Brisbane boosts conference numbers Brisbane... host to an increasing number of conferences and conventions. Conferences and conventions are booming business in Brisbane in the lead-up to the 2014 G20 summit, according to the latest results from the city's convention organisers. Sixteen conferences adding $30 million to the Brisbane economy have been attracted to Brisbane in the three months between July and September 2014 by Brisbane Marketing and Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre. That is more than half of the $53.3 million in conferences in total for Brisbane last financial year. The 16 conferences will bring 11,500 delegates to Brisbane in the first half of 2014. Brisbane's Lord Mayor Graham Quirk highlighted the increase when he joined Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss at Brisbane Airport on Thursday to launch the next stage in the new runway for Brisbane Airport. "We have over the past year seen a 20 per cent growth in our convention and business meetings market in our city, " Cr Quirk said. Professor Ian Fraser in Brisbane with the new Translational Research Institute in the background. "That is a growth which is continuing, and with major events like the G20 next year, the name Brisbane Australia is going to be out there more and more," he said. On Friday, Cr Quirk said the increase included a number of prestigious medical, education, resources and IT conferences. It puts Brisbane on track for a bumper year for conferences in the lead-up to the G20 Leaders Summit in November 2014. Cr Quirk said the three Brisbane universities and the city's research institutes, including the Translational Research Institute, were attracting the international delegates. The conferences include: the Joint Australasian Society of Aerospace Medicine, Aeromedical Society of Australasia, and Flight Nurses Australia Conference 2014; the Australian Association for Research in Education - New Zealand Association for Research in Education 2014 Conference; the World Customs Organisation IT Conference & Exhibition 2014; the Australia and New Zealand Society of Nuclear Medicine Annual Scientific Meeting 2015; and the Austmine 2015 International Conference and Exhibition. Cr Quirk on Friday said he was encouraged by the upswing in the lead-up to the G20 conference in November 2014. The economic benefits to the city are expected to run into the hundreds of millions, with an upsurge in trade for local shops, hotels and restaurants, along with increased international media coverage for Brisbane.