After careful surveillance and deep internal reflection, Newsbridge has made the difficult decision to withdraw from IBC 2021 to be held in Amsterdam, 3-6 December over covid-19 related concerns.

Although many IBC participants have given public statements of support for the continuation of this year’s event, large events and gatherings are still one of the main contributors of large-scale virus propagation according to the World Health Organization.

Newsbridge CEO, Philippe Petitpont stated:

“Although we have committed up until this point, we can not move forward with exhibiting at this year’s on-site event in good conscience knowing that just this past week Europe hit its highest number of weekly COVID-19 cases since pandemic began.”

Newsbridge’s decision comes on the wings of this past week’s announcement in which the Dutch government announced a three-week partial lockdown that currently runs until Friday Dec. 3, the first day of IBC. This, along with the fact that last week in the U.S., the CDC issued a travel advisory alert for Americans traveling to The Netherlands, indicating "a very high level of COVID-19 in the country."

Further explaining its decision, Newsbridge added:

‍“We want this to serve as an example to both our employees and stakeholders that our company values are more than just words on a piece of paper- that we put people first in everything that we do. We believe that we can still make an impact via virtual opportunities while also following current health guidelines and not contributing to increased cases at such a large-scale event such as IBC.”

Newsbridge will be exhibiting remotely by offering on-demand demo & solution architecture sessions. Virtual meetings can be booked here.

“While we have made this decision, we would like to emphasize our continued commitment to this year’s event and the innovative networking opportunities yet to come. That’s why we will be promoting our virtual presence with both remote touchpoints and demos available on demand.”