360 Interiorhome, the Furniture & Home Show, which is  organised by IFEMA, will stage its  first edition between 27th and 31st March at FERIA DE MADRID, having just joined the list of international trade fairs that are due to be staged throughout the year 2009. The granting of international status on the part of the Secretary of State for Trade and Tourism will bring the fair a number of important benefits as a whole, effectively boosting its foreign dimension.  This international status means that 360 interiorhome will now be included in the promotional plan that is implemented by the Spanish trade offices abroad. It also means that the fair will be able to include the term "international" in its title.

		This decision links up with one of the objectives that has been established for this event, which has been founded with the goal of becoming one of the key points of reference for the furniture and interior design industry in Europe, effectively helping to promote the international profile of its exhibiting companies. In this respect, during the months of December and January, a series of strategies have been developed aimed at endowing the fair with a greater degree of visibility. Among other measures, this has entailed presenting the event to companies in Madrid, featuring the attendance of some 70 enterprises, as well as in Porto, where a cooperation agreement was signed with APIMA, the Portuguese Furniture Industrial Association. This presentation event in Portugal was attended by 25 companies. Furthermore, the press conferences staged in Madrid and Milan were highly successful, bringing together 59 and 40 representatives of the media, respectively, including both daily publications and the leading magazines in both cities that specialise in furniture, interior design and decoration.

360 Interiorhome is a new idea from IFEMA that has been specially designed for the furniture and exclusive decoration sector, a project that has taken over from the Madrid International Furniture Exhibition and that will offer a new perspective of the world of home furnishings based on the concepts of interior design, architecture and presentation, these being the key differentiating factors in the increasingly competitive market environment of today.   

The fair will coincide with the staging of CASA PASARELA, the Design Fair for Home Trends, which will hold its fifth edition, having established itself as the leading point of reference for integral home design. 

Within this context, the "First International Contract Congress" will also be staged to coincide with the fair on 30th and 31st March. This event will be organised by UNEX, the Business Association for the Promotion and Internationalisation of Home Trends and the Contract Sector, in collaboration with IFEMA.

During this event, a number of highly prestigious professionals will analyse the latest trends, cutting-edge developments and design features of the contract sector through a specially-designed programme, which will include various debates on "Competitiveness Factors Regarding New Trends within the Contract Sector"; "How to Successfully Manage Design and Cutting-Edge Developments"; and "Management of Emotion As a Strategic Value". Furthermore, participants will be able to listen to a number of interesting professional experiences carried out by the most important companies within the field. A roundtable will also be organised featuring a number of international opinion leaders and specialised operators, whilst a series of papers will be presented on new cutting-edge models applied to the hotel industry. Within the framework of the Congress, various meetings will be organised between exhibiting companies and the leading contract operators. These meetings will take place within the Contrarqt section of the fair.