We are a sustainable technology pioneer, and delivering real solutions for a greener future of transportation is a cause that is very dear to our heart. That’s why we don’t want to fall into the traps of greenwashing and ask ourselves with every business decision “how do we stay Sono?”
For those of you who’ve followed us for a long time, it might come as a surprise now that we’re going to be an exhibitor at IAA Transportation this year in Hanover for the very first time. And you're right, this decision hasn’t exactly been a walk in the park.
While we do see a lot of positive change around us and a big part of the transportation industry wanting to make a shift towards a greener future – we also see a lot of hurdles in the way, and the progress made is simply not fast enough. Just one example: over 70% of all newly registered buses in the EU still run on diesel.
For us at Sono we had a history with our “no trade show”- philosophy, simply because we believe that in this day and age you can market your products online, via direct personal contacts, building a strong brand and don’t need to spend a lot of money, resources and emissions on going to international fairs.
But we are also known for change and as a growing organization with different business pillars, we challenge our own views constantly and we realized it’s the right time and place for our B2B business to meet the industry at its central event and see what it does for us.
With an open mind and a lot of great solutions in the backpack. Meeting the whole industry in one place is actually quite an efficient and sustainable way to get in touch. A bonus for us. Here are some of the things that are important to us, and mark the baseline of ‘how we want to do it’:
- zero waste fair booth: we set ourselves the very ambitious goal of a zero waste fair booth and we reached that goal to about 90 %. This means that most of what we build will be reused for our own showroom, our office or elsewhere,
- communications policy: when we communicate CO2 numbers, we also publish the CO2 emissions it takes to produce our technology. The so-called ‘CO2 backpack’,
- transparency: we not only show our latest technology pieces, but also openly communicate our project updates,
- bringing our Sono values to a classic trade fair: vegan food and drinks, no flight policy, paperless (no flyers, business cards etc.),
- shared Airbnbs, no overpriced hotel rooms,
- only Sono employees on stand, no hosting staff, everyone takes responsibility, (yes, also when it comes to cleaning dishes)
Come and visit us in hall 26, C02 in Hanover and experience our incredible tech, people and the Sono way of doing a trade show!
