Business events can support the needs of access, equality, and learning for work and social inclusion, and determine a greater range of benefits than had been previously considered (Edwards, Foley, & Schlenker, 2011; Foley, Edwards, & Schlenker, 2014; Jago & Deery, 2010). The triple influence of Covid-19, the global climate emergency and economic turbulence may have undermined the opportunity for business events and business tourism to continue to aid more comprehensive socio-economic and socio-environmental benefits. Despite this, this paper gives examples of an applied research project which saw key elements of Edinburgh City’s business tourism provision work with Â鶹ÉçÇø’s Tourism Research Centre, and a local software start-up company, to provide a working tool to analyse and award the social benefits of business events to the city.

This paper, critically reviews the opportunities and barriers for stakeholders to co-produce an environment of absorptive capacity, in which learning processes and combinative capabilities are determinants of strategic innovation (Gebauer, Worch, & Truffer, 2012; Thomas & Wood, 2014, 2015), and which correspond to many of the United Nation’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Five areas of agreement are determined. Areas of potential conflict are forwarded as important areas of corresponding investigation. A model of collaborative efficacy in times of turbulence is proposed.