read more at Wonderful Copenhagen: https://www.wonderfulcopenhagen.com/convention-bureau/about-us/copenhagen-risk-navigator