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The bicycle industry could unlock billions of euros/pounds of funding for cycling were it to back government focused campaigning, believes the ECF. CEOs from bicycle companies will be discussing how advocacy can increase sales at an advocacy summit on 30th August at Eurobike.
The summit will illustrate how leading cycling markets have all invested because of successful lobbying. It will show how industry can get up to €6 billion of EU funds spent on cycling in the next five years.
Frank Bohle, CEO of Schwalbe and a member of the ECF’s Cycling Industry Club, said:
“Advocacy is more than marketing or product development; it is the way we work together to build markets."
ECF claims that if every country in Europe were to reach the sales per head of population of Denmark, the industry would sell 30 million more bikes. Yet even small advocacy wins can boost sales in emerging markets. In Ireland, when the government introduced a ‘cycle to work’ tax incentive, the bicycle industry saw €27 million more revenue over 3 years as well as 50 new bicycle shops open. Likewise, targeted lobbying by ECF for EU funded projects saw 26,000 more people cycling in demonstration cities in Italy, Hungary, Belgium, Austria, Spain and Slovenia through methods the organisation said can be replicated across Europe.
Industry figures at the summit will include René Takens, CEO Accell Group and president of COLIBI; and Stan Day, president of SRAM and founder of the SRAM Cycling Fund.
