Official statement about the GELATO EUROPE CUP issued by the IEG

In the days following the recent edition of an exceptional Sigep 2023, which ended in Rimini with an exceptional balance in terms of the number and quality of companies, guests and national and international buyers, made even greater by the exhibitors’ public testimonials and extraordinary media visibility, observations have emerged regarding the execution and outcome of the Gelato Europe Cup, one of the international competitions organised during the five days in collaboration with associations and companies from the various sectors.

Urged to speak on this subject, IEG – Italian Exhibition Group would like, first and foremost  to recall with pleasure, the purpose behind all competitions: to compare international excellence and talents, in this case from the world of gelato, to promote occasions in which sharing knowledge can enrich all participants in order to contribute to professional development in the taste professions, as well as to promote friendship and collaboration between peoples.

Competitive atmosphere is a relevant ingredient of every competition and is a fundamental stimulus for arriving at the best result, which, however, remains inextricably linked to achieving the primary objective of generating progress and widespread growth.

This is also the commitment of the companies that support the competitions, of IEG’s organisational staff and of the Masters who take responsibility for the technical management of the competitions themselves.

To come to the reason behind this statement, which refers to and answers the questions posed by certain parties, IEG hereby specifies that the competition, whose regulations can be consulted at this link, fully complied with all regulations and that the final outcome of this competition is therefore definitive and in total compliance with what each national team signed up for with its participation. There have been no complaints, either official or received within the prescribed times. Therefore, any criticism of the final outcome remains within the perimeter of legitimate, even critical, comment. As long as it does not transcend into other areas.

This does not detract from the fact that IEG, through the people directly involved and endowed with an experience and knowledge of the sector gained in 44 editions of SIGEP, pays great attention to capturing every signal with the aim of protecting the competitions, even from the point of view of the “climate” in which they take place.

In view of the next edition of the Gelato World Cup to be held at SIGEP 2024, to which the continental competition held this year is connected in order to determine a quota of participants, all the control and management bodies of the various organisational stages will be activated, as has always been the case in the previous nine editions.

One point that IEG will also put on the table at the first meeting will be the introduction of a code of ethics and conduct to complete the technical documentation that makes up the general regulations.

Lastly, with its usual inclination for listening and welcoming, while still reaffirming the unquestionable and entirely correct final technical outcome of the Gelato Europe Cup, IEG has agreed with the Gelato World Cup organisers to offer the nations that took part in the European selection and were excluded from the final ranking, the chance to register for the 2024 edition of the world competition.

Having said this, we intend to bring this question to an end since, for the benefit of the business and the entire sector, all energy must now be channelled into the next big SIGEP scheduled to take place from 20th to 24th January 2024.