"The world is changing, the market is rapidly changing as well, and there is no reason why an event like Mipim shouldn't be changing," Nicolas Boffi, Mipim director and jazz musician, says.
Speaking to CoStar News on the latest episode of the Top CREdentials podcast, Boffi, who was appointed in September from Arcadis, says his number one priority for the event is to "ease business" for those attending.
He believes his own experience of the Cannes event will help him and his team to improve the conference in the years to come, with his five-year plan including an ambition to make it more of a city-wide meeting.
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With a background in engineering, Boffi says he is solutions-focused, with the event reacting to new movements in the market by launching a data-centre summit and mobile app in 2026.
Ahead of 9 March, Boffi wants investors, and the conference as a whole, to find the sunny side of the street, in the words of one of his favourite jazz standards."I think we are going to have a very good edition in 2026. Maybe for the industry that can be seen as quite a surprise because the mood is not totally a very good mood because the crisis is still there.
"But, at the same time, people understand that they need to move to other opportunities, to other asset classes and that the market is transitioning towards other, more rewarding submarkets and sectors.
"This is why Mipim is going to be, this year, all about new sectors, new things and how to be more resilient after two or three years of waiting for the market to start again. It is going to be a new world starting."