Our history
Discover our milestones in history.
Looking back to over thirty years of great stories
1982
- AKM Congress Services is founded.
1989
- AKM Travel Services is founded.
- We organise our first congress with more than 12’000 delegates, European Society of Cardiology, Nice, France.
1990
- We organise our first congress outside of Europe, 1st International Congress of Movement Disorders, Washington D.C., USA.
- We are accepted as a member of the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA).
1991
- AKM Congress Service opens a branch office in Weil, Germany.
1998
- We create event homepages and employees begin to work via e-mail.
1999
- We introduce abstract submission via the internet.
2000
- We launch a platform for online bookings of congress registration and accommodation.
2002
- We celebrate 20 years of success in the meetings and association services industry.
2007
- AKM Congress Services and AKM Travel Services are acquired by the Congrex Group and rebranded as Congrex Switzerland and Congrex Travel respectively.
2011
- We are accepted as a member of the International Association of Professional Congress Organisers (IAPCO).
2012
- We celebrate 30 years of success in the meetings and association services industry.
2013
- A management buy-out establishes Congrex Switzerland and Congrex Travel as independent companies backed by 30 years of experience in the meetings and association services industry. The brand and trademark “Congrex” is also acquired by Congrex Switzerland through the MBO.
2014
- We are accepted by Meeting Planners International (MPI).
- We launch our new corporate identity including a new website.
- Congrex Switzerland’s realignment is completed with an injection of CHF 1.5 M in the company’s equity.
- We organise our largest full service congress ever, the International Liver Congress with 10’799 delegates in London. And we deliver our hugest governmental meeting to date, the OSCE Ministerial Council Meeting with 1’968 delegates in Basel.
- We join the Maritz Global Meetings Network.
2015
- The new company website www.congrex.com is launched.
2017
- We introduce our new CEO: Julia Bicher.
2018
- Together with our long-term client ECTRIMS, we win the IAPCO Regional Client Award.
- We can call ourselves MedTech Europe Trusted Partner. We went successfully through the training and certification process and attested our commitment to comply with the MedTech Europe Code of Ethical Business Practice.
2019
- We organise the 50th Annual Meeting and General Assembly of IAPCO in Basel.
2020
- We expand our range of services and establish a team of experts specialising in the organisation of virtual and hybrid congresses as well as the conception of virtual exhibitions.
2021
- We set up a fully equipped green screen studio in our office that can be rented for professional recordings and live streams.
2022
- We celebrate 40 years of success in the meetings and association services industry.
Our Legacy
