The new format has been announced as part of the 20th anniversary celebrations.

Brand Licensing Europe has revamped its License This! competition for 2018, doubling the awards to one each for art & design and brands & lifestyle entrepreneurs. The announcement comes as the show gets ready to celebrate its 20th anniversary and visitor registration opens at https://www.brandlicensing.eu/.

The increased emphasis on the Art & Design and Brands & Lifestyle categories is also reflected on the show floor as, for the first time, BLE will occupy both the Grand and National Halls to bring all of its exhibitors together on one level.

BLE brand director Anna Knight, commented: “It’s really important that BLE represents and supports the entire licensing industry and that we offer maximum discoverability, so all of our exhibitors and visitors can have their best show. We are confident this will be facilitated by having everyone on one level across the ground floor of the Grand and National Halls. We’re also excited about the reaction from expanding License This!, which will result in two winners this year. Our 2016 and 2017 winners are both exhibiting at this year’s BLE, which shows what a valuable leg up the competition provides for start-ups.”

Over 250 companies are expected to exhibit in 2018 and well over 200 are already confirmed.

BLE is the definitive event for the licensing industry in Europe, taking place from the 9th-11th October 2018 at Olympia London. Over 7,500 retailers, licensees and marketers are expected to attend, over one third of whom will travel to London from overseas.