The next competitive frontier for business events may not be technology itself, but the human qualities that become more valuable as technology advances.
That is the central argument emerging from the IBTM World Trends Report 2027, which introduces Regeneration as the next stage of the Experience Economy. Moving beyond personalisation and individual transformation, the concept asks how events can renew relationships, stimulate imagination and help organisations rethink established ideas.
Written by Alistair Turner of Eight PR & Marketing, with input from Megan Henshall of Google Xi, the report connects this shift to the emerging Brain Economy. Investment in brain health and cognitive skills could generate an estimated $6.2 trillion in global GDP gains by 2050, according to the initiative behind the concept.
For the events industry, that places greater importance on the environments in which people learn, create and collaborate. As artificial intelligence absorbs more routine tasks, face-to-face gatherings could become increasingly valuable as spaces for curiosity, trust and original thinking.
The report also challenges the industry’s familiar understanding of networking. With hybrid working and loneliness reshaping professional life, it suggests that friendship and sustained human relationships deserve greater weight when organisers assess an event’s impact.
“Events are one of the few places where people can come together and start writing new stories,” Henshall said.
The complete findings will be presented at IBTM World in Barcelona. The report will also examine changing sources of meetings demand, workforce trends and how destinations can define their identity beyond familiar city or national narratives.