ICBF ANNOUNCES NEW UTRECHT VENUE AND DATES FOR 2024

ICBF 2024 will take place on 25-26th October at Jaarbeurs Utrecht.

We’re delighted to announce the 2024 venue and dates for the International Cargo Bike Festival (ICBF). Following last year’s successful edition in Amsterdam, we’re heading 40km south to the city of Utrecht. It marks the first time the ICBF has been held in the city – the fourth largest in the Netherlands, with a multi-cultural population of 360,000 and known as an important and ultra-accessible node in national and international transport networks.

Recognised as one of the most bicycle-friendly cities in the world, Utrecht boasts world-class cycling infrastructure, including the largest multi-storey bicycle parking facility in the world (located at the railway station – the busiest and biggest in the Netherlands – and right next to Jaarbeurs – the ICBF venue).

It should come as no surprise, then, that Utrecht is also one of the most cargo bike-friendly places in the world. The city is teeming with cargo bike initiatives as well as entrepreneurs, businesses and organisations using cargo bikes – and we can’t wait to showcase them to the world.

New venue, new partnerships:

The 2023 edition of the ICBF co-located with Home Energy and Electric Mobility show Fully Charged – it’s an edition we’re proud of and look back on fondly. However, due to a date change for the upcoming Fully Charged event in Amsterdam, the ICBF and Fully Charged organisations have parted ways on friendly terms.

In contrast to previous years, ICBF 2024 will be a stand-alone event. For 2024 and onwards we will be working together with Dutch Cycling Week, an Utrecht-based knowledge platform and activation initiative to stimulate bicycle use in the broadest sense of the word. Dutch Cycling Week aims – by bringing several cycling events under its umbrella – to become the world’s largest platform for knowledge sharing, policy-making and stimulation for bicycle use. It is our intention as the ICBF to explore the possibilities around this platform in the coming years.

As ever, there will be plenty of opportunities at ICBF 2024 for cargo bike and cycling-related businesses and organisations to showcase what they do – in the form of the ICBF expo and test-track – well-known for its relaxed and friendly atmosphere, by presenting on our busy ICBF stage or by taking up one of a number of online and offline sponsorship and promotional options on offer.

Save the dates:

We’re putting together information for exhibitors and visitors alike and will be releasing these as soon as we can. For now, save the dates and if you would like to be kept up to date, sign up to our mailing list or keep an eye on our social media channels; we’re on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, Threads and Twitter.

We recently set up a YouTube channel on which you can watch all of the presentations made at ICBF 2023 – more are going online all the time, so subscribe. Watch this space also for a refreshed ICBF website – that’s coming in in the next couple of months. Further announcements, including about Issue 02 of the ICBF-published magazine Carrier, will follow in due course (you can read Carrier Issue 01 here).

ICBF Director and Founder Jos Sluijsmans said: “We are looking forward to hosting the ICBF in world cycling city Utrecht. It will be an extra incentive for many of our international exhibitors and visitors to participate. We are also very impressed by Dutch Cycling Week’s ambitions to promote cycling in the broadest sense of the word as a knowledge platform and activation initiative. We want to be part of that and contribute.”

Ralf van Heugten of Dutch Cycling Week said: “The cargo bike plays a crucial role in the mobility of the future. Just look at companies like Cool Blue, Cycloon and the hundreds of food delivery services you see in many Dutch cities every day. The arrival of this event is a valuable addition to the programme of Dutch Cycling Week. The ICBF is a showcase for the possibilities offered by the cargo bike. Highlighting the cargo bike as an option for efficient and sustainable transport stimulates awareness of and impacts on bicycle mobility. This collaboration therefore fits like a glove.”